August 1st - 9th, 2012 (Spain)
Progress so far (Click picture to zoom)
We left Santander after breakfast and the wind picked up to F4 north easterly so we managed to sail for the first time in quite a while and arrived in San Vincente de la Barquera, mid-afternoon. This is a reasonably busy fishing port with a narrow channel entry and a 4 -5 knot current running, with the centre of the bay drying completely at low water. As we were entering we met a dredger coming towards us so we started reversing to get out of its way. The current was fairly strong, so although we were doing 6.75kts through the water, over the ground we were only doing 2.5kts and were being dragged down towards a little headland at the narrows. It was a bit hairy for a while but the dredger squeezed past safely and we managed to get back into the main channel and carry on into the harbour. The anchoring area was all taken up with moorings so we tied up to the harbour wall and a short while later Kors and Anne van der Torren on Shearwater arrived and rafted on to us. We joined them for drinks before our meal and spent a very enjoyable couple of hours with them. It was quite interesting to note that their log was reading 4 kts as the tide rushed out past us.
We would have liked to spend a bit more time here but decided that we wouldn’t want to leave the boat unattended when the tide was running, so both boats departed just after high water the following morning. Unfortunately, this was just after 06:00, but we had to wait a bit until the sun came up as it was pitch black. Lack of wind meant that we motored the 60 miles to Gijon, where we went into Marina Yates which is on the far side of the town, and is very quiet. Kors and Anne arrived about an hour later, and again we met up for drinks before our meal. The marina provide free bikes, so we took full advantage to cycle round to check out the other marina and visit the old town and the gun emplacements on the hill top. The office had closed by the time we returned to the marina and we couldn’t pay our fees in readiness for an 08:00 departure the next day. By the time we sorted things out the next morning it was nearer 09:30 when we finally managed to get away. Again due to lack of wind we had to motor for 70 miles this time, to reach our destination of Ribadeo. We had hoped to anchor in the bay, but it would have been too shallow at low at low water,so we finally headed into the marina about 19:30. This is by far the most expensive place we have stayed and was a complete rip-off for less than 12 hours on a pontoon.
The next morning we left early on the outgoing tide and hallelujah, we managed a great broad reach for 15 miles, before the wind died again and we were back to motoring. It was great while it lasted! Our next port of call was Viveiro where we anchored in the bay for a couple of nights before going into the marina for another two nights. The weather on the first day was overcast and not too warm, so I finally got stuck into making up the mosquito netting for the main hatch, which although not yet finished, is usable. I’m waiting for the next dull and less hot day, which unfortunately hasn’t arrived yet, to finish it and the other five for the side windows! We met up with a Danish couple, Nils and Lene Thorborg on Thalassa, who came on board for drinks one evening and gave us a lot of useful information about sailing in the Baltic.
While in the marina, Mike carried out a minor fibreglass repair to the bow, where the anchor tip had hit the hull when he was raising it. It’s a vast improvement but he’s still to wet ‘n dry it at some future marina. We wandered around the town and visited old ruined defences where we came across a very friendly cat, the first one we’ve spoken to since leaving home and he followed us around for quite a while. Some marina berths here were festooned with permanent fenders. Assumed that the owners were very bad at boat handling and kept well clear of them.
We had another really good sail along to Espasante and again anchored in the bay and sunbathed all afternoon. This sailing life is so hard and time consuming, we just never seem to have any time for the more mundane chores! The following day we motor-sailed to Ares in the Ria de Ares. Just after we entered the Ria, Mike heard on the VHF about a Dutch boat with engine problems. There was a Dutch boat not too far away from us which didn’t have its sails up and was not motoring, so he thought this might be the boat in question. We raced out to them at 8kts to ask if they required any assistance. Apparently they had had a water leak in the engine, which they had managed to fix, but insisted that they had not made any call on the VHF. They thanked us for the offer of help and we headed back into the Ria. I think Mike is trying to become a one man rescue service this year! We anchored in a large bay in Ares and will be here for the next couple of days. It looks a reasonable sized town with a marina in one corner and plenty of powerboats and jet skis flying around the bay.
This blog gives us a way to keep you all up to date with our travels, but it would be nice to hear any gossip or news from closer to home. Feel free to e-mail us at any time.
