31st August - We've landed en (or a) Espagna: Ria de Cedeira N43 39.38 W008 03.86 - Marvellous!!
Mariposa Blog
Robert Newman
Thu 2 Sep 2010 07:33
Not much sleep in the last 24 hours as the wind remained Gale 8 all the way in, though the sea state improved a bit after we crossed the continental shelf. Mariposa handled the conditions well (at least nothing seems to have dropped off or broken) and we managed to average over 6 knots despite the tricky conditions - though of course we were going across and down the waves and winds which is better than bashing into them.
In many ways it was good that we experienced "a bit of weather" as we have learnt a lot on the passage - more jobs to do prior to crossing the pond. Some things not to do e.g. rig the spinnaker pole at 4am (my idea) - a 5 min job that took an hour and even then looked a bit of a mess in the morning and some things to do such as rig and set the storm jib well in advance of wind increasing, the foredeck is not somewhere you want to be "playing sails" for half an hour in a big sea and 40 knots of wind...but most of all Mariposa has shown that she is a great strong boat. She came through this test more strongly than the crew did and unlike the crew does not need sleep.
Dropped the hook in the bay and dinghy ashore for tapas (and to be marched around town by Brett - who had perhaps missed civilisation/ connectivity a little) all a bit red eyed and yawning...