Moonrise Voyages

Simply Sailing

Showing posts from: July 2016

Biscay Crossing

Monday 18 July 2016          Crossing the Bay of Biscay.   Whether justifiably or otherwise, in my mind the crossing of the Bay of Biscay had assumed monumental proportions. One pilot book recommends taking on extra crew for the crossing. All of them agree that it’s tricky. One old salt I consulted in Falmouth who’s crossed

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Arrival in Spain

Tuesday 12 July 2016 Arrival in Spain. I arrived last night in La Coruna, on the NW corner of Spain. The Biscay crossing was, um, challenging. I’ll write a more detailed post shortly but for now I have things to do as you can imagine. Stay tuned.

Pilot Boats, Old and New.

Saturday 02 July 2016        Falmouth, UK. Ships’ captains are expert mariners but cannot possibly know every port in detail. That’s where the pilots come in. They are locals who know their areas intimately. They go aboard ships as they approach port and guide them safely in. Nowadays pilots go out to their client ships in

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Falmouth, UK

Friday 01 July 2016                        Falmouth, UK. Heading South from England entails crossing the Bay of Biscay. This means that right at the start, when you’ve yet to get into the swing of things, you’re faced with a five-day passage across seas that are notorious both for being rough and for being busy with commercial shipping

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