Estrada, A

Now the first thing to bare in mind is we were not intending to go to Vigo. We were intending to go to A Coruna and then even get as far as the other side of the bay if the weather allowed. This little hop turned into a bit of an epic. We checked the tides and the weather and saw a small opportunity to make some westerly miles. It was an evening leave from Viveiro and at 5pm we untied and headed out. We had just gone half a mile when rob said he had forgotten to return Marina key. So we nipped back. Maybe this was a sign. We sailed over to a little bay under the headland called Cabo de Bares . Our intention was to have supper while anchored in the dark and then set off with the tide round the headland. All going well so far and Supper prepared by nick was delicious. Do the washing up tog up and go. Straight into watch system on a very dark night. Wind was moderate and there was a largish swell left over from the storms. This stretch of coast is rocky and a likely to have quite a bit of shipping. 3 hours on watch 6 hours in bed not to bad really. By the time i woke we were entering the Bay that leads to our destination A Coruna. The weather was fine and we though we would push on to a small port across the bay Malpica and wait for the weather pulse to move through. Here comes the sliding door moment. We were most of the way to the cute little harbour and it wasn’t even lunch time. Quick peak at the weather. We have time to push on to Muxia which is round the corner and will be in the much waited for northerly air flow. We set a coarse to co around the corner. It added just 40 miles and the weather and tide was looking bang on. As we headed into the last 10 miles the wind built and we started reducing sail. The weather had turned up a bit early but the mighty morvenna was happy in these conditions and we happily beat our way to the entrance of the bay. We even got a bit of help from the engine to help us point higher for the last section. Destination in sight but a few miles of up wind still to do through the entrance. The engine stopped and would not start. Checked the basics and it looked like fuel starvation. The sea was still quite big and the wind was beginning to howel. And only 1 hour til darkness. We had no choice but to tack out to sea and put some distance between us and the coast. The weather we were hoping to sit out was on its way and we were going to get some. Our first tack took us straight offshore towards the TSS traffic separation scheme which we would cross at 90 degrees. The dark of night had now set in and the 2 reef stay sail set up we had going was manageable steering big waves in the dark of night is very hard work. And our watches were changed to 2 hours on 2 hours off in rotation for 1 every hour as we needed 2 on watch 1 to steer the boat and 1 to manage the traffic. By the time we had cleared the traffic separation scheme we were 50 miles off shore. And the heavy SW wind was likely to drag us further north, back into the Bay. It was time to tack and start south against the wind and waves . Heavy seas and the constant threat of fast moving container ships kept our minds focused until the new day was in.
The next day we were clear of the shipping and the sea and weather was being much kinder, time to find out what the problem with engine is. Rob and I began to strip out the stairs in the boat to reveal the engine. All the symptoms said fuel starvation so that is where I started stripping out filters and fuel lines. They were all full of sludge. My guess was that we had had an attack of diesel bug in one of the tanks. I replaced the filters with new ones and switch the engine over to the reserve tank. After some complicated bleeding the engine was running again. But the reserve tank only had 6 hours of motoring in it. We set a coarse for Vigo 50 miles away with an ETA of 5 am. We used the motor and the reserve tank for the last 10 miles to get through the busy harbour entrance. And up to the marina.
After checking in and having a shower it was time to crack open our fuel tanks and check what was going on. The main tank had 4 inches of diesel bug sludge in the bottom, apparently diesel bug can grow at exponential rates in the right conditions and I think this is what happened. We organised for a contractor to pump out and dispose of all of the fuel. While we all cleaned out and treated the tank, pipe work and filters. We revealed the tank refilled the tank at great expense and were ready to go.
We thought it best to check out some local Galician tapas brats first. And I guarantee Galician tapas bars are the best there are, value and standard.
This delay meant that we were committed to a one trip straight to the canaries and Las Palmas. And not stop off in Madeira as planned.Read more