After successfully and happily crossing the Biscay it was time to play & explore. Cedeira proved just right for this purpose, Viola from Esperanza and Pernille teamed up and made Riley drag Viola’s super heavy and bulky pole (yes a pole for pole dancing and no you can not imagine how heavy this thing is), but it was totally worth Riley’s struggles. The girls had lots of fun on a little secluded cove, dancing for the birds and fish. Leo and Mark desperately kept trying to wing foil in the light breeze, sometimes succeeding, sometimes swimming. They even got so desperate they tried tow in surf foiling behind the dingy in the next bay, again with very little success. We also explored the area on a team hike, which made Kai super happy and ended with Riley chasing us with a disgusting slimy slug, this guy will never grow up like the rest of us.
Departure: Cedeira, July 30 9 am Arrival: A Coruña, July 30 3 pm Nautical miles: 28,5
In A Coruña we met up with our friends and former neighbours in Copenhagen Sondre and Oddný from Sailing Freyja. It was such fun to meet up with them again after a year and half, and catch up on the many adventures we had all been through since. And their cute cat Floki quickly found himself at home onboard Dory Man again to Kai’s great confusion and slight dismay.
We stayed a couple of days in A Coruña, enjoying the local cousine/watering holes, whilst planning our upcoming surf adventures and we decided that it was possible to squeeze just one more bulky toy onboard, so we quickly departed for a shopping trip to Decathlon to buy a new surfboard for Pernille. Whilst in town Leo, Riley and Mark tried conquering the local surf beach, however with limited success as waves and tide did not coordinate towards a good brake, and they ended up just chatting in the waves like a bunch of ladies at the hairdresser’s.
Departure: A Coruña, August 2, 12 am Arrival: Laxe, August 2, 8 pm Nautical miles: 35
We didn’t plan on visiting Laxe at first, as it didn’t seem to provide sufficient protection from the upcoming swells, but then @magicseaweed told us our fortune and we’ve now been surfing on Playa de Soesto for a week. Although Kai hates the water he has turned out to be the perfect #surferdog – waiting patiently on the beach while watching us in the surf and he will accept a little ride on the board (if his paws doesn’t get wet). It was an awesome week of surfing (even for the kook), good food, lovely company and a spectacular anchorage with a beautiful view over the hills and dolphins visiting every day, not too rolly after all.
In many ways it was rejuvenating to spend a bit of time in the same place and just enjoy ourselves without the pressure to keep moving, and by the end of the week we felt motivated to go sailing again and to see a different kind of beach break, by hoisting our sails and explore more of the Spanish coastline on our way towards Portugal.
Departure: Laxe, August 10, 1 pm Arrival: Finisterre, August 10, 9 pm Nautical miles: 40
The day after the publication of the new IPCC report, Kai and I (Pernille) walked (in an unexpected scorching heat) to Finisterre aka the point that used to be viewed as the “end of the earth” – a little too fitting for our taste… However the cape can also be seen as a reminder of hope. Not just because we now know that it is not the end and journeying beyond here does not entail a terrifying fate filled with seamonsters. But the cape is also reminding us of earth’s beauty in the midst of her terrifying power, as well as of the many pilgrims through the ages travelling here from far away places and exhibiting the strength of humanity when we believe in something. PLUS wind turbines!
Departure: Finisterre, August 11, 4 pm Arrival: Morus, August 11, 8 pm Nautical miles: 21
After the short visit at Finisterre, we enjoyed lovely short sail to Morus, where we had agreed to meet Leo’s Spanish friends Raquel and Gorka, who we’d already met in Laxe on their Van surf holiday. Morus proved to be a lovely town, with the yet funniest harbour master. We had a small day sail to a near beach with our friends, followed by a lovely dinner and drinks in town (4 euro for G&T and they will pour the gin until YOU say stop – mind-blown!). The next day we stoked up on groceries and set sail.
Departure: Morus, August 13, 2 pm Arrival: Arousa, August 13, 9 pm Nautical miles: 32
Our weather window to sail to Porto was closing, but we still decided to sail a quick detour to Ila de Arousa in order to say hello and goodbye to Esperanza, who unfortunately had to go on the hard in Arousa for some maintenance and upgrades. We doubted that they would be able to catch up with us again (which turned out to be correct), so we decided spend some time with them before sailing on to Portugal. We very much hope to see them in Greece this upcoming sailing season!
A Green Heading 