HERE - Polynesian Catamaran Association

inthe aftsection pod-side.Itwashalfflooded because ofthe rubberwhichseals the hullw here the steering connectionwasbroken.Afterthatand theheavy weather the Iast days I wasrealy depressed and Iwas consideringcom ing backand telScottto takeIga Khalee and selher!Then IIistenedto BBC and they saidsomethingIike gales aI1overexceptin the SW ofthe Biscay and the decisionwas madeeasy.Let'sgo to La Coruna and havea break,O ne week Iater after twosleepless nights and being chased bySpanish fisherm an twice, I had aneight hours trip through dense fogapproachingLa Coruna with no m ap!12/10/96 0445 Iwas m oored atRealClub Nautica La Coruna,had a coupleofGuinnessand slept14 hours.Ispent4 weeks in La Coruna havingsome fun with three Danish guys whowere stuckthere on their15m ferrocementboat They had been in afiercestorm and the boatwas in such badcondition that I doubt if they wentbefore Spring 1996, heading forBrazil.Afterstocking uponfood and water,IIeftLa Coruna form y second attem ptto go straightto Durban. Forthe firsttwo days Iwas heading W estbutthewind was very Iightand Im ade only120 nauticalm iles Ofcourse itwasgoing tochange -on day five the windpicked up again from the Nodh and inthe night reached force seven,whichwasn't too bad aI sails down andrunning off,with a day run of1O0 n m .Nextnightitwentdown to force siy,justto come back again intheafternoonreaching eightto nine and Iastinganotherday! The wind directionhad changed and Iwas going SEEitherthere were two depressions oneafteranother ora giantone becausethe bad weatherlasted untilthe 15thofNovem ber,finaly saying good-byewith a 7-8 which died to nothing in thenight.Afterten days ofheavy weatherandjust550 nm.made good Iwas360m iles offGibraltar,inthe middleofthetrafficzones The nextday ItriedtheGenoa which Iasted abouttwo hoursinaforce 2-3 the eye atthe head rippedoutand the halyard was Ieftatthe m asthead!Nothing else to decide thanto goto Las Palm as in the Canary lslands,(Againwithoutachartl)Iknew thatl-asPalm aswasnota difficultIand fa lNaturaly forthe rem aining 470 n m Ihad Iight winds, som etim es from theSouth but the weatherwas warm andsunny and finaly onthe 25thofNovem -ber l dropped anchor in Las Palm aswhere Iwas to spend the next twomonths doing repairs, restocking theboatand waiting forthe wind to changeTo be continued in m ag 32Page 17