Spain. It's lovely, but it's in the way.
Knotty Girl
Tanya/Roberto
Fri 19 Jun 2020 12:55
The King of Spain is well known for his passionate love of sailing. Right up until recently, he kept a fleet of racing yachts in Palma de Mallorca, and he was frequently seen at Boat Shows supporting the industry that served his passion. It is no accident that the Volvo Ocean Race (as was) started from the Spanish port of Alicante on a couple of occasions, and a number of Spanish sailors have stood on the top steps at Olympic events. That’s all fine, but for cruising sailors heading to the Med such as us, Spain has WAY more coastline than it needs.
Let me explain.
You’ll need a map for this one.
We’re heading from the UK to Barcelona. You’ll notice from your map that a hop across the Channel is a necessary beginning of your passage. Once you’ve done that, popping around the last vestiges of France is a fairly trouble-free exercise in simply keeping the land on your left. Bit like every years Round the Island Race. Once you run out of French coastline, you’ll notice that it is a mere 300 odd miles in a straight from Bilbao to Barcelona. Admittedly, its a bit tricky sailing across the Pyrenees, but the alternative is a 1000 mile sail around 3 and 1/2 sides of a very large square, commonly known as Spain. As I write, we are an hour or so short of rounding Cape St. Vincent and onwards through the famous waters of Trafalgar. But we’re still 600 miles from our destination, with another two major headlands to go! Spain just seems to go on and on!
Now, Spains famous King is very welcome to sail here and we're delighted he does, but please can someone ask him to move the whole thing a little to the right, or perhaps dig a wacking great canal from Bilbao straight through to Barcelona in order that we can be there for dinner this evening? Thanks.
Alastair