Bay of Biscay Crossing

Lighthouse departing Brest

After waiting a week in Brest we finally had a favourable weather window to cross the Bay of Biscay with light to moderate winds and no big swells forecasted.  Autumn is not the best time to cross the bay but with no fixed schedule we have the luxury of waiting for suitable weather windows.  When completing our final system checks the night before departure we discovered the galley pump was leaking water into the bilges.  Rather than delay our departure to fix the pump, we decided a bucket in the sink for washing all dishes would suffice, and instead of pumping the dirty water out it would be the old fashioned method of throwing the water over the side.  

Light winds in the Bay

On Mon 27 Oct at 0700hrs we departed Brest harbour and put the sails up with a couple of reef's (reduces the sail area) in both the main and genoa sails due to the stiff breeze.  However, the wind was a little fickle and we went through several sail reef evolutions exiting the harbour before finally settling on 70% main and genoa with a 20-25 kt wind on the nose. We made good progress until midday Tue when we started motor sailing.  The next 30 hours was then a combination of motor-sailing, engine off, sails up, sails down as lighter winds prevailed.  Surprisingly the Bay was relatively flat, with a warm breeze and sun shining.  

Another day ends...

The night passages were busy keeping an eye on the numerous fishing vessels when approaching the Sth coast of the Bay which seemed to be zig-zagging everywhere!  While motoring to our anchorage spot in La Coruña, Spain the Port Authority called us up to determine our intentions.  We finally dropped anchor at 0500hrs, tired but pleased we now had the Biscay crossing behind us having logged 392 nautical miles - our longest leg to date.  Our only breakage was the failure of the electric motor on the 64'' port winch which meant manually winding in the genoa for part of the trip.  

Customs visit

Accessing spare parts under our bed

Waking the next day to brilliant sunshine and a warm 23 degrees was absolute bliss. We had literally just opened the hatch's at 1100hrs when Leanne saw the Customs RIB approaching.  This was a low key visit, with our documentation checked no boarding of Sabbaticus required and no passports stamped.  Being at anchor gave us the chance to air the boat, access the spares to fault find the winch failure and also repair the galley pump.  The day finished with a swim - ironic our first swim off Sabbaticus is in autumn.

Marina break water

Cooking the Octopus

We then moved to La Coruña Marina which has a massive sea wall for protection, is adjacent to the San Antón Castle and is only a short 10 min walk to town. We enjoyed our time in La Coruña which  is busy port in the Galicia region with a population of 250,000 and easy city to stroll around with lots of history dating back to the Romans.  We found some good local tapas bars, tasted our first octopus meal which was delicious and enjoyed the local beer 'estrella galicia' which is now in stock onboard.  
  
Below are some of the photo's of the local area ...

City Hall

Tower of Hercules

View of San Antón Castle from Sabbaticus

Local dive shop - not sure if Jaws encourages customers or not!

After a couple of days the warm weather disappeared with wind, hailstorms and rain now upon us with a corresponding swell in the marina which makes for an uncomfortable sleep.  Hopefully our next stop is further down the coast in Bayona, Spain.