The morning after, update

With the help of the wine finally we all went to sleep. Waking up was a bit unreal though.
When I went over to the marina office, I learned that they were still searching for the 4^th man.

He might have been down below at the time of the collision and didn't manage to get out in time or injured by the collision. We only saw 3 man …

We all feel very sorry for the loss of the 4^th guy. We could not have done more or anything different but still.. you keep thinking what if …

Today we'll go for Corme after all. There's nothing more we can do here and there's no point in staying another day.

Andy posted an message on the Yachting Monthly forum and they asked us to write them the whole story and send it in. I think by writing and talking about it, it helps us to digest what all happened. Also we'll do some practicing in rescuing manoeuvrings on our way to Corme. We're all trained quite well but you have to keep practicing, although ... I really don't want this to happen for real again.

See for the artical of the local newspaper http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/coruna/2011/10/06/0003_201110H6P30991.htm?ok=1#

In the mean time we all went for a shower and Rutger gave a radio interview.

Some time later we were asked to go over to the port control office to give a statement.

Andy and Rutger told what they had seen and Andy was asked to write a statement and sign it. They also made a copy of my log. What seemed to have happened was that the fishing vessel tried to overtake the freighter but miscalculated their speed difference and the distance.

The man we got out of the water was probably the skipper and the one that's still missing is his son.

There were divers out now to try and find him. The other 3 are still in the hospital, one of them broke his leg.

We had a coffee and decided to pick up the plan we had yesterday, leaving for Corme tonight after dinner to get there by sunrise tomorrow morning. That is, if the visibility is good enough to get out of the marina.

may day, may day !!

What started as a lazy day ended with a disaster! We are okay though and so is the boat.

We, that is Rutger, Andy and Monique slept in and after we had brunch we launched the dinghy. We couldn't get the outboard started... no gasoline and I then remembered I forgot the external gas tank in Rijswijk. There was too little gas in the internal tank. A local fisherman came rowing alongside and wanted to help us. He only spoke Spanish and no English at all. Finally he understood that we were out of gas. So he rowed over to another vessel nearby and got us some. The outboard started but didn't run too well for some reason. The fisherman explained where to get some more gas and Rutger and I went ashore to get some. I thanked him very much and gave him € 10 for the gas and his help. He took the money for the one he got the gas from but didn't want any for himself. Instead he gave Monique 2 fish while I was away. While I was waiting for Rutger to come back from the gas station he came along and trew me another fish :-).

Anyway after a great diner prepared by Rutger with Andy supervising we left for a night sail to Corme, some 40 nm west.

We had just set the mainsail. I was down below checking the chart plotter when Andy and Ruthger urged me to come on deck. They just witnessed a collision between a fishing vessel and a big freighter. We immediately dropped the mainsail and went full throttle to the location of the collision, about .3 nm ahead of us.

I could steer the boat by the lights of the sinking finishing vessel. We heard people shouting in the water. Within 3 minutes we were there and saw 3 men in the water. Andy send had already send out a May Day. We picked one of the men out of the water, the second and the third one being picked up by a pilot vessel that came right after us at the place of collision. The man we picked up was not injured but in shock obviously. We could manege him to tell us there were 4 people on board of the fishing vessel.

I tried call the pilot vessel over the radio but the didn't seem to respond, at least not in English, so I handed over the radio to the man we picked up and they spoke spoke for a while. The pilot vessel picked up our man. We cruised around for some time to help searching for the 4^th person. By then there were at least 5 vessels and a helicopter nearby to search, using very bright search lights so we headed for the marina where I reported to the police. They made a first report and would be back next morning if needed. I also was interviewed by the newspaper that was already there...

We all had a drink and send out mails.. the modern way to write things off....

Anyway, we all did a good job I think, no panic, working well together with the search light, getting the man on board , making sure not to run over the sinking vessel... The throwing line didn't help though. There was an elastic cord on it I didn't know about and the brand new man over board system I bought in Brighton wasn't much help either. The rope was a mess!!

I'll have to check that out and make sure they're ready for use.

Anyway we made our way into the marina, not in for a sail anymore and all had a good glass of wine. Then it really sank in what we had experienced.... sort of... wondering what happened to the 4^th man...

ola, ola A Coruna

Yesterday we arrived in A Coruna. The last 24 hours we did not have any wind at all, so we motored the last part. The weather is wonderful however, warm and sunny.

We changed the watch system. Instead the 4 hour system we are on a 3 hour system with Rutger doing his own watch by himself :-)

Our route is about 40nm east of the 'shiping lane' from the TSS by Finisterre to the TSS at Brest.

