A Coruna to Ria de Camarinas

Hi everyone,

Yesterday we sailed westward towards Cape Finisterre.  We're now anchored in a quiet Ria 16nm NNE from the cape.

En Route

We departed in company with Norwegian yacht Ellinor whose young crew we met in Marina Nautico in A Coruna.  They too are on their way to the Med.  Their boat is a Contrast 33.  We followed them out of the marina and we sailed westward together.  It's always fun to 'pace one's self' against a similar vessel!

Here's our track and graphs...

Zen Again Track

Arrival Track

Passage Graphs

Here are the vital stats for the passage…

    • Distances/Speeds

        • Route Distance = 52nm

        • Logged Distance = 49nm (log under-reading is improving)

        • GPS Distance = 55nm

        • Duration = 10 hours

        • Average speed over ground = 5.5 kt

        • Minimum boat speed = 3.5 kt

        • Maximum boat speed = 8 kt

    • Weather

        • Minimum wind speed = 8 kt

        • Average wind speed = 15 kt

        • Maximum wind speed = gusts to 29 kt

        • Apparent wind angle range = 40 to 150

        • Seas up to 1m NE

        • Swell up to 2m NW

        • Broken cloud gradually clearing, scattered showers

    • Engine

        • Total = < 1 hour

On departure we were close-hauled sailing out of A Coruna.  We bore away onto a beam reach as we passed the Tower of Hercules lighthouse.  We had a light NE wind with a left-over NE sea and a NW swell.  Lumpy.  The wind was just about enough, at 10 knots apparent, to drive us through the slop at 4 knots.

Norwegian Yacht Ellinor

Early Morning Start

Passing the Tower of Hercules

We sailed west under full sail including the staysail.  By midday the wind was increasing as a large dark cloud crept up behind us.  We put a reef in, fully furled the staysail and partly furled the yankee.  The increased wind really helped us along and the wind backed to the N which helped us keep to our route.  The shower ended up passing behind so we didn't get wet.

We shook out the reef in the main when the wind veered to NNE and lightened off.  From there we broad reached WSW until we could gybe south past Cabo Villano and into the Ria.  We motored past the Camarinas sea wall, northwards to the anchorage off Playa Lingundia.  We anchored in 6m to allow for the 3.5m drop in tide.  Only one other yacht here.

View north while entering Ria

Arrival Celebration!

We enjoyed a glass of wine while watching the local dinghy fleet racing in the bay.  We expect to spend two nights here on anchor.  Tis a nice spot.

A Coruna

Hi everyone,

We've have a wonderful 5 days here in A Coruna in Galicia.  The weather has been variable with afternoon thunderstorms on two days, all day rain on one and today cloudy but dry.  Air temperature has ranged from 10C to 20C, with water temperature 16C.

Zen Again is berthed at Marina Nautico (aka Marina Real).  This marina is in the centre of town so is very convenient.  The visitor's pontoons suffer from wash from local fishing boats moving in and out of the marina but otherwise is very good.  Hot showers and a small but functional laundry.  Substantial discounts for CA and OCC members.

Marina Nautico is in the centre of town

The old town is very close to the marina.  Praza Maria Pita is impressive and celebrates the woman who famously helped fight off the 'pirate' Francis Drake.  Around the square and throughout the old town there are countless bars and restaurants.  The local brew Estrella Galicia is a very nice IPA-like brew.

Praza Maria Pita

There are many supermarkets within walking distance.  Gadis appears to be one of the biggest and has a market area above it.

Gadis indoor market

We were visited by Anton, the OCC's Port Officer.  He took us to the Real Club Nautico for a drink on their balcony.  The club is very formal and impressive.  Sailors staying at Marina Nautico can get a card from the marina office entitling them to visit the club.  No shorts and no flip-flops!

Real Club Nautico

With OCC Port Officer Anton at Real Club Nautico

A Coruna also has a wide range of shops.  Cruise ships normally stop here, which gives one a tip as to the type of shops.  We liked the bars, restaurants, ice cream and sweet shops!  All of the places are practicing social distancing and face masks are mandatory.

Treats!

On Monday we walked about 15km around the town and out to the Tower of Hercules.  We had hoped to visit some of the museums but couldn't find any which were open.  The park around the Planetarium featured Eucalypts which smelled like home!

Eucalyptus Trees

Walking along the coast we passed the other A Coruna marina.  Apparently it also suffers from wash.  Unlike Marina Nautico it has fuel supplies.

Marina Coruna

The Tower of Hercules is the oldest functioning lighthouse in the world.  It was established by the Romans and is now an imposing building.

