Friday, October 6th 2017: being towed into the harbour of Camariñas, Spain
Just as planned FARR-out set sail on the 17th of September. In two weeks time she made her way over the North Sea and through the English Channel with stops in Oostende, New Haven and Weymouth to Dartmouth, England. Moored in Dartmouth, we waited for a good weather window to cross the Bay of Biscay and be underway to the next stop in Vigo, Spain.
On October 3rd, things were looking good and she went on her way. After 3 days of smooth sailing in beautiful sunny weather conditions, we were surprised by a sudden storm in the Atlantic, off the Spanish north coast. Earlier we had made the decision to stay outside of the shipping lanes and were therefor at least 70 miles out off the coast. Unfortunately as it later turned out: "too farr-out".
In the night of 5/6 October, FARR-out found herself in a 10-11 bfs storm with waves up to 6 meters. First we lost the autopilot and then she went flat on her side in a big wave that hit her from the side, causing all electronics to be wrecked. Dennis had to manually steer her against the waves for hours in a row. Since we were out of the coast so far and exhaustion was an issue after three full days at sea, as well as, the insufficient amount of fuel aboard, we called for rescue knowing we would not be able to make it safely into a harbour.
Rescue came Friday morning, and FARR-out was towed for 7 hours in these hefty weather conditions (wind still blowing with 35-40 knots and the waves being still 6 meters) with her crew remaining on board. It was a very tough unpleasant ride, feeling caged on our own boat. The towing ride unfortunately caused additional damage to the bow, because due to the weather conditions we were unable to attach the towing lines properly. She was towed to the nearest harbour: Camariñas in Spain.
We were and are very grateful for the rescue, without it FARR-out and her crew would probably not be around any more to continue this "dream".
Awaiting instructions from the insurance company, FARR-out was moored in Camariñas for the remainder of the month, and her crew flew back to the Netherlands to make further arrangements. In November, Dennis and his mate drove from Rotterdam to Camariñas and sailed her to Vigo, where, as we learned, there are proper shipyards capable of carrying out the necessary repairs. They met with the insurance surveyor and made arrangements with the people at the boatyard Astilleros Lagos.
For now, FARR-out remains in Vigo, until all repairs have been carried out and in the mean time our skipper is contemplating new plans . . .
November, 2017: Underway to and in Vigo, Spain
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