That doesn't mean no ship's crossing us and there are a lot of fishing vessels as we came closer to Spain, so you still have to keep a good lookout.

The nights are getting less and less colder. The last night I didn't even had to put on my sailing jacket!

In the evening you here the dolphins close by the boat, but when you take out the torch to spot them, they stay out of the light as if they're playing hide and seek :-)

And then, suddenly in the morning mist, the coast of Spain doomed up :-) That's a great experience after 5 days and 5 nights at sea :-) before that we could see the lighthouses of course but still...

Mine was the last watch in the dark, form 04:00 till 07:00 hr. There was this very annoying purse seine fisher, with that yellow flashing light. At first it looked like a north cardinal since it didn't seem to move anywhere, but the map didn't show any N cardinal. So it had to be a purse seine fishing boat. You know that from the book but they don't use that kind of gear in Holland.

They annoying thing is though that the flashing light is so bright, you can't see any nav lights. So you have no idea where he's going. Also the light was so bright that I could see it from 5 nm, but in the dark, distances are hard to estimate..

Anyway, getting into a marina was nice too.. We got the laundry done, clean out the boat a have a nice long shower :-) After 5 days at sea, everything gets a bit damp …:-o

Today Monique got on board and we'll go a mile or so further where, according to the almanac, there's a nice anchorage close to the beach. We'll try the barbeque to make dinner tonight:-)

Gently :-)

Sunday Oct. 2. - 12:00 hrs - Position 45º16.695N/007º15.557W, about 120 nm to go.

Sailing into Biscay is always said to be tricky. That might be very true but so far the the weather is magnificent. With a gentle breeze and a very gentle sea state we're having a gorgeous crossing.


We have crossed the deep water line and are now on the Atlantic.

We picked up a small bird around Brest I guess. That had to stay with us because we were too far from land for it to fly back. At one time it came to sit on Rutger's head and of course it didn't only sit but shit, too :-). It was a little bird so the dropping was small. Unfortunately, the stress must have been too much. It went to sleep last night under the spray-hood but Andy found it dead later :-(

Yesterday we had a lot of fuzz going on with a may day relay. There was a lot of talking over the radio and the distress signal went off a few times. Although we were in international waters, they only spoke French

over the radio. We had no clue at all, no position was given, whatsoever. Anyway, there were a lot of vessels in the AIS so I figured the rescue operation would not need our assistance. I guess we were too far away anyway, because I heard them talking about a cell phone number of the vessel in distress, so they had to be close to shore.

Later that day Rutger spotted a whale. We could see the spray of water a couple of times and it's back coming slightly out of the water. That was great. We tried to film it, but that didn't work out and it only lasted

for a few minutes. Too bad for Andy he was asleep ...

Last night was fantastic. We did about 6 kt over ground with 9 kt wind; it was not cold at all, and the sky was full of stars. The only light pollution came from our tricolor. 4 times I saw a shooting star, not just vaguely but like you see in the movies - right in the direction I was looking. So I made a wish: that everything would just continue as it was right now.... it was just perfect :-)

We have had no luck with fishing so far - all we caught is sea weed... The line obviously wasn't set tight enough when we put it out, so without us noticing it, the whole reel, about a mile, rolled out.  It took us quite a while to get it all in again...

Anyway, if the winds stays like this, we will do the whole trip from Brighton to La Coruña in just one
- port!! -  tack. That would be quite unique :-)

48º38.808N / 05º05.820W

BAY OF BISCAY  -  We left Brighton around 5pm Wednesday and started off with the genaker :-)

After a while though the wind dropped and we got down to 1.8 kt speed.

We started the engine to keep some speed. The night was clear and full of stars.

The winds stayed very light so we kept on motorsailing into the second night.

For a few hours we had some really thick fog. So again I was very pleased with the sea-me and the AIS.

Today, Friday, again the weather is very nice. The wind picked up a bit and we killed the engine, still doing 8.5 kt over ground !

The wind is supposed to become easterly. That would be great for a direct leg to La Coruña. If that would really happen, we'd make the whole trip from Brighton to La Coruña in one single tack !!

Great service

As I went over to the marina office to get the boat hoisted out to fix the leaking fitting, they told me that the lock was being maintained and they could not hoist me out. However if we would go to the Sussex Yacht club in Shoreham, they would help us. We had to call them first though and make sure to go in on high tide. Otherwise there might be just enough water for the dingy...

So I made the call and we could come on Wednesday between 11:00 and 11:30. Since that was only 5 nm it would not take us more then an hour to get there. As we did, we were the last in the row and that made sense because they let us in the sling standing on the keel on timber.