Statue of Breoghan with Tower of Hercules beyond

Coastal View

Local fishing boats in Marina Real

Today we visited the local chandler 'Pombo' to get water tap adaptors for our hoses.  The marina taps here are very small diameter but can be adapted to the universal click-on fittings.  We then had a coffee (with free cakes) which were amazingly cheap before a provisioning run.  Then it was time for a Tapas lunch, which proved tapas here are larger than we've ever seen before!  No wonder the locals sleep all afternoon.

Zen Again in Marina Nautico

Zen Again is now rewatered, her diesel tanks are full (from our jerries) and she is fully provisioned.  Tomorrow we plan to start heading west towards Cape Finisterre.  There are a couple of Rias where we may anchor overnight along the way.

Falmouth to A Coruna Passage Summary

Hi everyone,

Here is the summary of our passage from Falmouth in the UK to A Coruna in Spain.  It was an easy passage thanks to light easterly winds.

Our strategy was to avoid the traffic concentration in the Channel and off the French coast.  We therefore headed SW from Falmouth until abeam Brest and west of the Ushant-Finistere traffic lane.  From there we tracked south, crossing the busy lane about half way between Ushant and Finistere.  This worked well.  Here's a snapshot of the traffic from MarineTraffic...

Pre-departure Traffic Situation

Here is our track…

Zen Again Track

The 'zig' was where an oil rig under tow, with multiple high speed cargo vessels passing it, 'bounced' us away from the traffic lane.

Here are the vital stats for the passage…

    • Distances/Speeds

        • Route Distance = 440nm

        • Logged Distance = 416nm (yes, the log is indeed under-reading still)

        • GPS Distance = 461nm

        • Duration = 4 days 12 hours

        • Average speed over ground = 4.3 kt

        • Average day's run = ~90nm

        • Best day's run = 118nm

        • Minimum boat speed = 2 kt

        • Maximum boat speed = 6.4 kt

    • Weather

        • Minimum wind speed = 2 kt

        • Average wind speed = 10 knots

        • Maximum wind speed = 15 with gusts to 22

        • Apparent wind angle range = 40 to 120

        • Seas up to 1m

        • Swell up to 2m (which didn't help with sailing in light air!)

        • Overcast for first 2 days, then gradually clearing to cloudless skies

    • Engine

        • Total = 28 hours

        • Driving = 26 hours

        • Charging = 2 hours

    • Failures

        • Nil

    • Stars

        • The boat!

        • WindPilot vane gear (steered well when apparent wind over 10 knots despite our small air vane)

        • Icom HF/SSB radio with SSB Minder running as our watch change alarm

        • PredictWind Offshore app (over Iridium GO!) for obtaining GRIBs and routing recommendations

The motoring hours aligned with PredictWind's routing projection.  Despite our lack of light-air sails and our first-reef sized cruising main the boat handled the light air really well.  We sailed unless boat speed (corrected) fell below 3 knots, which was usually when apparent wind fell below 8 knots.

Overall the ECMWF, SPIRE and UKMO GRIBs from PredictWind were quite accurate.  In light airs we found there was often a little more than predicted.  We downloaded new GRIBs every 12 hours.

Our SignalK system records all onboard instrument data.  We can graph data at any time.  Here are some summary graphs...

Overall Passage Data

Water and Ground Speeds

Apparent and True Winds

Water Depth

Pitch and Roll Attitudes

The Water Depth graph clearly shows where we were 'off soundings'.  Another advantage of our route was to maximise off-soundings time to reduce the risk of fouling pots.

This is probably our first multi-day passage in which we didn't reef the main.  We did put 3 furls (to about 50% LP) in the yankee at times.

As expected the weather improved as the passage progressed.  The initial cold and overcast skies gradually became cool and clear skies.  We had occasional drizzle throughout the passage.  In A Coruna itself the weather is mild and very pleasant in the sun.

Last night we didn't need our thermals!  That's 'mission accomplished'.

A Coruna Arrival

Hi everyone,

We arrived at A Coruna at 0100 today, more or less exactly 4.5 days after departure from Falmouth.  We motored from 1830 yesterday to get into A Coruna in very light winds.

Dolphins playing off our bow

Yesterday afternoon we had a very pleasant sail while the wind held in.  We were visited by dolphins again - probably the same pod.  This time we came across them while they were feeding.  A flock of gulls and gannets made it obvious something was going on.  As we sailed through the area groups of dolphins would come and play around us before scooting off to feed, replaced by others.  A 'Blue Planet' experience we've only had previously off the Pilbara coast of Western Australia.

