Santander

Crossing the Bay of Biscay is often a topic of conversation amongst European sailors. They revel in a good downwind run or tell horror stories of the rough weather. If you look at a chart you will see a “canyon” on the sea bottom where the depth changes dramatically. This can cause big waves with very rough conditions. As we set off from Crouesty and passed Belle Isle, it appeared that the conditions we were tracking had arrived about 12 hours early. Although having said that… there are at least half a dozen weather models to follow and this summer they have often all been dramatically different. Anyway, it looked good so we continued. Unfortunately, this meant that my seasickness meds did not have sufficient time to work their magic. As darkness fell and the horizon disappeared, the winds were increasing and veering so that we were close reaching, close hauled. Suffice it to say that Alan did a hero’s job for the next two days and I don’t remember a lot of the passage. Having been pushed off course from our original destination on Gijón, we arrived in Santander about 60 hrs later. We found the first protected bay and dropped anchor. Santander is a pretty industrial city that did not inspire us to visit. After 24 hours of sleep we were ready to move on.  We left at first light to catch the west going tide.