Isicia Sails the English Channel and Bay of Biscay

by Sail-World Cruising on 9 Jun 2006 The Bay of Biscay has one of the worst reputations in the world for bad seas. It’s caused the undersea cliff below the waters, and has claimed many a sailing boat when the weather is up.

Vicki and Andi Dunkel run sailing and diving holidays around Europe on board Isicia II, a classic 51 foot Beneteau First yacht. They are on their way from Scotland to the Mediterranean, happening now, and here is the story of their journey from Penzance to Santander:

We set off at 8pm to cross the English Channel from Penzance to Brest. The crossing can take about twenty hours so we wanted to do the night crossing while we were still fresh and also arrive in France in daylight. We had strong south westerly winds the whole way across and played music during the night to keep our spirits high. Isicia II is an ocean going yacht so it was as a comfortable ride as it could be when beating into the wind in rough seas!

We sighted land – the island of Ouessant – at 11am. Crossing the Channel is challenging and tiring but you get a great feeling of satisfaction when you sight France!

Our next stop was the small town of Camaret on the undiscovered (according to the guide books) Peninsula of Crozon. The scenery supposedly ranges from towering cliffs to long beautiful sandy beaches. I say supposedly, because most of our time on that peninsula was blanketed in fog! We were expecting a ghost ship to emerge at any moment!

The pod of dolphins that jumped around us more than made up for the lack of scenery – it was amazing! They danced around our bow waves, dived under the yacht, swam away and then came back for more. They stayed with us for about twenty minutes. There was another yacht nearby that was motoring but the dolphins stayed with us, obviously preferring the quietness of the sail yacht gliding through the water.

The fog finally cleared as we reached Benedot. We then spent a few fantastic days island hopping between Iles de Glenan (nine islets in a blue lagoon), Ile de Groix with it’s lovely beaches and Belle-Ile with it’s small bustling port. At Belle-Ile you start to feel you are in southern Europe – you notice a warmth in the air and a change in the fauna. It’s a lovely island both green and rugged. There is a lock to enter Le Palais marina on Belle-Ile and as we’d had such good winds we arrived too early for it so took one of the free visitor moorings outside the harbour. We decided to stay at the mooring overnight but unfortunately the wind changed direction and we had a rocky night.

Ile D’Yeu was our last stop before the atmospheric town of La Rochelle. From here we sail to Spain and the weather forecast was perfect – force 3 to 5 winds and the sun was shining so we decided to sail straight from La Rochelle to Bilbao across the Bay of Biscay, which is about a 200 mile journey – bigger than the channel crossing. There was little wind when we set off but it picked up about lunchtime and we quickly made up time sailing at up to 10 knots!

Isicia II is a sloop with a fully battened mainsail and two foresails – one set with the genoa number 1 and the other with a number 3 (both rolling furling). Due to the fully battened mainsail and the design of the yacht, she sails really well downwind giving us 10 knots in moderate to fresh breezes and 4 knots in light winds. Once the mainsail is hoisted and the foresail rolled out, we sit back and enjoy the ride.

At about 10pm, as the sun set, we crossed into Cap Ferret Canyon, which is 3000m deep in places. This steep continental shelf is what makes the Bay of Biscay a dangerous place in bad weather. Even in these perfect conditions, you could see the water becoming choppy over the steep shelf so you can imagine the seas in storms!

It was a fantastic night with the stars shining. About 2am, the wind quietened to a force 2 and we made slow progress during the rest of the night. The wind became variable to we had to concentrate to avoid jibbing.

The next day followed the same pattern – light winds in the morning and increasing throughout the day and not a cloud in the sky. At lunchtime, I heard a shout from the deck:

Minke whale! A Minke whale passed right by us and we watched her swim off. About 20 minutes later, another Minke passed us and we could see her in the distance swimming on the surface and puffing through her blow hole. Then in another 10 minutes she was right beside our yacht! She came alongside our starboard side, then our port side swimming alongside us and she was definitely checking us out! Amazing!

At about 6pm then wind strengthened and we could see land! We arrived in Bilbao late in the day. We spent the next day on land, walking around the city and visiting the Guggenheim museum. We then headed along the coast to Santander. The coastline of North Spain is beautiful – lush green and mountainous. Santander has a fantastic setting and we anchored outside the city behind Isla De La Torre. The anchorage is beautiful but is subject to swell, however the options for a 51 foot yacht in Santander are limited. We are too big for the city marina and the marina by the airport is very expensive and far from facilities.

We are now going to sail along the north coast of Spain heading for La Coruna.



To find out more about holidays on Isicia II (suitable for all experience levels) visit their website at www.sailaway.eu.com or call (+44) 07904 267 561.

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