Witch’s log, mid Aug to mid Sep 2018, roughly.
What follows is old news but old news is better than no news. I realised (or rather, I knew it all along but was too involved in so many other things to actually get on to it) that I hadn’t posted in a long time and had missed a whole few weeks of history in this blog.
Some of this post was actually written last year in Muros at the sip of a caña and a few Croquetas, while the rest is, well, is being written now out of memory and recollection.Before proceeding to new adventures which are little more than a week away, I thought I’d settle things and so here it goes…
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The return to Galicia happened in mid August, on the 15th I believe. A few days later guests were to arrive, namely Steve and Geoffrey, both flying in from the U.K. to Santiago for a week of sailing, and so they did. I picked them up from the airport and we had a pleasant meal in town before getting ready to sail out the next day. It was fiesta day in Muros, which meant loud music until very late at night. We didn’t get much sleep.
It was to be Geoff’s first time sailing whilst Steve on the other hand had crossed the Atlantic, used to have his own boat and is far more experienced than me. Thus, a good mixture.
We set sail on Sunday towards Ria de Arosa. First stop was to be Pobra de Caramiñal. Wind was either north east or non-existent, so we had a mixture of going downwind and motoring, with an anchor stop for lunch and a swim in Corrubedo. A very pleasant day altogether with plenty of sun. Later at night there was another fiesta in Pobra. Everywhere was full so we had difficult finding something to eat and there was plenty of music.
The next day we sailed to Ria de Pontevedra and Sanxenxo where we had a very nice dinner and discovered the joys of a Tinto de Verano. The night would have been pleasant had it not been for the club right in front of the marina starting very loud music again at 3am!!! 3rd sleepless night and thank goodness for noise cancelling headphones 😂
Despair not, we were to have our well deserved rest in Combarro the next day, after a beautiful lunch and swim anchorage in the Ria and a delicious dinner in the old town at the sound of medieval music.
The following days were equally quiet with us sailing back up to Villanova d’Arousa, a pleasant marina and small village, then to Portosin the next day, another beautiful village, and finally Muros across the Ria.
Beating upwind Ria the Muros is no easy task. This was the second time I’d tried it and, mental note, you tend to get 20 knot NE winds at the end of day which can make it quite rough and unpleasant.
And with this the week had finished. Thank you Steve and Geoff for a beautiful time sailing and discovering the Rias.
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The following week was spent mostly ashore, driving around, getting to know the region and the beautiful and magical Santiago de Compostela.
There wasn’t much sailing apart from one day when my friend Alex came and got terribly sea sick trying to reach Arosa, and another when Alex, Chelo and Andres came over for a day in the Ria. And what a day that was, with balmy music in the background, smooth breeze just enough to sail pleasantly. We practised a bit towards Portosin and then headed to Louro and dropped anchor for lunch. Chelo had brought too many yummy things to eat. The wind had then started to pick up, and before being too late, we headed back to Muros and moored, still safely, ending the day with a treat in the local ice cream / cafe outdoors place. A truly wonderful day to be remembered.
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And onto week three … Elsa, my long time friend from university arrived from Edinburgh on Saturday for another week of sailing. Or so we wished and little did we know. We sailed down the Ria and around to Caramiñal for the first day. A pleasant downwind sail with bits of motoring and for Elsa to get acquainted. She turned out to be a natural. On the way we anchored just off Ria de Arosa on a beach spot for a beautiful end of the day swim. Spot the picture if you can.
On the following day we did a bit of scouting and then sailed to Arousa (the island) to rendez-vous with Peter and Catherine and have a drink on board their magnificent Swan which was to be lifted out that same night or the next day, one of the two.
We then proceeded to Porto de Cruz, just across, for the night. On approach, and just as it had happened earlier before in Arousa, the engine died and had to be restarted. This is no biggy unless of course you’re within just a few metres from other boats, as we were.
Another day another adventure; the weather started to deteriorate and the forecast looked grim. It was already September after all and the prospect of a force 7 or 8 to go back did not seem appealing, so we decided to head back to Ria the Muros and safely sail there instead of reaching the point of no return.
We headed back, just to be hit by some relatively big waves, strong winds, a few ups and downs and an engine failure when exiting Ria de Arosa and entering the Ocean at roughly 15:00. The thing, it seemed, had no power; on full throttle it would only and barely give a knot. Time to put out a little sail and breathe.
A few more attempts get the it running but still nothing. The propeller was free but the engine had just lost all of its power and wouldn’t stay running. There was no other option, we had to go back under sail, and so we did.
I said this before and will say it again; beating up Ria de Muros from Corrubedo is not fun! Without engine is even less so. At one minute you have 25 knots of wind and the next you have next to nothing. With a few clouds and rain in-between, such fun; *not*.
We managed to get to the edge of Muros at roughly 1:00am, nearly 10 hours later, still under sail, in the dark, now with the dinghy out and being towed should we need it. The wind had picked up and was at about 15 knot at the time with the marina entrance in sight. Time to restart the engine which came back, barely, and managed to give up to 2 knots in calm waters. Sails down and in we went, onto out berth, non-stop, until we were eventually too fast and banged onto the pontoon causing a bit of damage to the boat. But we were safe and I can only remember some alcohol disappearing afterwards and not much else. The following days were spent in Muros and surroundings enjoying food and sightseeing as there was no engine.
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That was the end of summer and sailing for 2018. The motor was later repaired by “Talleres Alfredo” thanks to Pedro’s (Muro’s harbourmaster) recommendation in what was to be a broken diesel injection pump, no wonder on a 40 old year old engine. I went back and tried it and it runs / sounds okay from what I can tell.
As for going anywhere, it’s still to be attempted, and well, the future is yet to be written.
