The ten minute flag went up and I set the stopwatch on my phone. Count down to the start. 18 yachts of various sizes set their sails, catching what little wind there was. It was never going to be a speedy send off in about 10 knots. We’d be lucky to get out of Plymouth harbour without a couple of tacks.

The five minute flag and the adrenaline kicked in. Even though this isn’t a race, it is a rally, and even though a few minutes at the start would make no difference at all, really, in a five day passage, I couldn’t help feeling the competition.

We were in the centre of the pack, quite near the back. Our plan had been to head as far west as we could before turning south but the latest weather report suggested heading south as soon as possible. Either way we had to get out into the open sea as quickly as we could before losing sight of the much faster, lighter boats. Our 26 tonne Hans Christian 48T is hardly a racing vessel.

The starting flag went down and we were off. There was enough wind to get us past the first headland, tacking twice, and we were pointed west. Steve was taking pictures so I was at the helm keeping a close watch on the tracker. Our journey had begun. Then it started to rain.

I was looking forward to seeing dolphins and maybe a whale. We had no real plan for covering the night watch. There were just the two of us as we’d failed to persuade any of our friends that crossing the Bay of Biscay would be a good way to spend a holiday. On the whole Steve liked staying up late and I usually got up early so we’d just cover the hours in between as and when. Other than some sleep deprivation, which is inevitable, what could possibly go wrong?

It was Wednesday, day 4 of the race when news of the storm reached us. Before then our biggest problem had been lack of wind, or wind on the nose, or both which meant we’d sailed rather slowly at times or motored. But now, after a slow overnight sail west, we had the wind on the beam and were headed to Baiona due to arrive by tea time. Perfect.

Flight of Time was on the radio trying to reach Poli Poli. We didn’t realise it but our ARC tracker had stopped working. Our AIS signal showed that both Poli Poli and Flight of Time were near us so we tried to call. No response from Poli Poli but Flight of Time came through and skipper John said he was expecting a weather update. He would call back on the VHF.

It was cold. I wore gloves, three coats and several hats. I was still cold. The waves were getting bigger and there was an uncomfortable swell, but nothing unexpected so far. I took some Stugeron (travel sickness tablets and they worked, luckily. Note to self – next time take them before you travel like it says on the pack. ) It stopped raining at times. The sun even came out for an hour or so. And we were heading south….

We saw dolphins! They came to play in the bow wave and I started to believe sailing was actually fun. We were doing about 3 knots and got some great pictures. Now here’s a strange thing. It looked like the dolphins were getting bored and Steve suggested we put the engine on so we’d get a bow wave. It could be my imagination, and I was suffering from a lack of sleep, but the next half hour was magic with more dolphins coming to play in the surf. And they were talking. That high pitched clicking squeak they make. Amazing.

I wasn’t scared. I knew we could get to port by morning. But I was worried for the boats still out there. We didn’t know where all of them were but the email made it clear several were behind us and therefore unable to get to a port.

Over the next few hours we sailed at 6 to 7 knots aiming to get to A Coruña by 0600 when it would be light. We weren’t keen to try to negotiate the entrance at night. It was cold and very choppy. Standing up anywhere was impossible. I changed clothes by lying on the bed and even then one hand was holding on to the side. Steve did manage to make a hot meal. I found going into the galley too high a risk. If I didn’t fall down there was always the chance that the Stugeron would stop working and then I really would be in trouble.

We surfed into A Coruña which is famous for high swell at the best of times. This was a rollercoaster. It was a relief to see the harbour wall and just as we were entering, Girolle came along side with three crew on board. Another Arc Portugal boat had made it. We docked around 0800.

For us, it was over, but now we could see the tracker it was clear 6 boats were still at sea and one of them, Diablito, wasn’t going anywhere. It turned out their engine had failed and they just had to heave to and hope.

There is a happy ending to the tale in that all survived and no one hurt. Those boats that did manage to get the furthest west even had a good sail into Baiona on Saturday. It made a memorable crossing for the 25th anniversary of ARC Portugal. I’m not in any hurry to sail across the Bay of Biscay again.