South to Spain - 48° 19' 45" N 05° 24' 28" W

Tuesday 15 September - We expected a bouncy time across the Channel with an upwind beat

Despite some rather nasty weather developing off Iceland, we determined that we had the weather window to dodge the worst of it and head across the Channel and the Bay of Biscay towards Spain.

The Bay of Biscay has a rather notorious reputation.  The great swells rolling in from the Atlantic encounter the continental shelf, where with depths suddenly rise from 4,500 metres to just 40 metres.  This can cause the seas to become very steep and very big indeed.   Add to that the violent winter storms for which the North Atlantic is famous and it's not hard to understand why the bay has such a reputation.

Wednesday 16 September - The conditions would improve in The Bay of Biscay with the
nasty weather behind and in front of us

The forecast showed the wind was favourable and the seas, although big, would be oceans swells with long periods and would not cause us too many issues. So off we went.

Thursday 17 September - The wind direction was forecast to be favourable

Tacking out past the Eddystone Lighthouse of Plymouth, we sped along under full sail.  Once we entered the Channel proper, the seas began to build and the wind strengthen.  It was very squally and the wind swung all around the compass as the systems passed by us.  Overnight, we shortened sail, crossed the busy shipping lanes and by morning were working our way around the French coast.

The forecast proved correct and the Bay of Biscay was on best behaviour.  We sped along with the current and slowed down when it turned.  A few squalls appeared on the horizon and passed around us with minimal impact.  The winds payed nicely and our average speed was almost a knot faster than we had planned.  

After three nights at sea, the Spanish coast was a welcome sight as we approached A Coruña.  We motored sailed past the surf crashing onto the rocks and were safely tied up by late afternoon.

Woo hoo, we sailed to Spain - 472.1 nautical miles in three days and two hours.

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