Biscay and the United Kingdom are in our wake and new territories await discovery. As you will know by now, this short passage blessed us with light airs in a locale not known for its kindness to mariners. For an otherwise boring passage (which is what we like) there were still a few interesting things to note.

 

To begin with there is the inevitable comparison to Beowulf, at least  in Steve’s mind. For a brief period we would have had a glorious sail, with two spinnakers, doing ten knots in eight knots of breeze. But otherwise it would have been a motorboat ride, with far more motion – rolling with the waves – then we now experience with Wind Horse.

Then there are the visuals – there is always something to catch the eye at sea. We’ll start with what appears to be a land bird – we’d guess a pigeon – who visited mid-Biscay for a rest.

Here he is flared for landing on the water, but then the realization set would in that this was not what he was designed to do and he’d come back to us.

On a maritime theme is this 315 meter (1050 foot) container ship, photographed at a range of 3.75 nautical miles  with a Canon 100/400mm zoom. She is doing 19 knots, a speed length ratio of .6 (the equivalent for us would be 5.5 knots), and making not a ripple in the setting sun.

The profile view of the hull shape is fascinating. Note the big hollows forward which transition to max beam about a third  of the way aft. We’ll bet there was some tank testing involved in this shape.

The stern is heavily cut away to reduce volume at the waterline, what you would expect from a slow speed shape. Slow, in this case means 29 knots at a speed length ratio of .9 (in our terms an SLR of .9 would be eight knots – it is hard to beat waterline for going fast efficiently). From the AIS we know that she is 46 meters (150 feet) wide and draws 14 meters (46 feet). The length to beam ratio is 6.86, relatively beamy for a commercial vessel (but if she were narrower she’d need more draft). Wind Horse’s ratio at the waterline is just under six.

Another efficient hull design, this one optimized for much higher speed length ratios. Note the high prismatic head shape. it seemed every time we’d take a look on deck at night there would be porps to say hello, but they were less inclined to visit in daylight.

Obviously a sea bird, but what type? Perhaps a SetSailor can illuminate us on this subject. This pilot is very efficient in ground effect, barely flapping his wings in otherwise light conditions. Note how far aft the wings are set on the fuselage. Most birds and aircraft have their center of gravity near the quarter point of the wing.

And a tech photo for camera gear heads. We were tracking this guy as he flew around the boat, using the Canon 7D tracking mode. The 7D appears smart enough to maintain its lock on the subject (the bird) without being distracted by the pulpit. Very cool.

Note the downturned wingtip. We’ve seen this same aerodynamic shape on everything from pelicans to albatross when they are flying in ground effect.

33 years ago we were cruising in a remote part of New Guinea. One afternoon, during a strong gale with rather large seas, we watched a huge tree float by about 15 meters / 50 feet to windward. This was aboard a fiberglass yacht, with two small children, well before the advent of EPIRBs. Had we collided with the tree and not opened the bow the rudder surely would have been ripped off. Our lack of watertight bulkheads, something we had not thought about seriously before, came sharply into focus. Why anyone builds a boat without at least a fore and aft watertight bulkhead is beyond us, and testimony to the joke that regulations like CE and NMMA play on a trusting public.

Back to the photo, in the last 24 hours we’ve seen two large pieces of debris and had one big thump at night.

A Hallberg Rassey motorsailing at eight knots towards France, taking advantage of the nice weather while it lasts. They must be expecting weather as they are already reefed down.

A little something to excite an  old time navigator’s pulse as we make our landfall. There is enough of the sun here that with the filters on a sextant you can pull out the upper limb. With a low sun angle this gives a good line of position for longitude.

At the same time we have the moon overhead for a latitude LOP. These LOPs will cross at almost right angles, and you’ll know with a degree of precision where you are – a very satisfying feeling. Of course we know that now from any of the multiple GPSs aboard, and we would not go back, but that GPS feeling is not the same.

Speaking of feeling, we have run this passage at a slow (for us) ten knots, for two reasons. First, we figured there was no sense in arriving too early on Sunday morning. Second, we wanted to see if we could get used to going this slow. For the past 45,000 miles we have mainly run at eleven knots. Between the new props and lower RPM – 1600 to 1700 compared to 1850-1950 before at the faster speed – Wind Horse has an even nicer ambiance noise wise.

All of which leads to landfall on the Northwest corner of Spain.

And a new (for us) courtesy flag.

Finally, a sight which has greeted cruisers for more than two millennia, the Tower of Hercules (to the right in the photo).

This light house was originally built by the Romans in the olden days.

Wind Horse is now berthed at Marina Coruna with fast wifi, hence all these photos. Time for a little sightseeing before we get back to the drawing board.