Crossing the Bay of Biscay

It took us 3 days and 3 nights to sail from Camaret (France) to A Coruña (Spain). Fabule valiantly made his way through the agitaged waters of the Bay of Biscay (Golfe de Gascogne). For this crossing, we were a team of 3 crew members, providing more comfort for the watches as well as additional skills and good company.

Last stop in Brittany (Camaret)

Bryan (owner of a Boreal named Willow, NZ) joined us onboard Fabule in Brest. The next morning, we left for Camaret, located closer to the Atlantic coast and offering nice hiking opportunities.

The navigation plan

Once clear of the coast of Brittany, we first had to sail upwind and tack several times. A front was forecasted in the middle of the second day with a wind shift allowing us to continue downwind on a direct route to A Coruña. The predictions turned out to be fairly accurate and we were able carry out our plan.

Day 1 – Getting settled

After a cup of coffee, we left Camaret and sailed away from the coast and its activities.

Beating into the wind, we adjusted to the motion of the boat and gently adopted the rythm of a crossing. Birds, dolphins and sky provided beautiful untertainment.

As the sun set, we started the watches (Silvia 21-24, Yan 24-03, Bryan 03-07, Silvia 07-09), allowing everyone to get a period of 6 hours of sleep. The wind increased during the night and we had to reduce sails (reefed main and jib).

Day 2 – Wind shift

The front arrived on the second day, providing the expected wind change. We were on a broad reach now. The front also created a lot of confused waves, making the sea state very uncomfortable for a while. The crew kept their spirits up and prepared for the second night. The wind decreased below 10 knots and the sails started flogging due to the waves. We started the engine for a few hours.

During the night, we crossed the half way point and the next morning started with a fantastic sunrise.

Day 3 – Ghost ship

After breakfast, we decided to fly the spinnaker to make the most of the light downwinds. But the wind started to pick up and we rapidely had to lower the spi again. Well, it was a good exercice.

On the AIS, we noticed a sailing boat nearby with a weird behaviour (speed of 1-2 knots and constant changes of direction). We decided to get closer and make sure that everything was alright. The boat was drifting, pushed around by waves, navigation ligths still on, nobody appeared to be on board. We stayed close to the boat and tried to make a distress call on VHF channel 16. However, we were too far offshore for the coast guard to hear us. No other ship was answering either. It was a very unsettling situation.

Later, we learned that the owner of the boat was a solo sailor who felt sick and made a distress call to a passing ship in order to be evacuated and brought to a hospital via helicopter. We were so relieved that it was not a man over board situation. Meanwhile, a fishing vessel had recovered the boat and was entitled to claim up to 50% of the value of the salvaged boat. This story gave made us talk a lot about what we should do in case of an emergency.

Arriving in A Coruña (Spain)

The rest of the journey was uneventful. We reduced our sails during the night in order to arrive in A Coruña by daylight. We had reached Spain and were exited to explore this new destination after a well-deserved rest.