Voyage of the Impala

that about sums it up...

Mussle farm mine field in the fog

a dream across the Bay of Biscay

I gave my Croc a proper berial (message in a shoe)

Jerry waxing Hamlet

cleaning my new stove ... a lot

spectacular

sad day for impala

Went up to get the Spinnaker, only brought 2/3 down

Jerry blows by 110 ft Schooner (though he has no idea where he is going)

Gale off Malpica, Spain (double reefed main only)

The Spainsh Army

These french kids had no idea what Oliver was talking about (but got every word)

Alfie and Jerry showing off their Kyoto Cappies (alfie solves global warming)

showing the Freedom people how to sail these boats

Onboard with the entire World Championship US 420 team

La Coruña, Españia

The crew has just arrived in Spain about 2 hours ago after about 60 hours of beautiful sailing. Alfie, Jerry, Amy, Connor, and I left La Trinite at 10:00 am on Wednesday to come right below a perfect high giving us 15-25 knots at our tail for the entire trip across the Bay of Biscay. The trip was the best yet with the exception of our late trouble with the spiniker. Just before sunset last night the wind crossed our stern to the northeast, forcing us to jibe for the first time after flying the spiniker at around 8 knots for a day or so. We had a horrible collapse on the switch which resulted in the worst forestay-spiniker wrap Alfie had ever seen. Connor, Alfie, and I took turns for over an hour as we lost our sunlight trying to cut the entanglement down with no avail. Just before the stars came up we still had the last third holding our jib hailyard to tight for use. It wasn´t until we came into the La Coruña harbor here that Connor could cut the remainder of our sad-humiliating sail down. All considering our misfortune, the breeze came up enough for us to hold a steady 7.5 knots for the remaining 120 miles or so.

The night sailing for us has been absolutely spectacular. Not only did we have no distracting lights from land for at least 100 miles, but we also only saw about 4 other vessels for the entire journey, which enhanced our view of the night sky beyond belief. What made the night watches even more amazing was the fact we were caught in the middle of the annual Perseid medeor shower!

It´s hard to explain what Spain is like at the moment now that I´m fatigued and am in a state of extreme need for sleep. Alfie explained to us that there´s always an hour of euphoria for every day you´ve been at sea. I suppost that still hasn´t worn off and feel rather intoxicated being back on solid ground. To tell you all the truth I don´t have enough strength to type anymore...

We´all saw a concert being set up just a few hundred yards from our dockside and might return later tonight to see what this Spainish nightlife is all about. So, thank´s to all who have commented and hola a los todos! Adios...