Memories of ships that pass in the night

We had a wonderful day of R&R on the Ile d’Ouessant after the night passage – sunshine, scenery and local crepes and cidre. Since then the wind has continued to be conspicuous by its absence so yesterday we motored through the infamous Raz de Sein (where tides run at up to 6 knots) to overnight at Ste Evette near Audierne and then today we've consumed more diesel on a 30 miles passage of rock-hopping round to Loctudy.

The rocking and rolling of the sail from Falmouth already seems like a distant memory but here are a couple of photos from it.

If you’ve never experienced huge ship sailing just half a mile away from you in an otherwise empty and dark sea, we can tell you it’s something you never get comfortable with. However the AIS system that we have on board decodes their automatic transmissions to tell us the ship’s name, size, callsign, speed, heading and final destination. More importantly it does a quick bit of maths, having consulted our on-board GPS, to tell us our CPA (closest point of approach) so that we can focus on any worryingly close vessels.

These photos show a tanker and a passenger ferry from last night and they illustrate the difficulty of doing hand-held long exposure photos on a rolling yacht!

This evening we'll study the weather forecasts again and decide what to do. We need to make the break for Spain before the weather goes all wrong and gives us gales and headwinds but, on the other hand, we don't want to motor for 50 hours!!

A no-wind stop in Ushant

The decision outlined in the previous blog was made for us at about 10.00am on Friday morning. The wind fell away, leaving us rolling in a big sloppy sea; not comfortable at all so we fired up the engine. The tidal gate at Ushant was closing fast – that's to say the favourable south-going tide was going to be replaced by a fast-moving north going flood in only a couple of hours- so we studied the chart and decided that the settled conditions made the rocky 'harbour' in the Ile d'Ouessant a possibility. We had to fight the beginning of the adverse tide as we reached the entrance (guarded by La Jument lighthouse that you may have seen in a brilliant photo where the keeper stands nonchalantly o his 'doorstep' whilst whit water froths around him) so had some interesting white water to negotiate (tides run at 3 knot here) but came into a lovely sheltered anchorage. it would be completely exposed in a south westerly but in a slight northerly it's brilliant.

 

Peter and Heidi in Stormvogal were an hour behind us as we approached the island but, such is the cruelty of tidal gates, they got stuck in the tide race (at one stage going backwards!) and arrived at the harbour 4 hours after us, picking up a mooring buoy alongside.

 

The 3-day forecast shows practically no wind in Biscay so we'll probably stay here Saturday and explore the island before heading south. I have to climb the mast as well to find our why our VHF radio is sometimes giving poor transmissions; we're using the emergency back-up aerial in the meantime.

First night passage completed, shipping avoided

Thanks to the miracles of modern technology, we can send emails from anywhere at sea and, more importantly, get weather updates via the satellite phone. More of this later.

 

I'm writing this at 06.40BST and the sun has just risen over a grey and slightly lumpy sea. We're 25 miles from the French coast, just to the east of the Ushant Traffic Separation Scheme, one of the busiest shipping areas outside of the Dover Straights. Ships heading out of the English Channel and turning south for Spain and beyond must follow specific traffic lanes heading east and west. We're crossing their paths outside of the TSS but it's still pretty busy around here; during the night we had ships as close a half a mile.

 

We left Falmouth as planned at 18.00 and had a pretty brisk Force 6 blowing us out past the Lizard and into the channel. Unfortunately the wind was pretty much dead astern the whole way so the boat has been rolling and pitching quite a bit, making off-watch sleep rather difficult and the wind lessened as the night wore on. The full moon lit our path beautifully but also mean that we're in spring tides with the currents at their strongest. Our track on the chart describes a perfect S-shape as the channel tides took us west for 6 hours then east, with the current close to 2 knots at times. We've planned our passage so that when we arrive at Ushant, the south-going tide will scoot us along past Brest.

 

Our new friends Peter and Heidi in Stormvogel are not far behind; the boats have been pretty-evenly matched for speed but we've eked out a 4 mile lead (I know it's not a race but....). It's been good to have another boat for company.

 

So, planning ahead. I've just downloaded the latest GRIB files (gridded binary; a neat way of transmitting a lot of weather information as economical binary, which is then translated in the pc into a map showing wind arrows for 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 hours ahead). What our forecast shows is that the winds in Biscay are going to be pretty light for the next couple of days but with a bit of localised strong easterly wind as we approach La Coruna. Maunie needs a decent bit of breeze to make her go so this suggest that we'll have to do a fair amount of motoring. I'll have a conference with the First Mate when she wakes up to decide if we go for it anyway or whether to stop in somewhere like Loctudy, south of Brest. we'll keep you posted!

