21st Aug. 0700. I left on the high tide – so at least I would get a push out of the ria at Viveiro, as the tide started to go out. There is also a 2kt steady westerly flowing current along the coast, so that would be in my favour. My hope was to average 6 kts. That would result in covering 70nm in 12 hours and getting to A Coruna at, or preferably, before high tide. Then I would get a push in, with the in-coming tide into A Coruna. A cunning plan.
It was a glorious day. The engine ran fine, and I could turn off the audible alternator alarm so it wouldn’t drive me nuts. I studiously ignored the flashing battery symbol on the instrument panel.
No wind at all for the first half of the journey. Motoring at a conservative 1800rpm would give me a speed of about 5kts. With the current also flowing westwards, that would increase to at least 6kts.
As I passed the half way mark – level with the ria at Cedeira – the wind picked up – just enough to give the main-sail some power. From then on we were doing 7 to 8 kts and getting nicely ahead of schedule.
We moored up at 1725. No other alarms. No mishaps. A Corunna was just about to go into weekend mode. But I was very relieved to be safely moored up in a place that should have all the right services and equipment available.
You can just about see Enterprise on this web cam – a bit dull at the moment – storm arriving over the weekend.
http://www.northwestmarinas.com/en/marina-coruna/webcam/
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