Once the wind died it was a long dreary motor into A Coruna.  Since we're unfamiliar with the area we chose to anchor in Ensenada de Mera.  This is a small bay about 1nm across from the A Coruna marinas.  It is entirely clear of moorings or other obstructions.  We had a kip there until this morning.

This morning we donked over to Marina Real.  It was a grey day but a lot warmer than the UK!  On arrival we had our Spanish courtesy ensign flying and our Q flag.  The latter requests 'free pratique' which used to be seen as a formality - Covid changed all that!

Requesting Free Pratique!

On arrival at Marina Real (aka Marina Nautico) we were directed to a berth.  Short finger pontoons here so be prepared.  Once secured we walked up to the office and received a very helpful briefing on the situation and how/where to clear in.  Masks and social distancing are mandatory.

Clearing in takes place at the local police station which is a 5 minute walk from Marina Real.  We had to wait for 15 minutes for all the necessary officials to be gathered - totally fine with us.  When ready we explained we hoped to have our passports stamped on entry to the Schengen area.  The key word which got everyone on the same page (despite the language barrier) was 'Schengen'.  As soon as the officials understood we wanted to formally enter the Schengen zone stamping our passports wasn't a problem.

We're now in the Schengen zone and can start monitoring our 90 in 180 days status.  The 180 days is important for us since we anticipate exiting and re-entering Schengen this year.

Arriving in A Coruna has been painless.  The marina made it very clear we are more than welcome.  The officials were very happy to clear us in.  Happy Days!

We spent the rest of the day tidying up the boat then our first hot showers since Gosport.  That was followed by a couple of very nice Galician lagers at the marina's Club Nero.  Good to be here!

Passage summary post coming up tomorrow morning.

A Coruna Inbound - Day 4

Hi everyone,
We are currently in position 44 22N 008 16W, sailing at 4 knots on a course of 190M.  The wind is 6-10 knots from the ESE.  There's very little cloud and the sun is shining.  The air temperature is 13C and the water 14C.  Sounds very similar to yesterday, but between reports we've had a great sail.

Morning Sun

By 1600 yesterday the wind had increased to 10 knots and the WindPilot (Kazi) was put into action.  No more grinding of autopilot (Kami) drive gears - nice.  Kazi performed brilliantly on the beam reach we had all night.  This morning the wind fell below 10 knots and it was back to Kami.

At 1730 yesterday we were visited by a pod of dolphins.  I saw them speeding across our bow 1/4 mile away, leaping from the water, obviously on a mission of importance.  I reckon one of them tallied us and they disappeared from view.  Two minutes later they speared in from our quarter doing underwater aileron rolls before leaping from the water beside us.  Just what you'd expect from a squadron of interceptors.

Interceptor Dolphins

The dolphins stayed with us for 10 minutes, showing off around our bow and along each side.  It's always wonerful seeing these beautiful creatures.  Especially so when there are adults and young together - all obviously having a great time.

Overnight the new easterly gradually increased, with gusts reaching the low 20s.  Zen Again loved it with two furls in the yankee and full (first reef size) main.  She was truckin' along.  The stronger gusts were under drizzling clouds but between them we had a beautiful stary sky with a brightly haloed moon for much of it.

This morning the wind has been steadily dying.  The latest GRIBs show a wind hole along the Spanish north coast so we expect to be motoring later today.  We hope to get in to A Coruna tomorrow morning.

Trust all's well where you are!

A Coruna Inbound - Day 3

Hi everyone,

We are currently in position 46 21N 007 23W, sailing at 4 knots on a course of 190M.  The wind is 6-10 knots from the ENE.  There's scattered high-level cloud with the sun mostly shining.  The air temperature is 13C and the water 14C.

Since yesterday afternoon we've been "off soundings" (beyond the continental shelf).  Feels like ocean sailing when the depth sounder can't see the bottom.  Always reminds me of Pete Goss's classic statement along the lines of 'no matter how bad the situation there's land only a mile or two away - straight down'!

MarineTraffic view showing Ushant-Finistere traffic

We sailed for about 6 hours yesterday afternoon/evening before the wind died again.  While sailing we approached the Ushant - Finistere shipping lane.  Unfortunately there was an oil rig under (very long) tow by tugs right in our path and at the same speed, plus a series of higher speed cargo vessels streaming past.  So we gybed and headed west for a while.  Later in the evening we gybed back before the wind died and the motor came on again.

Last night we were treated to a spectacular display of bioluminecence in our wake.  It extended at least a boat length behind us with a lovely green glow overlaid with intense green spots.  Meanwhile overhead the starscape was magnificent, including a couple of satellite sightings.

