Baiona

They finally made it to their intended destination Baiona. The forecast proved correct and there was enough wind to push them along, and got in shortly after 10pm. The new system of maneouvring her into anchorages with the tinker traveller and the outboard is proving successful and it's all sounding abit more upbeat! Today it will be a case of going ashore, sussing out the facilities and hoping they can get hold of a mechanic for Monday. There is wifi at the marina so Pete is hoping that he may be able to get the laptop online over the weekend, which would be nice, so that he can send some pictures.

Who Knows a Mechanic?

Well not such great news tonight, they have anchored up at the nearest available port (missed the name I'm afraid!) but it ain't where they wanted to be! They were lolling around with no wind, so used the tinker traveller and its outboard to nudge their way into anchor. Went ashore, found some parts and decided to try and fix it themselves. Unfortunately when I rang it seemed even more broken than it was before! Pete is concerned the leg is very broken, which would be a huge blow. But as I said none of them are mechanics and are really able to tell the difference between a bit broken and very broken, so they were planning to go ashore for a meal and maybe a bottle of wine or two, and then tomorrow try and catch some breeze to enable them to get to Baiona where there are much better facilities and chances of finding someone who knows what they are doing. The weather forecast I have on the net is giving the most wind Friday pm and evening so at the moment the plan is to make a move then in the hope it will be enough. After that it will be fingers crossed that it is not as bad as it seems, and fixable.

Starting and stopping

Two phone calls via the mobile, one last night and one this morning. Last night they were going great guns, having had force 6 gusting to 7 from the afternoon onwards. Too rough to cook dinner apparently but having a really good sail. The cruising chute is history, Pete having wrapped it round the forestay in the dark. It took them 3 hours to cut it free and is now in shreds! Apparently some pictures were taken of Pete hanging off the end of the spinnaker pole trying to do his Johnny Depp impression of swashing his buckle through the rigging!

Change of story completely this morning, the wind died at 3 am and they decided to motor. Except that the engine leg - which he'd got fixed two days before leaving, was hanging on by a thread. One pin had gone completely and the other was looking dodgy. So no engine now until Baiona where they hope to get it fixed. Apparently there is a lifting cradle there and a good marina so they are hopeful that the facilities will be there to do the necessary. Meanwhile, they were doing 2 knots with 46 miles to go. On the bright side, they were in glorious sunshine, with the boat surrounded by dolphins and about to have a full English breakfast.

First Position

Just had the first phone call via the sat phone, not too bad once you get the hang of the delay ,and a bit faint at times, but better than nothing. Didn't get too much info as it was literally a 3 minute call, but got their position and that they had their first of probably many disasters this morning. The cruising chute got wrapped around the forestay and after alot of wrestling they had to cut it free which Pete sounded a bit gutted about! I think that was the first time all year that it's even been out of the bag. They were hoping to makes Spain Thursday/Friday so no doubt will get the full story then. Apart from that all were reported well so far.

They're Off

At about 10.15 this morning they slipped the moorings and sailed out from St Mary's harbour under cruising chute - looking quite nice really! All a last minute rush as predicted, with David probably the most rushed of all only having arrived back in Scilly less than 24 hours earlier! They are looking forward to a nice sail across Biscay with the first planned stop in Baiona in Spain, just south of Vigo. Pete's promised me a phone call from about half way across Biscay with a position so that we can put our first x on the chart!