Well, we planned to spend a good part of our trip this year in the Galician Rias (deep rivers in the forested hills of the NW corner of Spain), but we weren’t prepared for the temperature of the water, or the English weather. The views were truly breathtaking though, and anyone with an eye for business may consider the option of running a charter business here. We believe that this is the clear objective of the Galician powers-that-be at the moment, as everywhere there are new breakwaters, and promises of new marinas. Don’t let this put you off though, there are still so many unadulterated anchorages to choose from, that it will be many years, if they ever get around to it at all, before it becomes the Sunsail-esque equivalent of the Solent. At the moment you can easily miss your cruising friend in between ports and anchorages as you pass each other in this gigantic cruising ground.
We spent almost a week in A Coruna, as we discovered that we had exhausted our old starter batteries and needed to replace them. See 'Not so Technical' below. It did give us plenty of time to explore the town and bars and restaurants and to start to feel at home in Galicia.
We continued our impromptu tour of local fiestas, arriving at Ares across the Ria from Coruna, in time for their annual celebration. The band started at midnight with kids sleeping in their seats outside and large, free, bowls of mussels for which the Rias are famous. I haven’t seen such large and succulent mussels in abundance since my early days in New Zealand. They tasted great!
We visited Lage. A small fishing and developing tourist village with a beautiful sweeping golden beach. Unfortunately the Ocean currents made the water so cold, even Stuart could not wade out to wet his nether regions! They just went higher and higher until he had to give up and get out!
From here we went swiftly onto Camarinas, well known amongst the cruising folk as a beautiful ria. There appeared to be plenty of opportunities to kayak to your own private beach here, and walk in the pine forested slopes, but we were surrounded by grey mullet. The water was so thick with them, particularly in the port that you could almost walk across the water on their backs. As we have come to learn, no-one in Spain eats grey mullet, as they eat sewage and are nature’s way of cleaning up the water. This, combined with the noxious wiff from the fish cannery at night, made us question our motivation of enjoying a late summer swim and kayaking in the ria, and we moved swiftly on. Outside of the town itself the ria is beautiful and looking back it was a shame we didn’t spend a bit longer exploring the outer reaches and bays within.
We entered the next ria, Ria de Mouros, with towering pine forested hills all around. Another lovely beach which was much warmer and swimming was pleasant. First we anchored off a beach, but moved on the next evening due to fishing boat activity – pulling up our tripping line (attached to the anchor) as they pulled their fishing pots, circling the boats in the anchorage.
Off we went to Muros town, an unadulterated anchorage off a fascinating town. Surrounded by cockle pickers on the beach every morning, 100m off our stern, it gave us a rare opportunity to observe real Galician life at work – no illegal Chinese immigrants here it seems. A heavy evening spent here drinking with a couple from London meant a day of not a lot the next day. The day after that we ventured over to Portosin marina (expensive but exceptionally clean with an excellent restaurant and other facilities.) and a trip on the bikes to visit the old town of Noia about 5 miles round the ria, but one you cannot now get to by yacht because of silting of the entrance.
We moved onto Ria Arosa. Not a long trip but one in thick fog, our least favorite conditions. But once a mile or so into the Ria using a combination of GPS and Radar and the odd glimpse of solid objects, the fog cleared revealing yet another expanse of islands, golden beaches and small ports serving the hundreds of mussel rafts, common throughout the Rias. We were running low on diesel by now – in Spain and France leisure yachts have to pay duty on diesel, so must find a different source of fuel to that of the fishing boats, whose red diesel is duty free and always available in fishing ports.
We entered a brand new marina, which looked promising as it had a diesel (Repsol) sign and pump, inside the marina. Unfortunately we found that this is only for fishing boats (even though there were none there, nor could they get to the pump). We were directed to the next port along – Cabo Cruz – where you can snuggle up amongst the huge fishing boats on the wall and wake someone up to receive some duty-paid diesel (Gasoil/Gasoleo A). A bizarre contradiction….not a single pleasure boat is based in this port. However the diesel was very clean and courteously served. 40 minutes after filling, we were back anchoring outside the previous marina, with no need to go inside and pay for the night.
