We left Cherbourg on Tuesday 7th August just after lunch and headed west close to the coast. Fantastic ride on the tide through Alderney Race achieving at times 12.5 knots. We passed between the Casquets and Les Hanois before the wind died. We then had to resort to motor sailing for 3 or 4 hours and by 6 am on Wednesday we were finally clearly of the Channel Islands. We then headed south and at around 12.45 we launched the kite on the new breeze.
So off we went across Biscay on Wednesday, having taken a vote to continue sailing and not stop off in other French ports. The weather window was too good to miss and we were afforded 'champagne' sailing conditions with sunshine and kind seas. The days and nights sped by (this was always something Karen was concerned about as to whether 'sea fever' would set in after a few days!) We were all very relaxed, reading, listening to music and just generally enjoying our "Biscay" experience. By day the solar panels and towing generator were working well together allowing us to sail for nearly two days without recharging the batteries on the engine despite using the pilot, the fridge, the stereo etc etc.
Thursday arrived and was another cloudless day. The wind was now 10 knots ENE and again the day sped by. Friday the wind shifted and we had to drop the kite at 3am after flying it for 39 hours! Saturday we finished the day close hauled but still on course for La Coruna.
Saturday - at last we had arrived in La Coruna (09.00BST). All very tired but extremely pleased with our great Biscay Crossing. Later on that day we had a leisurely stroll around the old town and dock where we discovered that the Tall Ships Race were in town! What a sight! Fantastic to see all these boats in the harbour. We plan to spend a couple of day here before Mike and Alex leave us to fly home to UK and France and then Nigel and I will start our leisurely cruise south…………possibly via the Rias?
Promise to post some photographs soon!