Biscay Crossing Part 3 - Single handed Sailing Ireland to Spain
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Part 3 of 3, the weather turns in my favour, I turn reflective, cross shipping at Finisterre, and arrive in Spain. Lack of footage at the end down to tiredness and focus on docking, I'll get better at this part!
How good it is to watch a totally unpretentious sailing channel.
The native Irish are very normal people.
That certainly was the culture until recently. Maybe changing now.
Wonderful down to earth story! Please don’t smarten anything. Just keep your story as it is.
Well done! You literally articulate every thought, fear, and question I have about sailing. I’m at the point that I’m done talking about it and ready to throw the dock lines and go. Thanks for being real.
Thanks Tim, fair winds to you!
Brilliant, well done, a great achievement
bellissimo racconto .... grazie
Well done Sir 🙂👍👍👍🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Well done! Very inspiring. Fair winds!
Thanks for taking me along on your blue water crossing. I could see that it was a challenge for you and a great accomplishment. Your emotion as you arrived was apparent. Well done, and inspiring.
I take my hat off to you boy...it takes metal to be afraid and just have to plough on...you're after giving me a kick in the arse to push on ...fair play👍
Cheers Gary!
Loved this , I'm hoping to have sailing lessons next year with my son Callum , was supposed to to have them with my 18 year old daughter who died recently but my son said we should still do it in her memory....
So sorry for your loss John, that is unimaginable. I sail with my mum sometimes and I can see her thinking of her times sailing with her dad, and I know when she's gone I'll sail with her in my heart. I hope you can maybe do something similar with your daughter's memory, and your son with yours in turn.
Sorry to hear about your loss….
So sorry for your loss John, Callum & Family. Your daughter will always be with you in your hearts...
Well done Mark, great achievement. Great to see how you gained confidence in the boat. That'll stand to ypu on the longer legs to come.
Great video , I'm picking up lots of tips from you , many thanks
A big milestone surpassed ! Many of us can only aspire to such a passage. Well done and thanks for sharing !
Well done , you will I spire many beginner sailors to have a dream to sail beyond the shoreline.
Thank you and good luck in future adventures as l will be watching .
What a great way to document this amazing trip. I love your honesty - especially when you said that you’re so glad you enjoy it having dreamed about if for so long! I have a contessa 32 which I sail off the south coast of the UK single handed most of the time. I too dream of a transatlantic trip so hopefully in the next few years will be following in your wake…
Thanks for the lovely comment! Contessa 32s are gorgeous boats, very rare I get boat envy but they've such beautiful lines.
I'm enjoying your sail ,you are experienced well done ,and you have the boat set up well
Well done
I'd say you have the philosophy of a true sailor, it makes watching your videos very enjoyable. Glad to see you out there doing your thing, congrats on a passage well earned.
Thanks so much Philip!
Absolutely brilliant achievement (just watched all three parts back to back) and I loved the way that you filmed it 'raw' with just your voice and the sounds of the sea/wind. Many thanks for sharing your voyage with us.
Thanks so much Billy, delighted you enjoyed them! Raw will definitely be my style for the blue water passage videos.
I will just say that I like your channel and the way you perform. Just as it is. Well done. I hope there will be new chapters in your sailing soon. I can´t wait. Thank you.
Good morning, Thank's for your reply. Good luck & may Neptune be with you! Maurice.
Well done!!Getting into sleep pattern while single handed, is an art of its own.
Yep, I've never slept on a moving boat before (including a 4 day double handed passage) so I was delighted to be able to fall into a good pattern here
Well done you!! And thanks for sharing your emotions. Brilliant! Inspires me to confront my fears and make my own dream come true.
BLOODY WELL DONE MATE!! That’s a fantastic achievement and you deserve the respect of all mariners for your efforts. You were ultra wise to take all the safety precautions that you did. SAFE SAILING ALWAYS! From an ex-mariner who has crossed the infamous Bay many times but in a much much larger merchant vessel.
Thanks very much for the kind words Michael! Infamous is right, I know I probably saw it at its most tranquil for the most part.