Barry came over to help me with the fittings. I didn't have the tools to do it by my own so I was very grateful that I was considered as an emergency that had to be helped out right away. The guy works 6 days a week from 7 till 7, but he left his workshop to help us. The other boats would not go out anyway so it didn't matter they'd has to wait an extra day.

Anyway, the sea cock came of quite easy and the fitting too. That did not look too bad though and after Barry had cleaned them they looked like new. Hmmm, I couldn't find any real evidence of leakage, which was fine but then again... So I checked again and thought it better to check the one below too. We couldn't go anywhere until high tide Wednesday. Barry didn't look too happy but he very quickly agreed that it would be sensible thing to do. Anyway the second fitting most definite was the leaking one. The hole turned out to be way to big for the fitting and it wasn't centered anymore. Probably I had done that myself when I replaced the sea cock last year.

Barry fixed it and after 4 hours of work we were all set and watertight again :-)

So at high tide tomorrow we'll be of to Brighton to pick up the alternator that is being refurbished today, do the shopping and pick up the toilet seat hinges that Zoë from the Brighton chandlers had ordered for us, we'll be off for La Coruna. Zoë too was very helpful in finding stuff out for us. I must say that I am very pleased with the excellent customer service everybody is giving us!!

Also I must make Andy a compliment for his great cooking ! He really is very good. Monday evening he made a fantastic curry, which Rutger finished today for breakfast as well as for luch.

The good thing is that Andy will teach Rutger how to cook, so he can take over during the crossing :-)

Brighton

We left Harwich Friday around 12 UTC to catch the tide. We all had slept very well :-)

The weather was nice and sunny and although the wind was SW and would mean a lot of tacking, the waypoints we set to avoid all the shallows, shipping lanes and whatever more, were just about right for the tacking. So if the wind would have veered to the west, the route would have been the same !

The sailing was great and the weather stayed fine too. After a great meal, cooked by Andy, we started the watch system. Andy enjoys cooking and Rutger and I enjoy eating his meals... a lot :-)

Doing watches worked out fine even though Rutger stayed a bit longer, I came on deck a bit early and Andy stayed a bit longer. The reason was obvious. We were crossing the Dover section, the crowdiest part of the channel. A night you get too sea the other vessels best but estimating distances is a bit harder. Also they seem to come from everywhere and a second set of eyes is not a luxury.

I was very pleases with the AIS I installed. What a help!! You can see the vessels around you, where they're heading, their speed and course. Steering into the night can play tricks on your eyes and what you think you see, the AIS is very comforting !

Also I don't regret installing the 'sea-me'. The other vessels did actually see me and gave us way. As they should, but don't do all the time because they don't see you :-o.

So two ferries at the Dover entrance did bare off to give us way and the crossing went very smoothly. It was just about sunrise, so we got to see the contours of the famous cliffs and that was a treat too :-)

We did have our timing on the spot so we with the tide we were doing over 8 kts over ground with the same number on true wind speed !!

Again it was a great and sunny day for sailing and we enjoyed that very much. With the wind still SW we just might make it on one tack all the way to Falmouth :-)

We got out the fishing gear and as we did we saw our first dolphin! Unfortunately, when Rutger got his camera he was gone. Since the wind died and we were running short on power, I turned on the engine. I was glad I did because after a while I noticed the batteries weren't charging. Something was wrong! I did the checks I would know off, not being an electrician and the conclusion was that the alternator was down....

I have two alternators, one for then engine battery and one for the domestic batteries, so we were not in danger to loose the engine. However would would loose the power for the fridge, the instruments and the nav lights. Now a consider myself very lucky this happened at the time and place where we were. Now we could look at the chart and pick the best marina to go we could reach in daylight. That turned out to be Brighton.

So Brighton was our next unintentional stop :-) Anyway the weather is still nice and sunny. The facilities are very good as the place itself :-) We went out for diner and a few beers in a pub with live music.

Today,Sunday when I went to the showers, there was this stand of the RNLY royal national live boat institute. We had a chat and they gave me the number of an electrician that might be able to help me out with the alternator :-)

We'll get it fixed, anyway that's not the only thing that needs fixing. It turned out that the one of the through hull fittings in the front head is leaking. Not heavily but still.. I don't want to cross Bisquay on a leaking boat.... so we'll have that fixed too.
Anyway, although I wasn't really happy with all this, I'm glad it happened here and not mid Atlantic :-o

Today we all cleaned the boat. Rutger redid the roping, he doesn’t like ropes that cross each other, and Andy's cooking a wonderful meal again with all fresh vegetables. We'll sort the repairs out tomorrow and do the shopping for the trip to La Coruna. Then it'll be off for Spain probably Tuesday, although we will check the weather first :-)