Dodging Traffic

As our tack above shows, we aligned ourselves with traffic to let them pass.  Strange how traffic so often appears in widely separated groups.  'Births of a feather' perhaps.  We're now almost across the lane which is clearly differentiated into Finistere-bound traffic to the NW and Ushant traffic to the SE.  It is a good 15nm across, and with our oblique course it took all night to get across.

We resumed sailing half an hour ago.  Looking forward to the wind settling in from the E for at least the next 24 hours.

Trust all's well where you are.

Falmouth Outbound - Day 2

Hi everyone,

We are currently in position 47 44N 007 16W, motoring at 5 knots on a course of 185M.  The wind is 4-6 knots from the ESE.  There's broken mid and high-level cloud with the sun shining at times.  The air temperature is 12C and the water 13C.  Might not need the thermals and onesie tonight!

We sailed all last night, wending our way SW initially and then gradually S as the wind backed.  We even saw a few stars in between the occasional drizzle.  By mid-morning the batteries needed a charge so the engine went on.  And then the sea slowly glassed out as the wind died.  The batteries look like getting a very good charge.

Motoring

The new E wind is supposed to appear this evening.  With a little luck we'll be sailing again before then.  Once the easterly comes in it should hold all the way to A Coruna.

The light conditions are certainly giving us a pleasant passage.  We're keeping up with PredictWind's routing despite their advising us to motor more than we have.  Good to see the polars we refined on our way to the UK are working.

Passenger!

We spent last night dodging traffic but their density decreased from always having someone in sight to rarely having anyone in sight.  Our strategy of keeping well west of the Ushant to Finistere traffic appears to be working.  We plan to cross the lane when we have a decent sailing breeze for better speed and manoeuvrability.

Trust all's well where you are!

Falmouth Outbound Day 1

Hi everyone,

We are currently in position 49 03N 006 24W, sailing at 3 knots on a course of 245M.  The wind is 8-10 knots from the south.  There's mid-level overcast cloud with the sun almost breaking through at times.  The air temperature is 10C and the water 12C.  We're getting 8 amps from the solar panels despite the cloud.

Passing the Lizard

We're amazed we haven't had to motor.  The winds have varied between 6 and 12 knots, and from SSW to ESE.  Pretty much in line with the GRIB forecasts.  We're impressed at Zen Again's performance given her cruising main is cut to the size of one reef point and her new yankee is smaller than the old.

Keeping the Log (and keeping warm)

The sunrise this morning was spectacular.  Blood red seeping through breaks in the cloud.  We have a photo but not yet on this machine.

We're deliberately keeping away from the many cargo ships running between Ushant and Finistere.  We spent last night dodging small groups of fishing vessels and cargo ships moving at up to 20 knots.  For some reason the AIS range was very low, vice its range yesterday afternoon and this morning.  An atmospheric ducting phenomenon perhaps.  It certainly made the night more interesting with old-fashioned Mk 1 eyeball identification of traffic.

We expect the light winds to persist for another day before a new easterly breeze arrives.  It won't be much stronger but it should be steadier.  And perhaps the cloud will start to clear.

Trust all's well where you are!

Falmouth Departure

Hi everyone,

Yesterday we received our final parcel of engine spares in Falmouth.  We had a last lunch ashore in the UK at a cafe overlooking the harbour.  Needless to say the lunch was a ploughman's with a pint.  Bright sunny skies and warmish while out of the chilly wind.

Last UK Ploughmans

Today we prepared for sea.  Our last run ashore was to post our departure letter to the UK Border Force.  Sadly they were unable to stamp our passports.

Posted!

We're now sailing close-hauled towards The Lizard in a light SSE wind of 5-8 knots.  We are bound towards Spain!

The weather outlook is for light winds in the E-SE.  They'll gradually increase from very light to moderate.  We expect to be at sea for 4 days at least.

You can follow our track at https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/ZenAgain

Trust all's well where you are!

Gosport to Falmouth

Hi everyone.

We're now relaxing on the Truro River upstream from Falmouth.  Lovely quiet spot.  We arrived yesterday at sunset after a 150nm passage from Newtown Creek on the Isle of Wight.  Last night we anchored near New Zealand yacht Cerulean and joined them for lunch today.

Chillin' on the Truro River

We timed our departure from Gosport to take advantage of forecast NE winds.  Here's the forecast from PredictWind...

Weather Forecast

We'd been at Gosport Premier Marina for just over a year.  We arrived just before the first Covid-19 lockdown and departed after the third lockdown.  Nice marina with very friendly helpful staff.  Happily we did manage to visit the main Gosport museums during the Autumn easing of restrictions.  Unhappily there are many Gosport pubs we didn't get to visit.