Very well done in every sense of the word, your presentation skills are as good as your sailing skills, almost felt I was with you on this trip. 👍🍻🥂🍾
Epic trip man, massive respect! Looking forward to following you on future voyages, best of luck!
I bought my first sailboat last year and am a single hander. I really appreciate your honesty in these adventures you are posting and though I have not yet undertaken any cruises over 12 hours I can relate . Inspiring videos like this are part of what keeps me motivated , believing I too can make my sailing dreams continue to come true.
Delighted you're enjoying the videos Clemson and fair winds on your future voyages!
Top man, first leg done😎⛵️🤙
Hello from Pennsylvania! Love your channel, thank you and stay safe.
Thanks William!
Congratulations!
Very enjoyable to watch.... thanks for being so open hearted about the emotions, anxiety, excitement and thrill of being alone at sea 🙂
A wonderful vlog of your passage! Thank you for sharing it. I remember my first multi-day solo passage was Dartmouth to Camarinas - I had an absolute nightmare across Biscay 🤣
Thanks; yeah I got a small taste, I can only imagine what Biscay would be like on a bad week
I like the last part, a beer with Sinbad, I didn't think he was still around, excellent videos, thoroughly enjoyed and wish I had the balls to do it, bravo
Ahh Mark, beyond delighted you've arrived safe and well - well done you!! 💞
Thanks Ita! Delighted to be here ☺️
Brilliant. Your calm, matter-of-fact narration was great. Very much enjoyed making the crossing with you, if vicariously.
Great job, that's a nasty passage and you made it look easy.
Awesome passage across the Biscay, good work and well documented. ⛵️
I’ve never sailed but I really enjoyed watching your trip, well done! 👍🏼
Thanks Jonny!
Well done! An excellent series of videos. I’d love to do this but not sure I’d have the confidence. Maybe one day though….
Well done Mark!!!
Congrats, how rewarding to be able to dream and actually do it! Great job!
Superb watch mate you should be proud of yourself. Takes a lot of balls to do that on your own 👍
Thanks so much Chris!
Brilliant, very well done !
Well done thanks for sharing.
Really proud of you !!!
Pretty rare to have an uneventful crossing of the Bay of Biscay it seems. Good on ya!
Great videos, we watched all your Biscay journey. Niloofar &Johannes
Thanks guys! Lovely to meet you, hopefully see you along the way.
So awesome! Appreciate the transparency...looking forward to seeing your other adventures.
Thank you for sharing your adventure. You did great and should feel very proud of yourself.
Well done mate. Fast little boat! And gives you confidence.
She really does go well downwind! Thanks David.
You are an inspiration to us all. Honest and informative. Great buddy keep em coming
Super job, just stumbled accross the vids as I got lost down the youtube rabbit hole. Signed back up to redo my yachtmaster offshore theory over the winter cos I've pretty much forgotten it over the last 15 years. However I think its time to get back to some water excursions and these three videos were great. I was getting tired of all the edited to within an inch of its life, colour tuned and produced for the algorithims stuff.
So Bravo to you!! BTW - I have subscribed.
Thanks Marty! Glad you're enjoying the videos, great that you're redoing the yacht master, that's on my list of things to do.
Congrats! Just really really inspiring
Wow, that was some amazing weather. Wonderful.
Ah great stuff. Mark. Well done. Looking foward to more of these vids. Keep it up. Fair winds
The relief of landfall is a great weight lifted from the hours/days of anxiety that comes with passage making. So glad it worked out well as you have many more to look forward to. Great footage.
Massive achievement….well done…really enjoyed that adventure.
Terrific sail, well done, a nice personal achievement. Will be keen to follow the rest of our journey and to find out about the resolution of than naughty alternator. Best.
Beautiful voyage start story to sharpen interest in voyages ahead!
Good for you. Well done. Thanks for sharing 👍
Greetings from Finland. Loved your video diary. Have fun adventuring. Peter
absolutely amazing trip...congratulation. I waiting for my time for .... untie the lines.
Thank you very much for your honest videos about the crossing. With your attitude i feel that you will be also at home crossing An ocean.
