In Lisbon Walter, his brother and Heather joined Shaman. After the boat and safety briefing we left the next day for Cascais to get fuel. We had to wait for a huge schooner (Atlantic) and guess what; the also had the Frysian Flag in top! It is a small world.
It promised to be a bumpy ride along the coast of Portugal and Spain. And the prediction made good to that promise. It was worse because we had to stay within 20 meter contour line due to the Orca attacks. Chances of being hit outside 20m are 1 in 4 so be warned!
(As usual almost) we had the wind on the nose, irregular waves and quite a bit of swell. A perfect recipe for seasickness! I knew Heather would be fine, same for Walter.. which leaves his brother..
At first he was cool and said “I am fine, it might be the food, no big deal..” but ultimately he got really really sick and kept feeding the fishes until we arrived in A Coruña to get diesel. Those were a looooong 2 days for him.
Unfortunately the prediction for the Bay of Biscay was worse than the Atlantic coast.. Ultimately this led to the decision for him to leave Shaman. Walter was gutted and it took him a couple of hours after the diesel stop to become his usual self again, which was heartbreaking..
But there was work to do! Bay of Biscay here we come!! At first she was nice and gentle, 20 knots, broad reach, 2-3m waves from behind and a sunny sky. Proper champagne sailing!!
But the Bay wouldn’t be true to her name if she didn’t give some… And oh she did! Gusts up to 30knots, broad reach to down wind, 4-5m waves, cold and rain… Life on board immediately became more difficult but Walter loved every minute of it!! It was great to see him enjoy every bit of the challenge on his new yacht.
Across in 48 hours. Wow!
We went straight into the English Channel and she also came true to her reputation. Visibility down to zero (fog), weird waves up to 5m, changing winds gusting up to 25 knots an it fel like freezing temperatures. For 12 hours I have been contemplating a gybe and then the wind suddenly dropped and it started raining.
It is now another 40 hours to Ijmuiden and we are racing. Not against other boats but against time. We have a window between 1000 and 1600 on the 31st to arrive (due to a depression coming from the North Sea) with a little breather in the middle..
Hopefully you see us on the 31st with arrival beers in hand. Keep following my socials for the pics.
For now it is time for breakfast! Angela out.
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