Ready to depart Gosport Premier Marina

Heading out!

A last look at Spinnaker Tower

A few weeks before departing Gosport we met the South African crew of UK yacht Sea Walk.  They're beginning their cruising adventures.  It was fun chatting with them about bluewater cruising.  They decided to accompany us to Newtown Creek.

Sailing with UK yacht Sea Walk

We had a very nice sail beating west from Gosport to Newtown Creek on Friday.  On entering the creek Australian yacht Blue Heeler called us on VHF - they were also in the anchorage.  They had wintered in Southsea Marina and we'd met with them a couple of times when Covid rules permitted.  We first met them in 2012 in Indonesia.  We motored over to say 'hi'.

We had quiet night in Newtown Creek with a brief sundowner with the Sea Walkers.  On Saturday morning we departed the creek in company with Blue Heeler.  They were sailing to Lulworth Cove.

Australian yacht Blue Heeler

Here's our track to Falmouth...

Zen Again Track

And here are the usual stats...

• Distances/Speeds
• Route Distance = 150nm
• Log Distance = 135nm (the log is under-reading!)
• GPS Distance = 162nm
• Duration = 34h
• Average Ground Speed = 4.8 knots
• Weather
• Minimum Wind Speed = 5 knots
• Maximum Wind Speed = 30 knots
• Apparent Wind Angle Range = 50 to 180 degrees
• Seas up to 1.5m
• Cold with occasion sunny spells and a set of thunderstorms
• Engine
• Total = 5 hours
• Driving = 5 hours

And here are the plots, created from our NMEA-2000 network using SignalK, InfluxDB and Grafana...

Passage Plots

The speed plot shows the tide swinging to and fro.  It was with us from the Isle of Wight to Portland Bill and we sailed in a 10-15 knot NE breeze.  The breeze eased to 5-10 knots as we approached Portland.  With the tide now against us we slowed down and had to gybe south.

During the voyage we noticed the heading data from our Airmar 220WX was misbehaving.  It appeared to be sensitive to roll angle which is unexpected for a unit built for use on boats.  Looking into that.  

Overall we love the Airmar.  It's the first time we've had reliable wind data.  It has shown we were not bad at estimating true wind speed.  It's also interesting seeing the 3 to 5 degree nose down pitch while sailing.  The sailing force is of course applied above the centre of mass so that's exactly what to expect!

Blue Heeler departing Newtown Creek

Passing the Needles

Off Portland Bill in the early evening we had thunderstorms around us.  One of them had impressive lightning and thunder.  We gybed to and fro to keep out of their way.  Eventually the wind settled back in the NE and we headed west across Lyme Bay.  The sky cleared and for several hours we sailed under the stars.  And it was cold - down to 2C.  We were dressed in thermals, thick onesie, jumper, water proofs, gloves, hat, snood and ugg boots.

Very cold Sunday dawn

Sunshine but still cold!

On Sunday morning the wind backed from NE to N.  This gave us more apparent wind which helped us along nicely.  By midday the wind had died entirely so we motored for an hour.  After a lot of cloudy weather the batteries needed a charge anyway.  After the hour motoring a new N breeze came in but it was unreliable until mid-afternoon so the engine came on again for a while.

The forecast on VHF indicated a strong wind warning was current.  We altered course NW to go around Eddystone Rock which gave us a better angle to Falmouth in the predicted NW wind.  After we passed the Rock the new NNW wind came in, gusting up to 35 knots.

Eddystone Rock

Chilly Admiral

When using the motor earlier in the day we'd found it was sometimes failing to pump raw water through on startup.  It was due to an airlock forming in the hose between inlet and impeller pump.  So as we approached Falmouth we were careful to give ourselves time to deal with the problem recurring.  We knew we'd need the engine to punch north up the Fal River into 20+ knots of N wind.

The problem did recur so we had to detach the hose, top it up with water and re-attach it.  That worked a treat but the airlock shouldn't be happening.  Looking into how it is happening.  With the engine running we were able to motor up the Fal to the Truro River with the wind gradually dying.

Up the Fal to the Truro River

Overall our two passages to Falmouth were excellent shakedowns.  We've done a lot of work on the boat since last summer so it was good to test everything before heading off across the Bay of Biscay.

Today we've changed our engine raw water inlet back to a direct hose from inlet to impeller pump.  That should eliminate the air lock problem.  We need to clean our log impeller to get proper boat speed data.  We'll look into the 220WX heading problem.  And we need to make some changes to our electrical connections to simplify navigation and communication on our Macbooks and iPads.

Trust all's well where you are!