Few cans at the end there well done would love to do this , looking forward to your next journey !
Congratulations on a great passage and a fantastic video - thanks for sharing it!
You deserve to be delighted(12:55), and proud. I single-hand too, but I've never gone off-shore alone, and the anxiety you experienced early in the trip was so familiar to me. I hope that one day I can overcome that anxiety enough to make a passage like you have. Well done.
Thanks Justin, it's a hard one as it's so difficult to build up to, and the jump between a 24 hour passage and a multi-day one feels big. A good weather window helped a lot, getting the rough stuff out of the way on the first day was great for the anxiety levels! Fair winds in your future single handed offshore passages!
Very nice video.
Very good film
Well done my friend, really enjoyed.
Really enjoyed that. Happy 4 ye
Love this. So authentic and a good sense of what its like.
Nice set of videos and a great story. Thanks for sharing your adventure. I share you love yet fearful respect for the open ocean and hope to do a major crossing too at some point. Your videos are an inspiration. Fair winds and following seas to you!
Wonderful. Really captured the mood. Loved the dawn with the stars and lighthouses still shining. The Rias are definitely a highlight - don't cruise through them too fast.
Great video series, I really enjoyed it. Hoping to see more single-handed adventures.
Well done, not easy on your own, but at least your living the dream...looking forward to following your adventure. 👍
Fantastic achievement. I can tell by this third video that you had a different vibe to you, much more calm and relaxed even though you had broken sleep. Also good for you to confirm that you actually enjoy sailing.
Congratulations on your well sailed, well planned and well managed voyage. You are an inspiration to those of us who havn't yet had the courage to do what you're doing. Well done.
Thanks so much David, very kind!
just a wholehearted well done to you. love your down to earth and honest videos. so hope i get to see more of your adventures. fair winds.
Great crossing and very good weather, thanks for sharing
Well done. Enjoying your videos and the adventure.
Hi Mark, another great video and a huge achievement. I have a spare alternator on board for my Beta 38. It’s 120amp with polyvee drive but I think that’s easy to change. I should be around Finisterre Tuesday/Wednesday next week. Welcome to give it a try if you get stuck.
Thank you so much John but I've looked into changing over to poly vee before, beta have stopped selling the kits for my age of engine. Also I think I'd need a rewire for a 120A. Really appreciate the offer though, I should be able to find a stock 40A beta alternator somewhere! in Ria Arousa at the moment and probably still will be for some of next week.
Great little series, I look forward to more. I'll go back and watch tour others prep vids.
Fabulous! One day I'd like to some solo ocean passages, need to get a boat first, so now I've seen first hand what it might be like. I look forward to more videos!
Well done you 👍👍👍🏆
Well done Mark, a fantastic achievement, Great to see Sapphira performing so well. hope you enjoyed well deserved beers and looking forward to future videos.
Thanks so much Martin! Yes delighted to get that one done, a few beers were had for sure. Hope you're having a good summer, did you get out on the water much?
@@SoloSailingSapphira I did get out more than I expected this season and had perfect conditions every time so that made it even better. I've next week off so planning to drift about the bay with the dog and do a bit of hillwalking from different anchorages in Donegal. Watching your video has me excited about spending the week on the boat now!
Congratulations on your achievement. You must feel elated that your long dreamt-of project turned out to be really enjoyable and not just some idealized whim. Thank you for your honest, no tawdry frills videos. I hope you were well treated by my fellow countrymen in Northwest Spain.
Very well, thanks! Galicia is really a wonderful place, amazing food and very friendly people. And the beaches have blown us away, so beautiful
Congrats on the crossing, thanks for sharing🙂
Just found this channel and have watched the first 3 parts down to Finistere. I’ve genuinely not fast fwded a single bit. Excellent commentary, beautiful footage. Nice sturdy Halmatic. Refreshingly honest. Really like it. Reminds me of how I feel singlehanding! Keep it up and congrats on a passage well made
Thanks so much for the kind comment Matthew! Glad you've enjoyed the videos.
