Cabo Finisterre

Oct. 8th, 04:10 UTC, position 42º54.083N/009º24.482W

We are rounding Cabo Finisterre, the most western point of Spain. I got up an hour early for my watch. I took off my watch in A Coruna when it was still on BST, that is one hour earlier than Spanish time... :-o So I thought to write a small update for the weblog. No pictures this time, they won't go over the sat phone. Too bad... we took a lot of very nice pictures today in Corme.

We left A Coruna as planned around 9pm [local time]. The wind was good, as in 14 kts and on a beam reach we made a great speed., over 7.5 kts on average. So we did arrive in Corme in the dark. That wasn't too bad though, although the chart plotter in the saloon went down after we gibed. I don't know what the problem is, but it's working again. Anyway I could steer on the lighthouse and the buoys that marked the harbor. It helps when you look at the chart before you go, and have a picture of what to expect. But of course; the chart plotter at the helm helped too :-)

Corme is not the picturesque village we sort of expected. So the village itself is not worth a visit, but the bay and the landscape is!! Since we had arrived that early we decided to sail down to Vigo the same night. After Rutger had got us some nice croissants from the village, we walked around a bit, sat on the beach for a while and did some shopping for dinner - when siesta time was over...

Just as Rutger picked up Andy and me with the dinghy, we saw the local police launch theirs and soon after they came on board. Andy and Rutger were asked to give some more detailed information about the collision, especially about the visibility and the distance between the two vessels. Anyway, Andy had to write down and sign a second statement and that was it.

We had another great dinner cooked by Andy and I went to sleep. We would leave at the start of my watch at 11 pm. The trip to Vigo is about 120nm, so we would then get there around noon or so.

The wind was quite fresh when we left, about 25 kts, so was the swell. However, on a brad reach we did hit the 10.6 kts ground speed, towing the dinghy :-) Later the wind decreased to 15 kts and after the gibe, the swell was pretty much gone, which made it a bit more comfortable ride. The night is very clear though, at first the moon and a lot of stars when the moon set. Rutger saw dolphins alongside the boat but nor Andy or I could see them.

In Vigo we'll do some shopping and get us a permit to go to Islas Cies, one of the national parks, to anchor. According to the pilot book, that would be a very nice place to stay a day or so..

Next time when we have wifi again I'll upload some pictures … :-)