Preparation

Brigida had a makeover… during the winter of 1999/2000 at the Sysba shipyard in La Rochelle and a brand new boat…

Goodbye to the red case color, here's Brigida with a beautiful blue "Star and Stripes" case!
The deck has also been completely repainted and the plexiglass windows replaced (the original ones weren't tinted and were attached with numerous screws, which wasn't very attractive). The teak rub rails and footrests have been sanded, the upholstery redone… In short, a boat like new.

But it was not in 2000 that Brigida visited Galicia; we did cross the Bay of Biscay, but then we went back up to Brittany for family reasons.

2001 will be Breton and English. 2002 will be Spanish…

The holds are full, the galley is stocked, the tanks are full, I cast off the buoy from the port of Diben (Morlaix Bay)
around 7 a.m. on June 27, 2002 for a solo crossing to Galicia.

A light northerly wind and a beautiful sea for cruising along the north coast of Finistère, with the ebbing tide to boot!
I know the area so well that I only need to glance at the map, the wind picks up a bit and I'm almost doing my 7 knots.
At 2 p.m. I enter the Aber Wra'ch and take a chest, no point in trying to cross Ouessant against the tide.

A good night with the lapping of the waves lulling us and departure at 7:30 am for the crossing: approximately 350 miles await us! But the weather seems to be with me, the wind is North and the route due West, I decide to pass off Ushant because the wind is easing a bit and I will be almost downwind in the Fromveur or the Four.

From noon onwards, the wind freshened, still a Force 4 from the north. I was north of the Stiff and, with the current, my speed over ground was impressive; Ushant was rushing by. The sea calmed as I moved away from the island, and I hoisted the asymmetric spinnaker. I was then sailing at 7 knots / 7.5 knots under autopilot: pure bliss!

I lower the spinnaker at nightfall and pass under the solent, which I pole out. I thus head at 210°, which allows me to be outside the northbound shipping lane (Finistère –> Ouessant).

The night is superb, very clear, good visibility, I'm watching the cargo ships passing by on my starboard side. I sleep in half-hour stretches.

That's the atmosphere! I hit a top speed of 8.7 knots. The day of the 29th is pretty much the same with a still northerly flow but weaker.

On the morning of the 30th, the wind dropped and I started the Volvo engine, which also helped the onboard batteries. At 4 pm, the wind returned from the west, along with a few dolphins!

The night remains calm, on the morning of July 1st I am in sight of the coast, but the sky is becoming overcast and the wind will quickly turn SW.

I then head towards Cedeira

At 11 a.m. I am at anchor, 30 meters of chain in 6 meters of water, I can sleep peacefully despite the wind getting fresher!

345 miles on the clock, which is an average speed of 4.7 knots: not too bad!

I will be staying at anchor in Cedeira for 2 days with SW winds between F4 and F7/8.
The anchorage is very well protected and holds well…moreover, the harbor is magnificent and the small town is quite nice.

On July 4th I went to the Sada marina to welcome the family who were arriving on a flight from Paris to La Coruña.
On the evening of the 5th, four hours late, the family arrived in torrential rain: the plane had been unable to land in A Coruña and had been diverted to Santiago de Compostela…
Welcome to Galicia: everyone is rejuvenating themselves by enjoying excellent Serrano ham and the wine that goes with it…

The Family Cruise

The cruise then begins as a family affair.

You've probably often heard on the marine weather forecast "Gust of wind on Finisterre" and well, it's not overrated.

The sailing conditions in Galicia are not the easiest:

– The wind can be violent and rise very quickly
– Fog is also a concern. We'll have a bit of both…

That doesn't stop us from having a wonderful cruise. The map shows the main ports and anchorages we visited. The coastline is magnificent everywhere. In my opinion, you should avoid the towns; the Spanish are concrete-bombing their coastlines, even in Galicia. Apart from Muros, which has retained its charm, many of the buildings don't belong in the landscape.

Hooray for anchorages, and you can find plenty of them by venturing off the beaten track (and with good charts)!

We're heading back east first because the winds are still in the west: no point in starting a cruise with the wind in our faces!

We visit Ferrol, Cedeira, Cariño and the Ria de Ortiguera.

One of our most beautiful anchorages:

Further upstream is the Ortiguera estuary, the small town of Ortiguera with a basin with a pontoon (brand new in 2002).

A fantastic Celtic music festival takes place around mid-July, and we were just there!

A view of the entrance channel: it is imperative to enter with the end of the flood tide and good visibility to spot the channel which tends to move.

But afterwards, it's pure bliss…

On July 14th the wind finally shifted to the NE and we left around 8:00 PM from Espazante for the Ria de Camariñas.
An 83-mile crossing at an average speed of 6.3 knots (the maximum at 9.4 knots), so that's quite a push…
We finish in Camariñas Bay with 3 reefs.

The view from Cape Ortegal is magnificent.

The very strong NE wind prevented us from using the pontoon, so we anchored at the back of the ria and ran aground on a good, hard sandy bottom (the charm of a twin-keel boat!).

On July 17th, we set sail for the famous Cape Finisterre, which we rounded under motor after surfing the waves at the start (maximum speed of 9.2 knots). We anchored at Sardineiro in front of a beautiful beach, but the water was very cold…

On the 18th we moved towards Ezaro and anchored just before the arrival of the fog.

On the 19th we are going to Portosin in the Ria de Muros to find a pontoon:

Laundry!!! And grilled squid tasting!

On the 21st we are in the Ria d'Arosa and we anchor downwind of the island of Arosa but barely ashore the wind suddenly turns and the storm arrives… We just have time to get back to shore, raise the anchor (night is falling) to move away and go anchor in the (relative) shelter of the deck in 3 m of water with 30 m of chain and 20 m of rope: the wind blows all night but the anchor does not budge.

The definition of a good cruise: a long series of near misses!

On the 23rd we will join Toja, still in the ria, and we will take a buoy from the Club (free).

On the 25th we reached Muros after tacking under solent and one reef. We met up with another RM 900 (Bartolomé).

On the 26th, we set course directly for Sada, a 127-mile crossing with a strong north-northwest wind, resulting in some rather tiring tacking. We rented a car at A Coruña airport, allowing us to explore this beautiful region.

On the morning of the 30th, the family flew back to Paris. All that remained was for me to drive Brigida to Brittany…
While for the outward journey I was able to "choose" a favorable weather window, for the return there is no choice…And the entire crossing will be close-hauled with a good NW between 4 and 7, the autopilot works perfectly and I appreciate the coachroof with panoramic view.
Having experienced the vision of an RM, it's difficult to go back to boats where the cabin resembles a cellar…

The crossing

A view that sums up the atmosphere of the crossing…

On August 2nd around 7:00 am I pass the Ar Men buoy! The weather finally calms down, Four channel, and at 6:00 pm I hook a buoy at Aber Wrac'h.
436 miles on the log, an average speed of 5.3 knots: not bad. A good night's sleep...

The next day I returned to the port of Diben, the journey was over, nearly 1,300 miles, no damage to report, a good boat…