«Sailing in rally», letter to Marina Coruña

Have you ever sailed in a rally?

The other day we met with Caron and Martin Wagstaff, an English couple who made one of their stops at our Marina, and who are part of the ARC+ rally organised by the World Cruising Club (WCC).

Caron and Martin, after retiring in the United Kingdom, decided to prepare their boat, the Oyster 47, to embark on a 5 to 10-year adventure around the world.

Before setting off on their next voyage, they left us a letter telling us about their experience. Today, we are sharing it with you!

Letter to Marina Coruña

We are Caron and Martin Wagstaff, a retired couple from the United Kingdom and we are currently beginning a five to ten-year adventure around the world, hoping to explore new and incredible places along the way.

Our boat is an Oyster 47 called Escapade of London. We bought her in Ipswich (Suffolk, United Kingdom) in September 2016 and, over the last five years, she has undergone a major refit. This included replacing materials, applying the new Coppercoat antifouling system, installing a generator and watermaker, and upgrading all electrical and navigation equipment.

We left Ipswich on 4 July 2021 and sailed from there along the south coast to Portland, Dorset. We crossed the English Channel to Jersey and finally, from Jersey, crossed the Bay of Biscay to A Coruña.

We experienced all kinds of weather, dealing with force 6 winds (22 to 27 knots), waves several metres high, and even windless days with completely calm seas. We had rain, fog and sunny days with beautiful blue skies. There was certainly no time to get bored!

Our future plans are to continue south, spending a few weeks in the south of the beautiful Galician rías and then along the Atlantic coast of Portugal. From Lisbon, we will set sail towards the Canary Islands while taking part in the ARC+ rally organised by the World Cruising Club (WCC).

This is a rally of around 100 boats that will depart from Las Palmas (Gran Canaria) on 7 November and head towards Grenada in the Caribbean, with a short stop in Cape Verde. Although we could have made this crossing independently, we are relatively new to sailing and the Atlantic is a very big place. The WCC is a brilliant organisation with years of experience in many different rallies, and the support and advice they provide to participants is incredible. This includes assistance with entering and leaving new countries, useful local information and plenty of advice for preparing long voyages.

We also love the idea of travelling with people who share the same mindset and taking part in social events whenever Covid allows it.

It was through the WCC that we heard about Marina Coruña. It is one of the marinas mentioned in their preparation guide. After visiting the Marina Coruña website and seeing the excellent reviews on Navily, we decided to come here. It was wonderful to see that all these comments are real and truly describe the staff at this Marina.

The welcome was incredible. The staff were very friendly from the beginning and helped us with everything. Everything was very easy. For us, it was really special that they speak good English, because our Spanish is quite limited.

We have enjoyed the city of A Coruña like children, visiting the Old Town and the Tower of Hercules, and of course, tasting the local food and drinks. With some sadness, we continue our journey, but we did not want to leave without recommending this place to other sailors.

Caron And Martin Wagstaff