Day 2 - Funchal 500 Tall Ships Regatta - Falmouth to Portugal day 2

Friday 12th September, Far Barcelona, Falmouth

Wake up with a new pair of sunglasses which was apparently wearing walking down Falmouth high street at midnight. I had spent the evening getting to know some of my fellow crew, although at least half speak little or no English. However, I did learn an important word - 'fuego' - which means fire, which is what you ask for when you need a light.

The sleeping quarters are comfortable, at least compared to a modern 40ft sailing yacht. The step bunks surround the large table in the middle of the cabin, so there's no sleeping in late unless you're immune to others morning bustle.

the cabin table

The captain arrives at the boat at about 8:30 (from Southampton???). I am assigned to the 12 to 4 'watch'. This applies to both p.m. and a.m. and is the 'English' watch as Juan, El Capitan, and Xavier, another full time crew member, both speak English. Also, there are supposed to be two University of Falmouth students joining, but nobody is quite sure when, or even if, they are due to arrive.

Anyway, even though we are still in port, I am told to be on the boat between 12 to 4, although it only myself and the captain there. First duty - cleaning the 'heads'. 'The heads?', I thought. Does that mean we have to clean the head gasket or something on the engine? Do diesel engines even have head gaskets? Oh well, at least I get to learn something about the engine. Er, no. Head = Toilet.

While I am on board we have a number of people coming onto the boat to have look. Port Pendennis Marina is not open to the public, unlike Queen's Wharf where the A-class ships are being swamped by visitors. However, these visitors either have their own boats moored here or are part of other crews or have press passed or whatever. Anyway, from the 'Endeavour', which is a modern yacht owned by the Navy and crewed by combined services, we have visitors who couldn't believe the relative luxury of FB. When I told them we had a flat screen telly, they thought I was joking, until I showed them.
An older gentlemen, a freelance journalist, also came aboard and proceeds to demonstrate the art of being a classic boat bore. 'Oh she's a real beauty, etc.'. It's funny how people with the best intentions often have nothing of interest to say. He showed the captain and crew an article in last month's 'Classic Boats' magazine about the FB. In it, it states that the Far is Spanish for Lighthouse. Which opened a can of worms. You seen Far is CATALAN for Lighthouse (Faro is the Spanish). All of the 'Spanish' crew are from Barcelona. I end up wondering 'what with the Catalans and the Basques, who is it that actually wants to be Spanish?
Later, I go to examine the A class ships a little more thoroughly.

One of MIR's masts

At about 6ish, two students from Falmouth University, Mikki and Becky, arrive at the boat. I am not to be the only 'Ingles' on board! Later we go to watch the fireworks and show Oriell, one of the Spanish crew, a few English pubs.

Fireworks over Falmouth harbour

Day 1 - Funchal 500 Tall Ships Regatta - Falmouth to Portugal

As an intro, I will be brief. This is the story of my journey from Falmouth, Cornwall to Ilhavo, Portugal on the Far Barcelona, crossing the Bay of Biscay, as part of the Funchal 500 Tall Ships Race.

Thursday 11th September 2008: Falmouth

I arrive, kindly taxi'd by my parents, at the Far Barcelona at about 7pm. In the info sent from Consorci El Far (the owners of Far Barcelona), I was to meet with the 'ship' at the Port Pendennis Marina on the Queen's 'Whars' (sic). Only when we went to Queen's Wharf, we found that Port Pendennis Marina was actually the Marina by the Maritime Museum and not part of Queen's Wharf at all. I had tried to call the captain on a number given by email to confirm the date and time for meeting, but never got answered or a call return. Still I knew we'd be late so I had told my Dad that I needed to be there an hour earlier than the actual time arranged, so really I was on time. Also, it gave us a chance to see what the 'A-class' ships looked like up close. The longest in port, the Mir (M backwards N P) from Russia, was about 100m long, although the Sedov, at 130m was the longest in the regatta, but this was unable to dock in Falmouth for some reason.

By contrast, Far Barcelona is 30m long and is in the 'B class' and below race. Now I am sure the proper etiquette is to call FB (Far Barcelona) a ship in the context of a tall ships regatta, but in all honesty it is a boat. I don't mean in any way to demean it, but calling Falmouth a pleasant and busy town would be accurate. Calling it a vibrant city would not. Notionally, FB was built in 1874, but in reality only the keel and perhaps a few bits of the hull date from then. The rest of it is a recent restoration of what was once a cargo, er, boat. none of which is to say it is not a beautiful boat, both inside and outside, as I am sure you can see. This should be quite an adventure.

As I approached FB that first time, I was suprised to find that the first voices I heard were English. However, it turns out these were the liaison officers from Falmouth. The captain wasn't there. He was in Southampton seeing a 'friend'. I was introduced to the acting captain 'George' , who spoke in abrupt English, and showed me into the cabin to dump my things. Before I knew it, it was tata to Ma et Pere and off to the Crew Party at Falmouth Pavilions. This equated to lots of drink and dancing by people in strange uniforms.