Dover - La Coruña

We spent a couple of days in Dover to wait for the southwesterly wind to decrease. Our course from Dover to Falmouth was W-SW, and SW Force 7 was not too tempting. We left Dover Marina in the morning Sunday 14th. Soon a pidgeon came on visit, landing on the solar panel, looking a bit confused. After a minute or so, it discovered that the hatch was open and it flew bravely into the galley. It found it's favourite place in the aft port berth, and seemed to stay for the night. The company was nice, but we decided to let it go. Afterwards, we found some leftovers on David's clothes.

For the next day and night wind from north brought us to Isle of Wight, where we moored in Cowes Yacht Haven and took the Hi-speed ferry to Southampton. We had heard that Southampton was one of the best places to buy cheap boat equipment, and we needed another anchor, rope, radar reflector and other stuff. However, the trip was a disappointment, and the conclusion was that we should have bought everything before we left Norway.

Back in Cowes, we had to wait for highwater because of the strong tidal current in The Needles, the sound between western Isle og Wight and the mainland. The wind decreased and during the night we had only very light winds, 5 to 10 kt. Then we had to use the engine, as many times before. So far, we have had either to much wind, the wind against or no wind at all. Nice to have an engine then. Actually we want to sail, but because of lack of time, we have used the engine whenever the sailing was too slow. After Biscay this will hopefully change. We now have the luxury to wait for the winds to become beneficial before we set sails.

In the morning the 17th we arrived Falmouth, a nice town that reminded us of places futher south. The bay was really crowded with sailing boats, but because our dinghy was still in its bag on deck, we found a marina. We went to a chart dealer to buy maps and pilot books for Brazil, where we intend to go. After telling him that we were to cross the Biscay, he looked up the weather forcast for us and told us that today was a perfect time to go. Northerly winds for the rest of the week. -You should go now, go now! he told us. We agreed and went to the supermarked to buy food. We also bought a fishing rod for catching BIG fish,like tuna and dorado. After only eight ours in the nice town of Falmouth, we left for the Biscay, maybe the leg we had feared most of all. A lot of stories have been told about the bad weather and erratic waves that can be very high.



We had chosen a westerly course aiming for a waypoint west of Cabo Finnisterre. This course would bring us clear og the shipping lane and also the shallow waters futher east. The first night we had calm, and we were motoring until dusk. Luckily the wind increased and we could set sails. After listening to BBC4 on longwave, we epected a NW Force 6 during the next night. When eating dinner, we saw dark cumulonimbus clouds approching and decided to finish before reefing. We almost made it, but as the clouds arrived, the wind increased, and soon we had a steady Force 7 from behind. The waves built up imediately, but we tried to keep our course. During the night, we had an average wind of 30 kt, gusting 38 kt, and the strongest wind experiences so far. We steered by hand, because we thought it was necessary, but putting 'Bernt' in work the evening after, we found that the windrudder would steer even better the we could. So for the rest of the crossing, 'Bernt' brought us safely through the waves, that sure were the biggest any of us had experienced.

We made 7,5 kt speed at the most, a speed not often experienced in 'Bonanza'. 153 nautical miles during 24 hours is also our best so far. Then it should be mentioned that we are careful sailors. Our philosophy is that too little sail is better than too much. The wind decreased slowly and the conditions allowed everybody some sleep. The last day, we saw some dolphins around the boat. Soon, some friends came by, and then they were about 15 swimming around 'Bonanza' having fun! Fun for us also, trying to take pictures. It was amazingly hard to catch them with the camera.

Approaching La Coruña, the wind increased again, and that made mooring a bit difficult in the exposed marina. Well moored, we got to know the crew of two other norwegian boats, Helge and Glenn in 'Riga Balsam', and Kjell, Ragnhild and Una in 'Aurora'. We went out to eat dinner the same evening, and had great fun. The crossing of Biscay took us almost 4 days, that means an average of 115 nm each day. Despite a brand new fishing rod, no fish liked our hook. A little disappointment, but we have not given up catching dinner while sailing.



The first day in La Coruña, we went to the beach and did nothing. The next two days we cleaned the whole boat, did service on the engine, repaired the stove and tried to find the cause of an annoying leakage in the engine room. We also finally found a second anchor and some other equipment we have been looking for. So now we will soon leave the sivilization for lonely bays and beaches along the north coast of Spain. The rumour says it is something like a cruisers paradise! Until we return, asta lavista!