Saturday 19 August 09:30
The Adventures of Tin Man
Andy Topp & Steve Arnold
Sat 19 Aug 2023 08:36
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43:23.9N
008:34.7W what three words - outsize.onrush.boilers
Yesterday was very very windy. Luckily we were tucked up
in A Coruna safely in the marina. It was a really busy day all in all doing all
the jobs. We had to move some of the safety equipment on the back of the boat
from one side to another, check a few loose connections, try the outboard and
fail to fix the outboard (suspected fuel blockage), fix a leak in the
watermaker, do a lot of laundry which meant Sam spent a good few hours guarding
his place in the queue and fending off would be queue jumpers, and head to the
supermarket to get some more fresh provisions for the next leg.
We have left port this morning and have decided not to
stop in Portugal due to increased reports of Orcas attacking boats outside of
Lisbon in the last few days. Will is mostly upset because that means he
won't be able to say he's sailed in Portugal and therefore can't legitimately
hang a Portuguese ensign on his wall - we may try to get within 12kms of the
Portuguese cost to appease him.
This all means that our next stop will be Gran Canaria,
1,028 miles away. The next seven days will be our longest ever passage and is
twice the distance we have already covered. All things being well we should
arrive sometime on Friday or Saturday next week. Part of me thinks we have too
much food and then there's a bit of me that worries we don't have enough. If we
have to crack into the emergency Frey Bentos pies in a tin we will know the
answer. Rationing may not be a bad thing - I'm pretty sure I've put on a few
pounds already this trip. Having only a few square metres of available space
means it's hard to keep up the steps!
Today is beautiful. We had the edge of storm betty as it
moved north to the UK but now the sky is blue, and the sun is strong and warm.
We have no wind today but the forecast shows that from tomorrow we should be
able to sail on a nice downwind position all the way to Gran Canaria. Fingers
crossed.
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