The wind has been light, but we have been quite lucky with the weather in the Bay of Biscay. Known for its westerly gales and currents that have for hundreds of years been the bane of many a sailing ship, we have experienced nothing but light airs. As such we continue to steam and get ourselves out of Biscay rather than wait for the weather to become foul. It’s places like Biscay that the term ’embayed’ comes from and we have no intention of being here to find out what that’s like.
We did shut down and sail for a short time today however to take some measurements for our new royal braces, these have wire pennants on them that turn into rope at the hauling end and must be measured very precisely so that the transition between the wire and rope doesn’t get caught in a block when braced up sharp.
With our measurements and bracing done we took in all but some fore and aft sail and got the big Burmeister & Wain Alpha diesel main engine heading us for the edge of the Bay and the coast of Spain.
SHIP’S WORK: Work on Ratlines in the headrig, ft trim pieces to galley port holes, sailmakers put a patch in Fore Topmast Staysail ‘D’ and continue tabling on the Flying Jib, bend the Mizzen Topmast Staysail
FROM: La Rochelle, France
TOWARDS: Quebec, Canada
TIME ZONE: GMT
NOON POSITION: 44°10.7’N / 007°34.3’W
DAYS RUN: 149nm
PASSAGE LOG: 319nm
DISTANCE REMAINING: 4,369nm
COURSE AND SPEED: Hove to
WIND: W x N, Force 2
WEATHER: Overcast, air temp: 19°C, water temp: 15°C
SWELL HEIGHT & DIRECTION: N’rly, 1ft
SAILS SET: Squares to the Royals, Inner Jib and Spanker