Day 4 Biscay Brews Up A Bevy of A Storm

The FCS crew of Challenger 3 are now in the Bay of Biscay as the cross from Portsmouth to Gran Canaria. Looking ahead there appears to be a storm on the horizon. How much fun will it be?

Tacking Like Pros

So, 245 miles into our 1600 mile trip across the Atlantic we are still tacking our way across Biscay in efforts to find our best course the wind will allow us and chip away some miles from our deep sea adventure to the final destination in the Canaries.

Early into day 4 we find we are losing visibility, so in order to make sure we are safe and our A.I.S is picking up all imposing vessels, we decide to switch our radar on for a short while. Throughout the day during our hourly logs, we noticed our readings on the barometer were dropping slowly but surely… not good!

Here Come the Walls of Water

 
A storm seems to be brewing which becomes far more of a worry when the sea state begins to get rougher and rougher. Our apparent wind speed increasing with it, blowing up to the high 30’s at points, so it’s time to have some fun and get our hands dirty.

As the Helm starts to become harder and harder to manage, we take down the Stay sail and our Skipper makes the call to bring down the Yankee 2 sail and change it for the Yankee 3 sail. This was the most fun I’ve had in years! I soon lean, that this entails 5 of us getting right up onto the bow of the boat. And with these conditions and so far up the boat, it seems as though the waves have just become walls, literal moving walls.

At moments we felt as if we would just be washed away! Just like that. We succeeded in our exhilarating mission and found the helm much more manageable. Thankfully the storm held out and conditions began to improve once again.

Having said that we were still being thrown around for a third straight day and our days seem longer and longer, hours too. Life is great, and we are making good progress for Finisterre which marks the end of the Bay of Biscay and brings us shortly onto our first stop at Cascais in perfect time for the Skipper’s birthday!

Young Tom

 
More blogs about this Atlantic Adventure can be read here: Portsmouth to Gran Canaria