A couple of days spent avoiding the rain and shopping in the open market stalls. Old ladies dressed in black with wicker baskets selling fresh produce from the individual small holdings out in the hills surrounding the Ria. Of course, there was a good sized fish market and I bought my first mussels of the trip for cooking on the boat. Steph doesn’t eat shellfish so it’s easier to eat them in a restaurant but I enjoyed a ½ Kilo and vowed to buy ¾ Kg next time.
We next sailed on down past Isla Ons at the entrance of the Ria de Pontevedra, which we did not enter, and onto Iles Cies at entrance of the last of the Galician rias – Ria de Vigo.
These islands are the most beautiful place that we have visited so far. We anchored up and were rapidly boarded by customs officials in a hurry to get their paperwork completed. They have a completely inappropriate boat for the purpose, pointing their bow directly at ours to transfer the officials – inevitably taking off part of our toe-rail (wooden edging) at the bow of the boat. They were most apologetic, and being the only boat in Spanish waters that doesn’t have to carry it’s insurance details on board, they gave us a phone number to ring to speak to their boss, who would be in the office the next day. As our toe-rail needs replacing anyway, we saved ourselves the bother and inconvenience and Stu made a temporary repair. We were just pleased that they hadn’t punctured a hole in the side of the bow, which would have kept us from sailing for some time!
The official form was duly completed – we are used to the questions now, as they are the same ones on the form we fill in at every port and harbour in Spain (and now Portugal).
How many masts? Do we have radar? Do we have VHF? How many on board? Give passport numbers, sign form , and they are happy as Larry and disappear off. They don’t show the slightest interest in looking inside the boat, or asking anything like – Are you carrying any drugs or illegal immigrants?
We didn’t let the incident, or the ensuing rolly night at anchor affect our enjoyment of the islands. In the morning we prepared for a walk around the island, and went ashore in the dinghy. Although we had a plan for landing in the surf, it didn’t quite happen as we intended and Steph sported squelchy shorts all around the island – Stuart of course was completely dry. We climbed to the top of the fairy-tale-castle-like lighthouse, for phenomenal views of this wild coast in all directions.
After this, Steph was almost dry, but repeated the soaking experience getting into the dinghy and out of the surf to get back to the boat – plus several bruises from climbing in over the back of the dinghy! Stuart was still completely dry once again!
We sailed on, and into the Bayona Yacht Club, set in the grounds of a castle, which has been converted into a luxury parador (Hotel). We made the most of being temporary members of the yacht, which we were told is one of the top four prestigious yacht clubs in Europe. It certainly was full of beautiful ladies-that-lunch who looked like they had never set foot on a yacht, except for perhaps the odd motor-yacht cocktail party.
Apparently, to be a member here is only possible by invite, and by paying around 20,000 Euros joining fee, followed by 70E a month, and then your berthing fee on top of that if you do keep a boat there.
After a couple of days exploring the castle grounds and the bars of Bayona, we attempted to leave on the Monday morning. After motoring slowly forward at half speed in blind fog for an hour, we decided that our nerves couldn’t take anymore and we turned back in to the port. Despite radar, we had 2 extremely close encounters with fishing boats, who go about their normal business at full speed in any conditions. It was not for the faint hearted! To turn back was the right choice, as the fog continued to roll in for the next 12 hours.
To save our budget we anchored off the marina, giving up our opportunities to lounge around the yacht club. Here we met all sorts of interesting cruising folk, from 30’ to 60’ boats, some without engines (out of choice), one waiting weeks for a new gearbox to arrive. We felt comfortable that we are not particularly late in the season, as there are plenty of others out there, and many still just arriving from their Biscay crossing.
The next day brought bad news from the marina. The red cross had issued a bad weather warning to all ports for 48 hours time. We had to make a decision as to where to head to in the next 24 hours that would be able to see us through some strong winds. A bit more investigation in internet cafes revealed the cause of the problem to be Hurricane Gordon lurking out in mid-Atlantic, with an indeterminate path headed somewhere on the Galician or Portuguese coast. We decided to stay put in Bayona, as there was an anchorage, marina, and buoys to choose from, and the reefs around the entrance make the bay very protected from swell, with high hills to protect us from south and west.
Several large container ships came in and anchored behind the Iles Cies, so we knew we were in for a biggy.
