31st May 2005 - Plymouth to Bayona - Day 3

Posted at 6:21 AM, Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Swagman Log – Tuesday 31^st May 2005

The first pod of Dolphins found us at 0415 in the morning.

We were bowling along making 6 knots or so when they streaked in from the west to have us all jumping around on the foredeck squeaking.

I have to ask in these circumstances just who was coming to see who – and who was squeaking the most!

As always it was a lovely sight and one indicator of the sunnier climes to come.  But shortly after, what breeze there was died. 

So it was motor on at 0730, and breakfast as we motored onward at 5 knots.

The boat can do 9 knots flat out under motor, but we’d chosen to conserve fuel and run only very moderate revs when we really had to.  With the 560 mile trip, consumption even at that speed and the 240 litre tank – we had to be careful.  We did have a spare 30 litres, in plastic cans stored below.

By midday we were at 46.00 N, 07.39 W, having covered 62 nm since midnight.  The midday forecast reported the high we were crossing was almost stationery so we had no choice but to plod on under motor and escape out the other side as quickly as we could.

During the early morning we had tracked the lights of another yacht closing slowly with us from the west.  They were clearly going faster under engine - it was the X44 called X11 Bar Blues.

A brief chat on the VHF indicated they were now very low of fuel, having a capacity of only 160 L.  Our tank was bigger and as we still had 120 L at that stage, we asked them if they would care to take our spare 30 litres in the cans?

As that extra fuel may stop them having to pull into Corunna it made sense – so we turned hard right and motored to link up 6 miles out from our course – and passed it all over.  With no wind and glassy seas the transfer was a doddle.

As evening fell the wind tried to fill in from the north, and by 2150 we had the engine off and sliding along at 3 / 4 knots before a building breeze.  Even more pods of Dolphins joined with us as we continued southwest, and we sighted several whales blowing as they headed north at sunset.

A slow sail into the night, but a brilliant display of shooting stars and lots of fun searching for satellites in the night sky.  They were almost close enough to touch.

At midnight we were at 45.01N, 08.14W, a distance of 64 miles covered since midday.  

We were all feeling good hoping we were about to exit the high pressure area – and hopefully finding the stronger breezes of southern Biscay.