14 July 2010; A Coruna, Spain.

We started out very wobbly, due to high waves on shallow water but during the night when we entered very deep water, the swell became less pronounced and the ride became normal. That was good, as entering A Coruna, the same thing would happen again, although it is more a problem when going out, than when going in when you have following waves. Going in, you ride with the waves as a sort of surfboard, instead of bouncing against it when outbound. There in the South part of the Bay of Biscay everything is relative and where in other parts of the world 15 feet is considered an issue, here it is “no problem”. Also the swell was from the right direction, so once in the bay, it was nice and calm to embark the pilot. This time we were docking at the Muelle de Trasatlanticos and that is the best berth as it is protected from the reflected swell in the bay. When a North westerly swell runs into the bay of A Coruna and it is high enough; then it bounces off the rocks in the South East corner of the bay and doubles back into the port. Today the waves were not high enough to do so and also more from the WNW than from the NNW.

The port itself is protected from westerly winds and when we sailed into the port it was flat as a mirror. As if planned it then started to blow, exactly during the docking period, and I had quite a challenge in bringing the ship alongside; without bumping into the pier and at the same time not getting the mooring ropes in the thrusters. The moment we had the mooring lines taut, the wind fell away again. Never a dull moment in a sailor’s life.

The rest of the day I remained focused on the weather forecast, or better said the swell forecast, as I also had to get out of the port again. Getting in was the easy part. This mid Atlantic weather system, which had so conveniently curved off to the North, still sent a large wave system into the Bay of Biscay. A wave system that of course was going to be “enhanced” when going over the shallow water area’s. It was forecast that we would get about 15 feet of it, which is not nice but the Prinsendam can handle that nicely with its pointy bow and when running not too fast. So I instructed my bridge team accordingly as most had never been here and the two who had, had only seen flat seas. That must have been a very good day. What we were getting now was a normal day. For the guests it was a very good day, the sun came out, the wind was kept away by the mountain ridge to the west and the cooler sea air kept the temperatures down to a reasonable level. Great to be out and about in this very nice area, with very friendly people.

One of the competition having fun on departure La Coruna.

In the afternoon, the wind picked up so I knew that incoming swell, sustained by this wind, would not abate but continue to increase and that we would thus look at those 15 feet, maybe one or two more. After having warned the guests to be careful, we backed out of the harbour, disembarked the pilot and then hovered until I had both stabilizers going. I was expecting only pitching but at least the stabilizers would prevent a sudden lurch which can always happen. Then we slowly sailed out of the harbour, increasing speed incrementally and staying just under the speed that would make the ship slam. It takes about an hour to get into deeper water with slow speed but better safe than sorry. The highest wave observed was about 18 feet but most of them were indeed about 15 feet, but none was an issue for the Prinsendam.

Once clear of the bay, we needed another hour to be able to turn east towards Bilbao but by now I could turn to the North East and that brought the swell on the beam and for that we have stabilizers. Two hours later we were heading east and now the waves and wind were full on the stern. If you then go slow; the waves catch under the stern, hit it, send a shudder through the ship and then lift the stern up and slam it down again. Very uncomfortable. With the Prinsendam there is a solution for it and I call that surfing. You speed up to such a speed that the ship is running just a little bit faster than the wave speed. The stern sinks due to squat, which is normal, and then the following wave pushes against the stern and does not lift it anymore. So I went for full sea speed. Very bad for the fuel consumption but the well being of the guests comes first. When at sea speed, the ship settled and there was hardly any motion at all.

I know that there are several guests onboard, who did not believe me when I said that it was “not so bad” but for A Coruna standards it was a normal day.

With this speed I will be early in Bilbao but they are open 24 hours a day and I am the only cruise ship expected.