Spellbinder's Web Diary - Sat 27 April, Vigo to Thur 23 May, Viveiro N Galicia

Sat 27 April, Vigo to Thur 23 May, Viveiro N Galicia

Spellbinder

Tue 28 May 2013 07:57

At 0945 on Saturday 27 April Spellbinder left Bayona in a northerly F4 on a sunny morning to sail up the Ria de Vigo to the marina at Punto Lagoa. This offered better protection from swell than Bayona and was a snug place to berth Spellbinder for two weeks awaiting new crew and was also very good value. Being a little out of Vigo and twenty minutes up a steep hill to shops plenty of exercise was had as Vigo was explored, bus and train timetables studied and Henry went on a weeekend to Madrid while Martin returned home on 2 May. The weather was generally cool, wet and windy reflecting the pattern across western Europe in the spring of 2013. But by the time that Ros and Charles Briton arrived by train from La Coruna on 11 May the forecasters were predicting temperatures in the mid 20sC for a few days. So after an excellent fish supper at an unpretentious restaurant at the top of the hill, Spellbinder, the next morning with the barometer at 1025mb sailed in a northerly F4 to the marina at Sanxenxo in the Ria de Pontevedra. The bane of our lives, the northwest swell was encountered in the channel inside the Isles Cies but the air was warm for a change and Sanxenxo was reached in good time for refuelling and enjoying the facilities of a friendly and helpful marina. It was decided to take advantage of relatively favourable conditions to go for Muros the next morning bypassing the Ria de Arousa altogether. The wind was in the northeast touching F5 at times as spellbinder, double reefed, sped away from Sanxenxo across the mouth of the Ria de Arousa crashing into the northwest swell off Cabo Corrubedo - a sort of warm up exercise for rounding Finisterre! Full marks for Ros and Charles for fortitude on only their second day sailing before sea legs were established. On the final leg we resorted to motor sailing upwind tacking inshore to make best progress. This was a hard passage with the wind stronger than forecast but Muros was reached and Spellbinder snug at 1545 assisted by Pedro who runs the marina. Walks and fine seafood were enjoyed in Muros but the weather returned to being wet, cool and overcast. On Thursday 16 May the short passage to Portosin was made, last visited by Spellbinder in August 2007 and still having the friendly club atmosphere we had enjoyed then. The next crew change occured on Friday 17 May at the bus station at Noia, the town at the head of the Ria. Eric Thompson and Charles Buchanan had flown into Santiago and Ros and Charles were to spend some time in Santiago before flying from La Coruna. A good aspect of Galicia is good rail communications between La Coruna, Santiago, Pontevedra and Vigo across the peninsular.

Suddenly, a weather window around Cape Finisterre opened up that promised light SE/SW winds and a relatively benign swell of 1-2 meters from the northwest. So, after a day to settle in, Charles and Eric found themselves slipping Spellbinder from Portosin at 0800 and heading down the Ria de Muros in rain and an overcast sky. Motor sailing all the way, Cape Finisterre was abeam to starboard at 1145 and the sun was shining! On a glorious evening the Ria de Camarinas was entered and Spellbinder berthed in the small marina assisted by Bob and Ron, both liveaboards who had got stuck in Camarinas. The favourable conditions promised to continue for another day so Spellbinder slipped the next morning at 0800 to make the passage around the intimidating sounding Costa del Morte to La Coruna. There was an oily swell but the sun was out and with the help of the engine, La Coruna was reached at 1630. A day was spent exploring the town, finding supplies of camping gas, and visiting the memorial garden to General Moore (Peninsula war). While at the latter some students and their teacher acosted us to practice their English. Much scratching of heads as we tried to remember what the terminology in english was for anything more than a square or cube root!

On Wednesday 22 May Eric and Charles stoically let go the lines and Spellbinder set sail, or rather motor-sail, in NNE F4 but relatively benign swell to the lovely anchorage at Cedeira known as the first landfall for many yachtsmen crossing the Bay of Biscay going south. It was grey and overcast but the reason for pushing on was to round Cape Ortegal before the next huge swell came in from a storm way out in the Atlantic. So the next morning with a reef and 6 rolls and the wind conveniently backing into the north as the day wore on Spellbinder passed Cape Ortegal and enjoyed some lovely sailing just off the wind for a change. The destination was Viveiro and a most friendly, well protected marina undergoing an upgrade of its facilities including a smart new office and shower block. Viveiro was about as far as we could go without making stretching the crew change lines to Santiago for Charles and Eric's return and La Coruna for the Fell family and Catherine's arrival on 31 May. We enjoyed Viviero, went for a trip on the railway that runs from Ferrol to Bilbao along the north coast of Spain and indulged in local culture at the theatre where a professional comedy group was exploring "Romantico Politico". This included references to Byron, Castro, Sherlock Holmes (big in Galicia), Queen Victoria, the Royal Navy, Mary Shelley and finished to the strains of the Beatles' "All you need is love"!