We waited slightly anxiously for more news, and the next 2 days were hot and sunny, force 3-4 perfect sailing weather. Gordon did a bit of damage to one of the Azores islands, before losing it’s hurricane status in the cold water of the Galician waters. It finally hit at 5am in the morning, with gusts of 65 knots (mph) in Bayona. The centre of the storm passed about 60 miles north of us with gusts of 80 knots (mph). Some damage was done to buildings, but it was not a bad as had been expected.
We sat out the storm in the marina, watching the piles shaking back and forth and wondering what would happen if the forecasted Storm Force 11 reached us, as it didn’t seem that the pontoons would take too much more battering.
With hindsight (what a wonderful thing), we should have stayed at anchor, where we would not have been snatching at our ropes and cleats. Our biggest worry would have been the boats without engines, as if they dragged their anchors they would not have been able to do anything about it, and there was not really enough room for all of us out in the anchorage to put out the necessary lengths of chain.
Apparently ex-hurricanes are full of energy that needs to be dissipated in wind, rain and thunderstorms. This is exactly what Gordon did over the next 3 days.
We pottered in internet cafes, and bars and shops. When it rained the locals would shake their heads and say that they couldn’t believe what bad weather they were having.
In between rain showers we walked around the coast and went ‘Up the Virgin’.
This statue is perched on the headland, and you can climb up inside the virgin , to emerge through a tiny hole to stand in the boat that she holds in her right hand. It was particularly windy, so hanging on with both hands was in order.
We haven’t mentioned anything about the forest fires in the Rias. Before we arrived in Spain, there had been no rain for 3 months (!). This combined with the bizarre behaviour of some out-of-work firemen and other arsonists (one of them 91 years old) led to huge forest fires throughout the rias. They lost about 7% of their forested area, and there were many fatalities. In August, it was common to see seaplanes sweeping down into the rias to collect water to drop in the hills, and every few days we would see a new plume of smoke rising in the distance.
A German chemical factory burned down at the top of one of the rivers, leeching toluene and other nasties into the water. It was rapidly dealt with by carbon filters, and followed by an emergency plan to tunnel the course of the river around the polluted section.
For Galicia to be hit by a hurricane after all this bad luck, seems to be really unfair, but at least the damage was slight compared to what could have been. Hurricane Helene lurked in the Atlantic for a while, threatening a similar course, but thankfully lost its power and buggered off to Ireland.
The strong winds swept the ash off the hills and the rain brought it all down, so for a few days we had black decks and black feet.
At last, after 10 days we left Bayona, and had a lovely sail down the coast, accompanied by dolphins across the border into Portugal. We were very pleased to hoist our Portuguese courtesy flag, as we were excited to be entering a new country and heading south towards better weather. We really enjoyed the Rias, and would urge anyone to head their, as it is wonderful sailing playground, with a beach for everyone, and lots of opportunities for cycling and walking. For the Galicians, they say that 2006 has been a year to forget!
Not So Technical.Getting new batteries in La Coruna.
So I’m sitting in a beautiful bay surrounded by spectacular rocky coast enclosing a golden sand beached bay and a small town offering a couple of bars and restaurants in the Rias of Galicia. It’s 8:30 in the evening and about 25 degrees and sunny. It’s what we came here for and hope to see a lot more of, but don’t get the impression that it’s all swilling sun downers and sunbathing. There is always maintenance to do.
Three days ago, fortunately in La Coruna, the largest city in the area, we returned to the boat to the gas alarm screaming. First checks confirmed the gas shut off at bottle and no smell. Reset the gas alarm to find “No 2” sensor, the deepest in the bilge will not reset. No obvious cause. Floor uplifted and sensor inspected for damage , none found and it restarted only to fail again 1 hour later. Next afternoon after removing the loo/shower floors for varnishing, (a result of a complaint re the condition of the on shore showers in the marina) and exposing areas of the shower tray clearly not ventilated or drying, we both smelt a progressively worse smell like dirty drains and sulphur. Cleaning the area didn’t seem to improve the situation and it continued to get worse.
More sniffing and opening of lockers finally revealed the source of the smell. The engine starter batteries had a dead cell and were overheating on the shore charger, creating Explosive!!! gases. Ventilation and disconnection sorted out the smell and gas but it still left us with no starter batteries, so to the guts of the story.
What we need is 2 x 105 to 110 amp Hour Engine cranking batteries. I want sealed, i.e. ideally Glass filled high performance batteries or at least Gel.
What is involved .
(1) Get the words you will need, Baterias, etc.
