A couple of days before the planned departure date, we anchored in our special, secluded spot up the Helford River, sharing it on the first night with about four other boats, all of whom left on Sunday morning, leaving us to enjoy the peaceful tranquillity of the surrounding countryside.
We finished jobs, prepared meals for the passage, made a new protective cover for the outboard and re-installed Jacklines (safety lines which run the length of the boat which we tether to when leaving the safety of the cockpit), re-instated Hilda, the hydrovane and checked the weather. We decided to take a quick trip to Helford to top up on perishables and while there stopped to have a quick, last English pint in the beautiful thatched Shipwright Inn with its waterfront views and convenient pontoon where we left the dinghy.
Jason had sailed out to see us with a couple of friends and as we were returning to the boat we said goodbye as they slowly made their way back down the river, weaving through the moored boats on their way to St Mawes.
Before we left there was the small matter of Steve’s phone to deal with! After a frantic search, retracing of steps and general mild panic we came to the conclusion it must have fallen out his back pocket while sitting in the dinghy and was probably now at the bottom of the river somewhere between the pub and our boat! As this was our only phone with a UK SIM card and therefore the only means of us having internet, it was an essential tool for, not only communication, but in order for us to get vital information for our imminent passage as well as once we were in Europe. With no alternative, we rose early on Monday morning (the morning of our planned departure) and headed back into Falmouth for one last time.
We anchored close to the town centre and were the first customers in the Vodafone store, where we were helped by a lovely team who assured us a replacement SIM could take 24hrs to be activated but was more likely to be 10 minutes. Thank goodness it took just 10 minutes and also that we’d brought an old replacement phone from NZ, just in case it was needed! Now we could finish all the preparations required to leave later that day.
We had ordered a SIM card for our satellite phone and this had taken longer to arrive than anticipated – in hindsight a mistake, we should have done this much earlier. We had spent time investigating different options as the cost of using a satellite phone is very high, but it is an important safety tool and means of getting regularly up to date weather information. While I did some washing, made sure everything was stowed correctly, baked cakes and made up a bed for us to sleep in on passage, Steve frantically tried to get the satellite phone working. It’s not a simple case of slotting a SIM card in and making a call – at least not with our Iridium fixed phone (which came with the boat). It needs to be connected to a router, aerial and computer and they all need to talk to each other first which meant downloading and installing software before going through the set-up requirements! Fortunately we have another means of getting updated weather through our SSB (Single Band radio – like a Ham radio), which is a beast of a contraption located on top of the wardrobe in our berth!
With washing almost dry, a quick catch-up and farewell from Jonathan, (a friend of Bea and Andy’s) who was passing in his fast RIB, we lifted the anchor, topped up our large tank with water and at 1830hrs headed out of Falmouth for the final time. Bright evening sunshine, clear skies and a lovely breeze gave us the perfect full stop to our long UK chapter. Our family, friends and 15 months of precious memories were very much in our thoughts as Cerulean, weighed down with water, fuel and provisions, cut through the calm waters at 6 knots under three sails and wind coming from the west.
The Bay of Biscay has a well-earned reputation of being a stretch of water to fear and be well prepared for changing conditions. Forecasting accurate weather for a 4-5 day trip is not possible, even with today’s incredible technology, so there was a feeling of jumping off the abyss as we made progress towards France. We had chosen a weather window that offered light winds, not always in the preferred direction but a promise of calm seas for the first three days, at least, which we felt was more important for our first major voyage across unknown waters. The wind models we studied gave different predictions but a couple agreed on a band of northerly winds developing inside the Bay close to the French coast. This made us change from our original plan of sailing south west past the Isles of Scilly and turning south when in line with the coast of Spain therefore avoiding most of the busy shipping lanes and fishing areas. However, all the wind predictions showed light wind from the south which would not make for a quick or pleasant passage, so taking the in-shore route to capture the wind seemed like the best option. We wanted to avoid the shipping lanes as much as possible so headed west of Ouessant before tacking and heading south east following the coast of Britanny which we would have loved to explore but the Covid situation in France and the uncertainty around visiting yachts coming from the UK prevented us from stopping.
The next few days were sunny and calm with light winds. It took us 36 hours to get into a good routine of sleeping but once we were over the initial period of not sleeping and being on high alert, we both coped well with our 3hr watches and grabbed sleep whenever we needed it during our off watch times. Hilda, the Hydrovane, was the perfect crewmate. She kept us on course most of the time and our love for her easy set-up and ingenious design was often commented on. Using her meant we did not need to use the autopilot at all while sailing, saving us valuable power which could be used for other important things, like the fridge, powering electronics and even boiling the kettle instead of using our gas cooker.
