A Coruña -Hamble
The first thing we did was visit the supermarket. We needed some fresh food to last 3-4 days as you are never quite sure how long the journey will take. It was all such a rush I was not able to buy my duty free allowance of reasonably priced wines but I did manage to get a few bottles.
As soon as we got back tot he boat we untied and left, there was no tidal gate to worry about. We had arranged that Gwyn would do 9-12, Ian would do 12-3am and I would do 3-6am or until anyone felt like getting up. We all were able to take time out during the day if we felt like it. At this time we knew that there was no Orca activity in Biscay so we were fairly confident that we would not have an encounter as the Orcas were up near Gibraltar.
We hoisted the sail and made our way slowly as the winds were very light. As the evening drew in the winds went completely and we were forced to motor. We saw very few dolphins that day and not much else until there was a whoop from Gwyn, whales! Actually I think it was one large whale, you could see the water spout as the whale blew its blow hole, I and I never saw the tail but we did see the back of the whale and it was substantial but it was not an Orca. It carried on and was soon gone.
When I got up at 3am Ian reported lots of torpedos, i.e. dolphins that swim along the side of the boat at night and you can hear them before you have any chance to see them. Sure enough I had a visit during my watch but as daybreak happened I saw no more.
The journey was largely uneventful, I amused myself by trying to persuade passing ships to do a test call on their SSB with me. Some would not respond to calls on the VHF other reported that they did not carry an SSB. Eventually a Celebrity cruise liner who obviously had a bored radio engineer on board was very happy to make a test call on the SSB. It was really good as it proved that it works on 4mhz bands upwards. We have an interference problem on the 2mhz band which I am as yet unable to trace, I have tried to switch everything off on the boat but still it remains a mystery.
We arrived at the Hamble seventy four hours after departure having done a disappointing forty eight hours of motoring. We tried to sail the whole way but we were just in a huge wind hole, the only plus was that the sea state was lovely!
As soon as we got back tot he boat we untied and left, there was no tidal gate to worry about. We had arranged that Gwyn would do 9-12, Ian would do 12-3am and I would do 3-6am or until anyone felt like getting up. We all were able to take time out during the day if we felt like it. At this time we knew that there was no Orca activity in Biscay so we were fairly confident that we would not have an encounter as the Orcas were up near Gibraltar.
We hoisted the sail and made our way slowly as the winds were very light. As the evening drew in the winds went completely and we were forced to motor. We saw very few dolphins that day and not much else until there was a whoop from Gwyn, whales! Actually I think it was one large whale, you could see the water spout as the whale blew its blow hole, I and I never saw the tail but we did see the back of the whale and it was substantial but it was not an Orca. It carried on and was soon gone.
When I got up at 3am Ian reported lots of torpedos, i.e. dolphins that swim along the side of the boat at night and you can hear them before you have any chance to see them. Sure enough I had a visit during my watch but as daybreak happened I saw no more.
The journey was largely uneventful, I amused myself by trying to persuade passing ships to do a test call on their SSB with me. Some would not respond to calls on the VHF other reported that they did not carry an SSB. Eventually a Celebrity cruise liner who obviously had a bored radio engineer on board was very happy to make a test call on the SSB. It was really good as it proved that it works on 4mhz bands upwards. We have an interference problem on the 2mhz band which I am as yet unable to trace, I have tried to switch everything off on the boat but still it remains a mystery.
We arrived at the Hamble seventy four hours after departure having done a disappointing forty eight hours of motoring. We tried to sail the whole way but we were just in a huge wind hole, the only plus was that the sea state was lovely!