(2) Find out a potential supplier
(3) Get to the supplier and explain the situation.
We did all of the above in about ½ a day and a visit into the warehouse revealed 2 types of battery available. Traditional car batteries, 2 of, ( possibly Recreational ) and a sealed battery, 1 of, similar to the average boat battery from the average UK chandler.
The size available was max 75 amp. 2 Baterias of the sealed variety were ordered for delivery to the marina that evening. The price was equivalent to the most hi-tec available in the UK. They did arrive and on time so no complaints but on removing the shrink wrapping they exposed themselves as normal push on cap lead acid, not what we had ordered.
Day 2. Discussion with shop to explain situation. To their credit they worked hard to try to rectify the situation but to no avail. We went to another car / truck battery supplier whilst this was proceeding and explained what we wanted. In this part of Spain, sealed means there is a cap on it!. Gel was a concept that the specialist had heard of but none of the 3 suppliers he called could supply anything over 75 amps and , you guessed it I didn’t bother trying to explain AGM ( absorbed Glass Matt) and Red flash micro technology.
The result: 2 days delay in leaving port. 2 admittedly heavy duty cranking batteries and 430 euros (!!) less in the wallet. But we are sailing again!
What would have been the result in a smaller port?
We spent almost a week in A Coruna, as we discovered that we had exhausted our old starter batteries and needed to replace them. See 'Not so Technical' below. It did give us plenty of time to explore the town and bars and restaurants and to start to feel at home in Galicia.
We continued our impromptu tour of local fiestas, arriving at Ares across the Ria from Coruna, in time for their annual celebration. The band started at midnight with kids sleeping in their seats outside and large, free, bowls of mussels for which the Rias are famous. I haven’t seen such large and succulent mussels in abundance since my early days in New Zealand. They tasted great!
We visited Lage. A small fishing and developing tourist village with a beautiful sweeping golden beach. Unfortunately the Ocean currents made the water so cold, even Stuart could not wade out to wet his nether regions! They just went higher and higher until he had to give up and get out!
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| Lage |
We entered the next ria, Ria de Mouros, with towering pine forested hills all around. Another lovely beach which was much warmer and swimming was pleasant. First we anchored off a beach, but moved on the next evening due to fishing boat activity – pulling up our tripping line (attached to the anchor) as they pulled their fishing pots, circling the boats in the anchorage.
Off we went to Muros town, an unadulterated anchorage off a fascinating town. Surrounded by cockle pickers on the beach every morning, 100m off our stern, it gave us a rare opportunity to observe real Galician life at work – no illegal Chinese immigrants here it seems. A heavy evening spent here drinking with a couple from London meant a day of not a lot the next day. The day after that we ventured over to Portosin marina (expensive but exceptionally clean with an excellent restaurant and other facilities.) and a trip on the bikes to visit the old town of Noia about 5 miles round the ria, but one you cannot now get to by yacht because of silting of the entrance.
 |
| Muros |
We moved onto Ria Arosa. Not a long trip but one in thick fog, our least favorite conditions. But once a mile or so into the Ria using a combination of GPS and Radar and the odd glimpse of solid objects, the fog cleared revealing yet another expanse of islands, golden beaches and small ports serving the hundreds of mussel rafts, common throughout the Rias. We were running low on diesel by now – in Spain and France leisure yachts have to pay duty on diesel, so must find a different source of fuel to that of the fishing boats, whose red diesel is duty free and always available in fishing ports.
We entered a brand new marina, which looked promising as it had a diesel (Repsol) sign and pump, inside the marina. Unfortunately we found that this is only for fishing boats (even though there were none there, nor could they get to the pump). We were directed to the next port along – Cabo Cruz – where you can snuggle up amongst the huge fishing boats on the wall and wake someone up to receive some duty-paid diesel (Gasoil/Gasoleo A). A bizarre contradiction….not a single pleasure boat is based in this port. However the diesel was very clean and courteously served. 40 minutes after filling, we were back anchoring outside the previous marina, with no need to go inside and pay for the night.
A couple of days spent avoiding the rain and shopping in the open market stalls. Old ladies dressed in black with wicker baskets selling fresh produce from the individual small holdings out in the hills surrounding the Ria. Of course, there was a good sized fish market and I bought my first mussels of the trip for cooking on the boat. Steph doesn’t eat shellfish so it’s easier to eat them in a restaurant but I enjoyed a ½ Kilo and vowed to buy ¾ Kg next time.
