Current position: 45deg 37.3min North, 6deg 27.2min West. In other words right in the middle of Biscay, about to cross into Spanish waters, 156nm from Coruna.
We left at 11.00 yesterday (Wednesday) and have covered 164 miles so we're over half way there. We'd send you a picture but there's just lots of waves and sunshine so it'd be pretty dull. We've seen a few fishing boats and that's all. We still have Heidi and Peter in Stormvogel for company, though, and they are only two miles away so our boats are pretty well matched for speed; it's good to be able to chat on the VHF radio every now and then to compare notes.
Our world is slightly surreal at the moment. Our 38ft, 14 tonne home is surging down the waves at around 6.5 knots, the autopilot in control whilst we go about a few jobs after lunch. The wind finally arrived at about 8.00pm so we were relieved to turn the engine off and, as darkness fell, the navigation light at the top of the mast described large arc across a very starry sky as we rolled and pitched our way towards Spain. Down below the boat creaks a little and the water is noisy as it surges past the hull so off watch sleeping is still more like lying still and trying to sleep.
I think tonight we'll be so tired, and accustomed to the strange noises, that we'll sleep very well in our 4-hour off-watches. At least the bloody shallow water alarm won't keep going off! I should explain that were currently in water that's 4700 metres deep so our echosounder has no chance of spotting the seabed. Instead it chooses a random number to display, between 2.5m and 4m. Unfortunately we had it set with a shallow water alarm at 2.5m for when we're cruising in coastal waters so it kept going off in the night until Graham eventually found the right sequence of button-pushing to disable it.
The other wonderfully surreal moment yesterday evening was the Arrival of the Dolphins. We counted over 30, circling Maunie and charging under the bow, and could hear their squeaks through the hull. They obviously enjoy the interaction with a boat and I watched one perform a perfect underwater barrel roll beneath my feet at the bow. They stayed for about 30 minutes (and some returned in the night) so we'll have some photos to share with you (and evidence for Laura) when we get into port (which should be early Friday evening all being well.
Anyway, must go, sails need trimming and that sort of thing.
That was no dolphin, that was me in my latest costume for this year's panto, Snow White and the 7 Dolphins, an interesting adaptation but I think it will work.
ReplyDeleteSo pleased you liked my barrel roll, it took me weeks practising that in the bath and not without a little over the bath rim water seepage I can tell you. I'll follow you for a while until I have to swim back up the River Wear.