After a few day on Île d'Yeu, we left in the evening to
cross the Bay of Biscay to Bilbao, Spain (we just felt the itch to see some big titanium buildings with no straight edges). Given the estimated 36 hours crossing,
we wanted to leave in the evening so we'd arrive in the late morning or midday (no
good arriving to an unfamiliar port in the dark…), so we planned to leave Île
d'Yeu in the afternoon, anchor off a beach for a few hours, eat a nice dinner, and
then sail off into the night.
Awesome planning (and you can bet we had a few more details figured out...no spreadsheet though...) - we created a plan, reviewed the plan, and acted on the plan all successfully.. except for one little epic... leaving the basin.
We were in a basin with a sill, rafted up, the inner most of 6-7 boats over the course of a few nights. Upon departure, the outer few boat cast off to let us out. It was such a gentle breeze that at the last moment and in the briefest of mental failures we (read I) decided to forgo rigging a proper forward running aft spring and fenders to lever off with.
The upside was that the ensuing chaos of forward and back, off a bit only to be blown gently back onto the wharf by the wind was a wonderful bit of entertainment for the entire basin of boats and for the 20+ people milling about. Such a pleasure to be "that guy." We sulked off through the chaos and I am a few chortles. Oh well... in the end a very cheap lesson as only a few fenders and my ego got squeezed and both re-inflated naturally enough.
Post dinner in 15-20 knots of wind, we sailed off on a beam reach (9-10 knots in 2-3 meter seas..wee..good fun) into the darkness and onward to an empty horizon. Yesterday, we saw only a few boats on radar and sailed the whole 220 nautical miles to Bilbao arriving in the midday today. We landed onto the Spanish coast and into Bilbao without a hitch.
Both mornings Porter rose early to help stand watch. Last night Jack was up in the wee hours for an hour or so watch as well. Molly and I traded 2-3 hour watches through the darkness and a few daytime naps kept us both rested and in good spirits.
Tomorrow we walk ten minutes to the metro and ride into the city to visit the Guggenheim... a lovely juxtaposition to go from one edge of civilization to a pinnacle of civilization in such a short time.
- Christopher
Was this your first overnight? Have you been able to see the Perseid meteors??
ReplyDeleteKeep posting!