We next sailed on down past Isla Ons at the entrance of the Ria de Pontevedra, which we did not enter, and onto Iles Cies at entrance of the last of the Galician rias – Ria de Vigo.
These islands are the most beautiful place that we have visited so far. We anchored up and were rapidly boarded by customs officials in a hurry to get their paperwork completed. They have a completely inappropriate boat for the purpose, pointing their bow directly at ours to transfer the officials – inevitably taking off part of our toe-rail (wooden edging) at the bow of the boat. They were most apologetic, and being the only boat in Spanish waters that doesn’t have to carry it’s insurance details on board, they gave us a phone number to ring to speak to their boss, who would be in the office the next day. As our toe-rail needs replacing anyway, we saved ourselves the bother and inconvenience and Stu made a temporary repair. We were just pleased that they hadn’t punctured a hole in the side of the bow, which would have kept us from sailing for some time!
The official form was duly completed – we are used to the questions now, as they are the same ones on the form we fill in at every port and harbour in Spain (and now Portugal).
How many masts? Do we have radar? Do we have VHF? How many on board? Give passport numbers, sign form , and they are happy as Larry and disappear off. They don’t show the slightest interest in looking inside the boat, or asking anything like – Are you carrying any drugs or illegal immigrants?
We didn’t let the incident, or the ensuing rolly night at anchor affect our enjoyment of the islands. In the morning we prepared for a walk around the island, and went ashore in the dinghy. Although we had a plan for landing in the surf, it didn’t quite happen as we intended and Steph sported squelchy shorts all around the island – Stuart of course was completely dry. We climbed to the top of the fairy-tale-castle-like lighthouse, for phenomenal views of this wild coast in all directions.
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| Iles Cies |
We sailed on, and into the Bayona Yacht Club, set in the grounds of a castle, which has been converted into a luxury parador (Hotel). We made the most of being temporary members of the yacht, which we were told is one of the top four prestigious yacht clubs in Europe. It certainly was full of beautiful ladies-that-lunch who looked like they had never set foot on a yacht, except for perhaps the odd motor-yacht cocktail party.
Apparently, to be a member here is only possible by invite, and by paying around 20,000 Euros joining fee, followed by 70E a month, and then your berthing fee on top of that if you do keep a boat there.
 |
| Bayona Yacht Club |
To save our budget we anchored off the marina, giving up our opportunities to lounge around the yacht club. Here we met all sorts of interesting cruising folk, from 30’ to 60’ boats, some without engines (out of choice), one waiting weeks for a new gearbox to arrive. We felt comfortable that we are not particularly late in the season, as there are plenty of others out there, and many still just arriving from their Biscay crossing.
The next day brought bad news from the marina. The red cross had issued a bad weather warning to all ports for 48 hours time. We had to make a decision as to where to head to in the next 24 hours that would be able to see us through some strong winds. A bit more investigation in internet cafes revealed the cause of the problem to be Hurricane Gordon lurking out in mid-Atlantic, with an indeterminate path headed somewhere on the Galician or Portuguese coast. We decided to stay put in Bayona, as there was an anchorage, marina, and buoys to choose from, and the reefs around the entrance make the bay very protected from swell, with high hills to protect us from south and west.
Several large container ships came in and anchored behind the Iles Cies, so we knew we were in for a biggy.
We waited slightly anxiously for more news, and the next 2 days were hot and sunny, force 3-4 perfect sailing weather. Gordon did a bit of damage to one of the Azores islands, before losing it’s hurricane status in the cold water of the Galician waters. It finally hit at 5am in the morning, with gusts of 65 knots (mph) in Bayona. The centre of the storm passed about 60 miles north of us with gusts of 80 knots (mph). Some damage was done to buildings, but it was not a bad as had been expected.
We sat out the storm in the marina, watching the piles shaking back and forth and wondering what would happen if the forecasted Storm Force 11 reached us, as it didn’t seem that the pontoons would take too much more battering.
With hindsight (what a wonderful thing), we should have stayed at anchor, where we would not have been snatching at our ropes and cleats. Our biggest worry would have been the boats without engines, as if they dragged their anchors they would not have been able to do anything about it, and there was not really enough room for all of us out in the anchorage to put out the necessary lengths of chain.