Well done. Must be an amazing experience!
Brilliant video.. well done
Inspiring stuff, will accellerate my planning of a trip around part of the Med,now. Ill use your videos to explain at home😊
Good general commentary and honest awareness of moods…but l was left wishing for more details…
Not aware of your boat specs, type keel, draft, type of windvane etc and wishing to know why you picked that particular route.
What precautions were taken, for instance alternatives in case of worsening weather and other safety issues like harnesses prior to sail changes. And not to be picky but the sleep strategy , and deprivation after 4-5 days would be having it’s greatest effects as you entered the busy harbor and need to maneuver… l was wondering how you were weighing all these decisions.
Thanks for sharing
Hi Carlos, thanks for the feedback! I'm learning as I'm going as to what people are interested in, I'll definitely provide more details on this sort of thing in the future. I will do a boat tour at some stage soon with these details of the boat set up, and my next major passage I'll go into more details of the planning.
Yes, those types of technical details are really interesting for other prospective navigator/sailors! Beautifully presented voyage story. SkipRay, Kerry, Ireland.
Re the alternator. Check that you do not have a build-up of debris in the alternator cooling intakes at the back of the alternator. Over time, a black, fibrous cotton-wool-like material can build up in there and the alternator struggles to cool (been there, learned that). It is easy to clear it when you get to your destination but you will have to dismount it and split the casings. It is not difficult. Also, put a manual switch in the alternator field wire so that if it is running hot, you can disable the field excitation to give the alternator a cooling break. An alternator needs enormous amounts of air to cool and there is always a bit of dust around and it builds up. Fair winds.
Yes I think this was the issue. I got the thing serviced in Vilagarcía, I don't have a vice on board and couldn't disassemble it myself. Seems to be running much cooler since.
@@SoloSailingSapphira Sapp : you shouldn't need a vice. You should be able to disassemble it on the table. All you need its a wee bit of wire (like a paper-clip) to hold the brushes in position when you re-assemble it. Keep up with that one. Our first warning was intermittent wee sparks coming out of the back of it, and on dissasembly, this strange black cotton-wool material had built up. On re-assembly, no problem since. The alternator has a centrifugal fan on the front and it draws enormous volumes of air in from the back to the front and it is not easy to see a build-up of dust and debris. Think about fitting a field wire disable switch. Remember never to switch the battery master switch with the alternator spinning. Fair winds.
Very educational stuff on the alternater problem and likely fix! Does anybody know of a good site/utube Chanel that offers DIY practical mechanical/electrical instructional videos? Thanks in advance and fair sailing to all. SkipRay, Kerry, Ireland.
Congratulations on your first crossing of Biscay deep water. I’ve watched 3 of your videos along the south coast of Ireland and parts 2 & 3 of Biscay Crossing. Compelling….telling it how it is. My fear for myself would be tiredness and you described that well. Thank you.
Thanks Hugh! Appreciate the comment
Just catching up with these. The Halmatic seems to handle the open ocean conditions really well. Its on my short list for a possible step-up from my current 23ft-er.
Yes she's a solid boat, highly recommended in the price range.
Splendid, very well done!
Youre getting there,!
Magic. Well done!
Well done! Love your videos.
Nice trip, honest video! Brings memories of my 2017 Azores trip. I ended up with 40 minutes naps 24-7.
Stay safe. & enjoy!
Seems a sensible amount of sleep! Thanks for the comment Rob
Well done, Sir!
Nice video. 👍👍👍 Have a good day.😊 Greetings. Adam 😎
well done, delighted for you! Only just found your channel, I enjoyed the rawness of your solo sailing experience. I have the same hopes to do the same one day. Some of the experienced solo sailors trawl lines/warps in big seas which helps diminish the broaching as the boat goes over the swell, did you do the same on this passage?
Hi Peter, despite the size of the sea, the wind was never that strong and I never felt the boat was truly out of control. My next actions had the wind continued to rise would have been to drop the main, fly my storm jib from inner forestay, then trail some warps, then deploy my para anchor and lie to it. Thanks very much for the comment!