Going for it!

Can't take this weather anymore! Last night saw more torrential rain so we're really pleased that the new window seals that we applied on Tuesday solved the persistent leak from one of the pilot house windows. Mind you, it'd have helped if we hadn't accidentally left one of the hatches open! A small flood in the galley was the result.

The good news is that the high pressure system is heading our way, giving brisk and cold northerly winds. This means we'll be blown southwards so we are leaving tonight to sail through the night to reach the busy shipping lanes off Ushant in the early morning light. The tide there will scoot us southwards and then we have a full 50 hour passage to La Coruna in northern Spain.

We met a really nice German couple in a beautiful 48 ft cutter called Stormvogel. They are doing the same as us and we compared passage plans. We'll set off at the same time so it'll be good to have another boat for company and photos, though their extra length should make them quicker than us (we'll see!). If your German is up to it, they have a really nice website www.wiedekamm.com 

Last shopping in Falmouth then we're off

Getting encouraged by the weather

How did you spend your Bank Holiday Monday? Indoors, probably, judging by the weather and wishing you were somewhere sunny! We spent the Bank Holiday Monday morning aboard the boat, with the wind howling outside and the rain absolutely pouring down. We were moored up in the River Fal, just below Truro, so were well sheltered but we're studying the weather forecasts with extra interest.   The long range forecast suggests that we might get away on Thursday as a rare thing – a big high pressure system – heads towards Britain; in the meantime there's still plenty to do.

Since Graham left work, we just haven't stopped working towards the sailing project. The time and effort required to sort out our house – emptying it completely for rental and sorting the contents for storage or disposal – has been a lot greater than we expected if we're honest. We only have a little house and no children so how difficult could it be, we thought? Well, having lived there 13 years we'd amassed all sorts of stuff, lots of it stored in the garage and loft 'in case it might come in handy'; most of it hasn't come in handy after all so it's been E-bayed or given to charity. Anyway having finally moved aboard our new floating home, we definitely feel we've cut the ties with normal life: no car, no house, just us and a boat.

On Monday we took delivery of our medical supplies, thanks to our Best Man who's a GP in this part of the world. Dianne took a 9 day Ships Medical course earlier in the year so we're licensed to carry prescription drugs such as antibiotics; the wet Monday was spent sorting out the storage and cataloguing of these.

So we're definitely on our way and it's an exciting and slightly daunting prospect. It feels odd to be of no fixed abode and not to have the daily routine of coming to the office but it's good to know that lots of people are following our progress. We're now in the luxury of the Falmouth Marina, with a big Sainsbury's close by for our last shopping in Blighty! Tomorrow will be all about planning the passage and securing the boat for sea. We've met a German boat also bound for Spain so will probably set of together early on Thursday,

 

In Falmouth, watching the weather fronts roll in

The 40 mile passage from Plymouth to Falmouth was pretty uneventful, after a very peaceful night at anchor. The wind was light so we motor-sailed for most the day, the engine running on economical revs with the mainsail just helping us along by harnessing any available breeze, and we arrived at about 18.30

The phrase ‘calm before the storm’ was amply demonstrated to us on Thursday night– we had a very still evening then at about 2.00am the weather front hit us. Not a storm, it has to be said, but we were hit by a wall of wind and heavy rain that had us straining against the mooring lines. As Friday wore on, the weather eventually improved and once again we had a calm evening, with a Force 7, possibly Gale 8 forecast for Saturday night, then a calm on Sunday then another gale on Monday.

We’ve all sadly become accustomed to a rotten summer but these low pressure systems aren’t what we need right now for our passage to Spain. So we’ll sit it out for a few days and watch the forecasts carefully! We’re in the very sheltered Visitors’ Yacht Haven, just across from the excellent Maritime Museum at the moment, but will probably move to a quieter and cheaper anchorage further up the Fal Estuary at the weekend.

In spite of a full load of water, fuel and all our kit, Maunie doesn’t look too low in the water!

Stunning aerial photos of Maunie!

We’re absolutely delighted with Joe Murtagh’s brilliant shots from the helicopter – he’s got some video, too, so we’ll hope to find a way of posting that onto the blog or YouTube. Thanks Joe!