Apparently ex-hurricanes are full of energy that needs to be dissipated in wind, rain and thunderstorms. This is exactly what Gordon did over the next 3 days.
We pottered in internet cafes, and bars and shops. When it rained the locals would shake their heads and say that they couldn’t believe what bad weather they were having.
In between rain showers we walked around the coast and went ‘Up the Virgin’.
 |
| Can you spot me in the little boat she is holding? |
A German chemical factory burned down at the top of one of the rivers, leeching toluene and other nasties into the water. It was rapidly dealt with by carbon filters, and followed by an emergency plan to tunnel the course of the river around the polluted section.
For Galicia to be hit by a hurricane after all this bad luck, seems to be really unfair, but at least the damage was slight compared to what could have been. Hurricane Helene lurked in the Atlantic for a while, threatening a similar course, but thankfully lost its power and buggered off to Ireland.
The strong winds swept the ash off the hills and the rain brought it all down, so for a few days we had black decks and black feet.
At last, after 10 days we left Bayona, and had a lovely sail down the coast, accompanied by dolphins across the border into Portugal. We were very pleased to hoist our Portuguese courtesy flag, as we were excited to be entering a new country and heading south towards better weather. We really enjoyed the Rias, and would urge anyone to head their, as it is wonderful sailing playground, with a beach for everyone, and lots of opportunities for cycling and walking. For the Galicians, they say that 2006 has been a year to forget!
Not So Technical.Getting new batteries in La Coruna.
So I’m sitting in a beautiful bay surrounded by spectacular rocky coast enclosing a golden sand beached bay and a small town offering a couple of bars and restaurants in the Rias of Galicia. It’s 8:30 in the evening and about 25 degrees and sunny. It’s what we came here for and hope to see a lot more of, but don’t get the impression that it’s all swilling sun downers and sunbathing. There is always maintenance to do.
Three days ago, fortunately in La Coruna, the largest city in the area, we returned to the boat to the gas alarm screaming. First checks confirmed the gas shut off at bottle and no smell. Reset the gas alarm to find “No 2” sensor, the deepest in the bilge will not reset. No obvious cause. Floor uplifted and sensor inspected for damage , none found and it restarted only to fail again 1 hour later. Next afternoon after removing the loo/shower floors for varnishing, (a result of a complaint re the condition of the on shore showers in the marina) and exposing areas of the shower tray clearly not ventilated or drying, we both smelt a progressively worse smell like dirty drains and sulphur. Cleaning the area didn’t seem to improve the situation and it continued to get worse.
More sniffing and opening of lockers finally revealed the source of the smell. The engine starter batteries had a dead cell and were overheating on the shore charger, creating Explosive!!! gases. Ventilation and disconnection sorted out the smell and gas but it still left us with no starter batteries, so to the guts of the story.
What we need is 2 x 105 to 110 amp Hour Engine cranking batteries. I want sealed, i.e. ideally Glass filled high performance batteries or at least Gel.
What is involved .
(1) Get the words you will need, Baterias, etc.
(2) Find out a potential supplier
(3) Get to the supplier and explain the situation.
We did all of the above in about ½ a day and a visit into the warehouse revealed 2 types of battery available. Traditional car batteries, 2 of, ( possibly Recreational ) and a sealed battery, 1 of, similar to the average boat battery from the average UK chandler.
The size available was max 75 amp. 2 Baterias of the sealed variety were ordered for delivery to the marina that evening. The price was equivalent to the most hi-tec available in the UK. They did arrive and on time so no complaints but on removing the shrink wrapping they exposed themselves as normal push on cap lead acid, not what we had ordered.
Day 2. Discussion with shop to explain situation. To their credit they worked hard to try to rectify the situation but to no avail. We went to another car / truck battery supplier whilst this was proceeding and explained what we wanted. In this part of Spain, sealed means there is a cap on it!. Gel was a concept that the specialist had heard of but none of the 3 suppliers he called could supply anything over 75 amps and , you guessed it I didn’t bother trying to explain AGM ( absorbed Glass Matt) and Red flash micro technology.
The result: 2 days delay in leaving port. 2 admittedly heavy duty cranking batteries and 430 euros (!!) less in the wallet. But we are sailing again!
What would have been the result in a smaller port?
