Close encounters of a fishing kind
Zepher
Chris & Lyn Darch
Fri 7 Sep 2007 12:59
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Date : 1st Sept to 7th Sept 2007
Noah's Progress ; "Close encounters of a fishing
kind"
One thing I forgot to mention in our last ditty was
the close encounter with many long lines , by now we have got the hang of Ria
hopping , a pleasant day sail , looking out for pot lines and buoys , here they
don't have coloured markers , they are either small black or white ones about
the size of a small melon , usually just the one , for the uninitiated
the have attached to them a long line with about ten to twenty pots laid
out on the sea bed , catching that little lot round the prop would defiantly
give you a bad hair day , coupled with this the swell / wave height
is normally between 4 to 6 ft so spotting the buggers is a must do pass
time around these coasts , anyway back to the ditty , we came swaning round
the headland under sail cracking along saw a small group of six to
eight fishing boats around two deep water reefs , we had planed to cut
through these reefs to shorten our journey time , as we appeared charging down
on the gap they all dispersed in a hap hazard directions , trailing a large
orange buoy , unusual we thought they don't mark there pots that well ,
about three hundred metres out they dumped a large Dan buoy ( floating buoy
with pole through it ) ,looking through the bin's I thought shit Long Lines ,
these are laced with fish hooks drifting with the tide around the reef gap
, the fishing boats were charging up and down it was like a German mine field
about six to eight of these lines dispersed on our path in staggered
lines , first thought was try to dodge in and out but common sense
prevailed , we turned round and went back the way we came about three miles and
came round the back of them , looking at it we guessed they were catching fish
shoals coming up from deep into shallow through the gap in the reef ,
anyway problem avoided we continued to Bayone with no other fishing
encounters .
Bayone , lovely little sea side town , a huge
Spanish fort guards the entrance which is now a national park , took a morning
to walk round it , visited Chris Columbus replica vessel moored in the Harbour
, this is the place they made landfall on returning from the "New World "
pretty basic made the victory look like a cruise liner .
Day tripped to Vigo a large industrial
city about 20km from Bayone , we found the chart agent as we needed
some detailed ones of Madeira , and Pta Santos they were really helpful it
turns out they can get Admiralty charts in one day and Spanish in two ! they are
agents for both , their other trade is big ship compass build and refurb
sextant build and refurb a dying art in this day and age , it was like a
throw back to the fifties very tidy with lots of small lathes all set up to turn
small bits of brass , all belt driven from a central shaft , it looked
like an old cotton mill .
We had a look round Vigo , not much to talk
about , looked like Southampton in the sun , docks one side shops the other
, the cruise ship Oriana was alongside so all the street traders were out along
the front selling dodgy hand bags,watches and perfume , it gets hotter the
further you go inland here so we escaped back to the coast , nice breeze , Lyn
picked up a tummy bug , think it was the melon ! so spent the night with stomach
cramps , nothing coming out of either end though , took here a day to get over
the bulk of it.
Have done more local sightseeing , a bit of
boat maintenance , moved half of the anchor chain to the middle of the boat and
all the heavy tool boxes back aft , it all added up to 250 kilo we
are lightening the front end to improve down wind performance and to stop
the bows burring too much it the long swells , the trip to Madeira should see if
we have any improvement .
Well the next saga will be from Madeira , Lyn
expecting lots of Dolphins , fishing lines preped for an attempt to catch the
fabled Dorado , new lures and line rigged for action , Dan note it our first
proper attempt ! .
Geoff reporting in on the mechanical
front, have done my engine checks , found some of the engine mount bolts slack ,
have tightened , had to adjust the packing on the stern tube twice , 300 hrs on
the engine approx , generator full oil change .
Steve we have a bigger flag rigged , not a full
yard like yours but a 3/4 , will progress to a larger as time goes on and we
feel our sailing experiance justifys it ...
The Noahs " Bayona"
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