The other major win was the way we received updated weather forecasts and weather routing. Steve had worked hard to ensure we had a couple of methods to download information but our preference was to use our SSB and he had been testing this system for the last few weeks with moderate success. We had anchored in some areas where the required connection kept failing and we were concerned it may prove too unreliable while at sea, hence the need for the satellite phone as a back-up. In fact getting our weather through the SSB while on passage never failed and was the cheapest, quickest and best means of communication we had.
We had chosen to leave Falmouth in the early evening so we could be at the start of the busy shipping lane in daylight. Crossing it is a little like trying to cross a multi-laned motorway while wearing concrete shoes! We were only travelling at walking pace while all the rest of the traffic were Olympic runners compared to us! We weaved our way through the large tankers, finding gaps in the perfect places and popped out the other side with relief – now all we had to deal with were fishing boats who often don’t us AIS (GPS tracking) so we needed to remain on watch and alert.
After the first night with no sleep, I started to develop a migraine – an annoying recent condition I’ve developed which only seems to happen when I’m over tired, but when it starts I find it hard to be my cheerful self until the pain and numbness in my face dissipates. While my spirits ebbed, Steve’s flowed as his confidence and enjoyment grew. Seeing this made me feel so much better as we made our way south towards warmer weather, chasing the promised northerly winds.
We were surprised one morning by a swift landing on the boat and staying with us for a while, at one point briefly flying into the cabin before gathering enough energy to head back towards land. As we entered Spanish waters we were welcomed by an armada of dolphins, surrounding us as they headed towards Cerulean at great speed, leaping out of the water and swimming around us for some time before leaving and then returning several times throughout the next couple of days.
Just as daylight started to fade on the third night, the wind started to veer further north. It was so tempting to follow this wind change and head straight to La Coruna but we decided to be patient and continue south as the forecast models showed a stronger better wind belt if we were prepared to take the risk. If we headed straight for our final destination, the forecast showed us sailing out of the northerlies and into no wind before turning southerly, so we waited. We took the opportunity to try out our new cruising chute and made good speed in very light winds, enjoying the peace and quiet and warm sunshine.
We were making our passage at a time where there was no moon – not by choice but an unfortunate clashing of dates, timing and weather! The benefit of no moon was we were treated to an incredible display of light-unaffected clear skies making the universe appear in all its glory around us! The disadvantage being the dark nights which were very short, with light starting to appear at 4am and remain in the sky until around 11pm. As we cut through the water phosphorescent sparkled in our wake and, under the moonless skies, I found this quite magical and mesmerising. Our days were busy – observing, planning, checking, reading, sleeping, talking, preparing, plotting, noting and tweaking – if you were thinking we would be bored or restless, think again! We were both relaxed, happy and excited to see our slow progress as we plotted our course on a paper chart of the Bay of Biscay spread across the table in the saloon.
We are lucky on Cerulean to have a choice of berths to use while on passage. We have three cabins – our main one is at the back of the boat and has a large, very comfortable bed. While sailing in calm conditions it is a perfect place to sleep as you can snuggle up with plenty of room to stretch out and lots of airflow coming through. It is not a good place to try to sleep when the engine is on or when activities (ie sail or course adjustment), is required in the cockpit as noise reverberates through the cabin. The forward berth has become a storage space for sails and other bulky items so, for this passage it was not available to sleep in. The passage berth is where we stored all our non-perishable food but the top bunk had been kept clear as an alternative bed while at sea and I had made it up with clean sheets and warm blankets. Located in the centre of the boat it is the most stable place to be when rolling in the Atlantic swell which is always present in the Bay of Biscay, regardless of weather conditions. Although hard to climb into once there the top bunk was a great place to sleep and watch the sea from the portlight located at the head of the bed while being cocooned from the noises happening in other parts of the boat.
On day four the wind started to increase along with the waves and by early evening we had reefed (made smaller) the main sail. As the wind continued to increase we put a second reef in the main and sailed on just the small, forestay, jib, still making over 8 knots as we surfed down the waves and battled the ones hitting us on the beam (side). We were within sight of land now and rounded the exposed Cabo Prior at sunrise still keeping a good distance out to avoid the shallowing (although still deep) waters that create more sea swell.
At last we saw the white buildings of La Coruna in the distance and, with the seas settling calming as we sailed further away from Cabo Prior and closer to our destination. We were both tired from no sleep but happy as we dropped the sails and turned into the very sheltered Marina Real where one of the helpful team was waiting to direct us to our berth. As we approached the pontoon I pulled the gear stick towards me to put the engine into neutral and then reverse to slow down. Nothing happened. I could still hear we were in gear and putting the stick in reverse only resulted in us going faster forward. We were running out of room and I was not certain I could spin the boat around in the space left between the pontoon and the stone sea wall…..