The windiest corner of Europe 43 22.061N 08 23.734W

Lera(hen3ry)
Malcolm Cann
Sun 23 Sep 2007 08:41
I finally made it to A Coruna but first, my
week excursion in Viveiro, which I think I spelt wrong every other time.

The actual arrival at Viveiro was different. I had expected some sort of
reception point at te far end but there was nothing except a number of boat
owners on the end pontoon waving me into one of the many empty spots, so I
did. They were very helpful in mooring the boat and then quizzing me about
the wind, I assume they were all waiting to go on/back but didn't like the
forecast so were hangng on.
At Viveiro there are two supermarkets, one on the same road as the
marina and the other just across the road. Haley's the one on the same road
is quite big and sells all things like the hiper markets, the other is an
Eroski and is a food and supplies market. I tried them both and think the
Eroski is just slightly better for my purposes.
The following day I found the office, a portacabin hidden behind the
boats in the very small shipyard, with one person running it who does
everything, and knows everything, but has not got any facilities. He told me
where the Camping Gaz could be obtained, where the supermarkets were and
anything I asked he seem to have the answer. There is no security because
that would mean giving visitors keys so the gate is wedged open. I unloaded
my trusty steed and went and found the Tourist Office who gave me a map and
told me what to see, not much. It took about 2 hours to go round all the
"interesting" places and that was that.
The Reeds Almanac says there is D&P available here so I foolishly
expected to see a pump somewhere, no, what actually happens is you ask the
man in the cabin for a multiple of 25 litres, he rings the garage, who comes
with that amount of fuel in plastic containers which the man in the cabin
sells to you at 1 euro per litre, and you do the carrying. I got 50 litres
and topped up my fuel and reserves.50 litres is quite heavy, and even though
I used block and pulley, I still seem to have done my back!
While I was at Viveiro "Leela" appeared from Ribadeo, it had left Gijon
before me but had stopped at Ribadeo and allowed me to overtake. The boat, a
Westerly Oceanquest, very quickly moved into the shipyard area, and on
enquiry I found it had lost its propellor on the way. It had taken 13 years
for it to come off. The owner is of Scandinavian origin, divorced and
wandering the world with nothing else to do (heard this before somewhere)
Having done Viveiro I prepared to leave on the 11th.
I was aiming at a place called Camarinas, some 70 miles away, with A Coruna
as the divertion. The weather for the 11th was winds Easterly F5-7
occasionally gale 8 sea rough and visibility good, this sounded good if a
little lumpy, so off I went.
I left at about 11:30 and motored out of the Ria, when I got to the sea
it was a bit lumpy but not as bad as it had been when I came in so I carried
on. Because the forcast had predicted gale 8 winds I opted to use only the
genoa, as it isso easy to handle. Soon I was cruising along at about 5 to
5.5 kts, albeit being thrown about a bit. This gave me an exected time of
about 20 hours to my destination, too quick, it would still be dark, but its
easy to lose time. Around about 1600 the temperature had dropped and I was
getting cold, even though I had all my thermals on. I plugged on until about
1930, and because the temp was now quite low. the sea seemed rougher and my
back was hurting I diverted to A Coruna about 25 miles away. Needless to say
as I plodded towards A Coruna the sea state eased considerably and I was in
two minds whether to revert to original, but I didn't and came to A Coruna.
This was a nighttime docking and I wasn't looking forward to it, I
remember to mass of lights at Bilbao and Gijon and expected the same here.
Practically I slavishly followed the chart and at about 5 miles out I was
able to pick upand distnguish the leading lights for the harbour, so I rode
it in, but ships were doing the same coming out, I had to divert violently
to avoid one large lump of iron, it wasn't going fast and was almost silent,
so I had to find it in the light haze, fortunately I did, but if I hadn't
had AIS I wouldn't have known about it at all. Ain't electronics wonderful?
Habving got into the harbour I had to find the marina while avoiding the
ships both moving and stationary. The marina entrance is marked by a red and
green fixed marks, but which ones? Once again I trusted the charts to take
me to the correct ones and it was spot on. You don't see it until you are
nearly on top it.
I arrived at the marina at 0kts and there on the first pontoon was a
man, with a light, directing me to a berth, he helped me tie up and then
before anything else insisted I came and signed in, so I did, and when all
was done it was about 0145 and I could now put the boat to bed and feed and
sleep.
Again the Reeds Almanac says there is D&P here at a separate pontoon, NO
you have to go round to the yacht club to get fuel!