My Second "Maiden" Voyage (page
2)
Well f---ing hell, it's now Friday 10th November and I can't believe it,
I was in a cyber cafe in Coruna (Spain) a couple of days ago and had written
the whole story, pretty much, up to date, and the f---ing power flickered,
of course I lost everything the f---ing café didn't have any kind of power
surge protection device. Then again it was my own fault for not saving
as I progressed.
May I now apologise for my language, but I think you can probably understand
my use.
So now I must start again … on with the story …
Monday 30th October 2000
Today Terry produced a software programme for my laptop (computer) to
enable us to get "Weatherfax" and "Navtext" information on the run, so
to speak. The rest of the day was spent trying to get it to work without
success. Eventually, I got everything set up, only to find that we had
the wrong connection plug, then Terry produced that. Now all we had to
do was wait for the next weather issue, which I missed for the next two
days for reasons you may be able to understand … like strong gale nine
!!! Meanwhile the others were replacing some of the "Slides" (that connect
the main sail to the mast) on the Main. Apparently they had broke on the
last trip. All is well again and we think the boat is "Ship Shape".
Tuesday 31st October 2000
Well last night Julian decided this was the only weather window
we were going to get for a while, so we're all up early and ready to leave
when the lock gates to the marina were opened at 1115hrs. The plan being
that we would go out for a sail, see what it was like out there and then
decide whether we turn back or we "Go For It" !!! As it turns out we "Went
For It". I think some of the crew didn't believe we would leave in this
force 7/8 wind, especially after the stronger winds we had the last couple
of days, which really stirred up the sea. As soon as we had cleared the
marina entrance we hoisted the Main Sail, no problem. Then we decided
the No. 4 Genoa was appropriate, good choice, but the poor sail wasn't
up to it. The Genny was only half way up when it started to rip, in a
bad way. As if it wasn't bad enough for the few of us who (got) volunteered
to go on the bow for the operation, being hammered by every wave coming
straight over us, now we had to take it down and find the No 5 and put
that one up. Anyway, job done and sailing fine, Julian decided the conditions
we good enough to make a blast for France.
The boat was taking it very well, not so could be said for the crew, before
long all but four of us (out of twelve) were puking over the side in great
style. By this time we had been split up into two watches (two working
groups, one on duty and the other off) and a roster was set up for when
we were on or off. We sailed on through the day, night and the next day,
being really hammered by the max wind force 9.
Once again the boat handled it all extremely well, but not the bulk of
the crew. Having said this, some of the slides (that connect the main
sail to the mast) were still popping out of the mast, this was not very
reassuring but we sailed on.
Wednesday 1st November 2000 After a long
sail through the day, the wind refusing to calm down, we made it to Cameret,
a small harbour town near Brest in the northwest tip of France. It was
late at night, actually 2am the Thursday morning when we tied up there.
This place has a nice marina and is a very popular stop point for anyone
crossing the English Channel. This time of year though, we were one of
only two visiting yachts. The other one was a Dutch boat, on their way
home. A well-appreciated nights rest was had by all, while being tied
along side a pontoon rather than being bashed around by the sea. This
leg of the journey was 239 miles in total, including 13 night hours and
2 days on-board with out a stop.
Thursday 2nd November 2000
The forecast was still bad and getting worse, force 11 was promised for
that night. We decided it was better to stay in port for another day,
everyone agreed. One of our "Paying Crew" (a German guy) decided he had
enough of this and packed his bags and left us first thing in the morning.
I think he would have gone sooner if there were any way he could have
got off, but there wasn't. Time now to remember my "School French" and
explore the town. We all went ashore, got the laundry down checked emails,
etc, then met up for a big dinner and drinks before we left for the Biscay
next day.
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