Month: June 2023

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We stayed for a week in Muxia, in the Ria de Camarinas, relaxing after our Bay of Biscay crossing, avoiding the storm and also awaiting delivery of our replacement internet connection box which was being shipped from the UK by FedEx. The box reached Madrid but customs wouldn’t release it, so we eventually had to set sail without it, planning to try again later in our trip. Once Storm Oscar had passed the girls enjoyed exploring the bay near Muxia marina and jumping into the sea from the rocks.

As well as exploring we have also been keeping up with our home (boat) schooling, which works well using our large saloon table as a desk.

The Spanish Rias are estuaries along the Galician coast, tucked away from the rugged north west Spanish coastline, which offer sheltered locations for yachts to explore. Our next journey was a sail to the beautiful Ria de Muros, where we anchored in the bay just outside the picturesque old fishing town of Muros. The girls swam from the boat, and we all sampled some local seafood and explored the old town.

After a few days in Muros it was time to move on again, this time 45 miles south to Baiona at the entrance to the Ria de Vigo. On the way we spotted more dolphins, many sea birds, and the unusual sight of a sunfish which leapt out of the water just as we were passing!

Baiona is famous as the first port to hear about Christopher Columbus’ discovery of America when one of the ships in his expedition, the Pinta, returned to Spain ahead of Columbus in 1493. On Father’s Day, Sunday 18th June, we walked around the town, exploring the castle and stopping for an ice cream on the way.

Father’s Day ice-cream

We are here in Baiona marina for a couple of days, before continuing our journey further south – next stop Portugal!

On the sixth of June (Tuesday) we celebrated my twelfth birthday. Although the dolphins did not show up I still had a great day, getting up early to see the sunrise and getting lots of presents.

Despite being at sea we still managed to have proper meals throughout the day. I had a chocolate bar for breakfast, burgers for lunch and pork and chips for our meal out. I even managed to have a small chocolate cake even though my birthday was 4 days away from land!

My chocolate cake

On the fifth of June (the day before my birthday) we all painted our nails (apart from my dad) they dried very quickly with the light sea breeze and the hot sun.

My nails

The boat was still decorated and balloons blown up so it was still a great birthday despite being at sea.

The boat decorated

We enjoyed a sunny week in Jersey, and Andy Willett flew out to see us bringing the spare parts for the mast winches, plus a big folder of information on the ARC+ rally which we’ll be joining in the Canary Islands (thanks Andy and great to see you!)

On Saturday 2nd June we left Jersey early in the morning, planning to get at least as far as Brest on the North West coast of France, which would take around 24 hours. We had a brisk wind behind us (force 4 – 5) all the way to Brest, but the forecast once we rounded the corner of France was for calmer winds (force 3) from a North Easterly direction – perfect for blowing us across the Bay of Biscay.

We decided that with the conditions in our favour, we would carry on, not stop at Brest, and attempt a crossing of the Bay of Biscay to reach northern Spain. This would be the first big test for us as a family – 500 miles non-stop from Jersey to Spain, three nights and four days at sea, with night watches to manage and no land in sight. Crossing the Bay of Biscay can be notoriously difficult and it is best to take advantage of favourable conditions when you have them.

In the end we all coped well with the crossing, and the girls found their “sea legs” quite quickly, happily eating meals, watching the sun set and going to sleep in their cabins. On five occasions we were visited by pods of dolphins who enjoyed swimming alongside the boat and occasionally performing a back flip!

The strong wind at the outset caused a few challenges with the sails. In summary (handing over to Will now for the technical bit) the sheets on the blue water runner (BWR) detached leaving the sail flapping uncontrollably in the wind. In addition the halyard (the rope for raising a sail) proved to be of poor quality and deteriorated to the position where we could not drop the sail. We also had some issues with the furling mechanism for this sail. Luckily the sail itself was fine, and we managed to recover the situation not once, but twice and get the sail safely down. As Oscar Wilde tried to say, to lose the BWR once may be regarded as a misfortune, but to lose it twice looks like carelessness. This meant that the sail was no longer useable for the last day. On the second day of the trip the clew (the lower corner) of the headsail detached itself so that sail could no longer be used either. We did repair it, and the repair held, but the sail just failed again further along the clew. We have now got the BWR back ready for action with a new halyard, improved sheets and a replacement furling line. The headsail unfortunately will require a sailmaker (and a new clew) and we hope to get this sorted in Cascais later this month. At least we have a number of other sails we can use. The hydro generator (which we use to generate electricity from the water while we are sailing) generated so much electricity that it caused a power surge in the boat, which fused some of the lights and burned out our internet connection box. So there are a number of things to be fixed in Spain and Portugal, but that’s the way with boats – there’s always a list of things that need fixing…

We celebrated Lucy’s 12th birthday on the last day of the crossing, Tuesday 6th June, with Lucy joining Will at the end of his night watch to watch the sun rise, followed by a birthday lunch with burgers and chocolate cake. On the afternoon of Lucy’s birthday we finally reached Spain, and are now in a marina in Muxia, a small town on the north west tip of Spain. We went out to a local restaurant that night to celebrate Lucy’s birthday – Lucy is planning to write a separate post with more details about the day.

We’re planning to be here in Muxia for a few days while Storm Oscar passes through (the weather here isn’t as nice as in the UK), before moving further south in the direction of Portugal. You can see our progress on the tracker which is shown on the blog page called How to Follow Us at Sea.