Sail from Ireland to Spain

IrishHomer · 13-01-2018 08:00PM #1

Curious to know does anyone here ever sail from Ireland to Southern Spain?

I'd love to do it some time it's an ambition of mine

Steve · 13-01-2018 08:02PM

Not personally but I know plenty of people who have done it.

Biscay can be nuts if the weather is bad.

HeidiHeidi · 13-01-2018 08:46PM

I've done it three times - all north to south (I've made it a policy of mine always to sail in a southerly direction where possible!)

First time was literally my first time offshore, I had absolutely no clue what I was getting into! We sailed straight from Kinsale to La Coruna, 72 hours exactly on starboard tack the whole way, not a single maneouvre on the whole trip! I barely had enough clothes with me, it was my first time realising just how cold it gets out at sea - two hours out from La Coruna I was wearing literally every stitch I had with me and was just about warm enough, two hours later we were cooking at 8am in about 35 degrees in the marina!

Second time was a delivery from Dublin again to La Coruna. Can't remember much about it tbh, must have been very unremarkable.

Third time was a jaunt on a Sigma 33 again from Dublin. We stopped in the Scillies, which was a great spot - very interesting place, and a whole different microclimate all of its own - and then on to La Coruna (again!).

None of the trips had brutal weather - it got windy ok but because we were reaching/running it was very manageable. Where Biscay starts to shelve up towards the coast of Spain is where the sea really pitches up - that was hard work in the Sigma! We had a week down there, and then a different crew sailed the boat back home again - they had a much harder time of it, beating into all sorts of sea and wind off the Spanish coast. I'm not sorry in the slightest that I haven't done that leg yet!!

I'm sure there's boats heading that direction all the time - not least because there seems to be a few Irish boats heading across the Atlantic in the ARC every year, and they all have to be got down to the Canaries for the start. Keep your ears peeled and I'm sure you'll find a berth on something

ETA - just realised you said "southern Spain" - I've never gone on down the coast of Spain/Portugal and around into the Med - but the Straits of Gibraltar is on my list!

pedroeibar1 · 14-01-2018 12:51PM

OP You need to get some serious sailing experience first if you want to work a ride on a passage like that. Once you have that, for a non-stop trip to Southern Spain you probably need a contact on the S. Coast of England. I’ve done several trips down/back under sail and/or motor as many years ago I spent 10 months on deliveries, mainly from Southampton and usually Moody’s, although my first trip was on an Irish motorboat (on which almost everything broke, from electrics to a heat exchanger on an engine). The furthest mainland Spain delivery was up to Almeria, although I’ve also done the Balearics and Corsica/Sardinia.

There are two main itineraries for going south – one by ‘cruise’ people who sail to France and port-hop down the coast over holidays /a period of months / years depending on their lifestyle. The other is a fast run, by owners who want their boats brought to a certain place by a certain date, usually for a family holiday. In the latter route La Coruna usually is the first port of call. In those days there was no GPS just sextant or RDF when in range so the favored route was a bearing on the Scillies, and or Ushant thence to La Corunna. I do remember one yacht having Loran which was impressive at that time.

There are not many hospitable harbours on Spain’s NW coast, it is very rockbound. Got totally blasted once off Cabo Villano and eventually had to put into Vigo to recover. There is a lot of long-line fishing off the coast of Portugal and on a MY we managed to pick one up on a propshaft and had to put in to Cascais for repairs – I’ve only once been up to Lisbon, quite far up and a pretty trip but very strong currents. Gib we hated as a destination as in those days the border with Spain was closed and to get back to Spain you had to go to Tangiers, overnight there (the ‘hotel’ we used to stay in did not allow alcohol but the owner had a ready supply of kif for sale!) and then a ferry to Algeciras. Gib back then had little to show for itself, a weird place. It’s worth going up the Rock and also into St. Michaels cave. One side of the harbour/mole is off limits (RN area – don’t know if that’s still the case) and the approach at night is best avoided as the lights are hard to identify against the backdrop of the oil refinery on the Spanish side.

My worst foul weather trip was bringing a beautifully equipped Moody Carbineer (44 ft ketch) back to the Hamble to be sold. We had a SW gale that blew F10+ for a while in Biscay, ran before it under bare poles, warps streamed. It was so bad at one time that the jolting caused some crystal glasses in the fiddles to shatter along with a couple of bottles. A fantastic seaworthy cruiser. That owner’s next boat was an SOS 65 but for her he hired a full-time crew. Now deceased, his final boat was another ketch, but 40 metres and a crew of 8!

Sailing through the 'Pillars of Hercules' is a milestone. Busy traffic, and depending on direction if a Levanter or Poniente is blowing just use the engine. Also, if either is blowing for a few days (normal) it causes the surface layer to shift and there is quite a bit of ‘tide’.

Those ten months got the long-range bug out of my system.

Sail from Ireland to Spain

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