Did you ever sail on a rally?
The other day we were with Caron and Martin Wagstadd, a couple from UK that stopped at Marina Coruña. They are part of the rally ARC + World Cruising Club (WCC).
After their retirement in UK, they decided to sail on their Oyster 47 and get on an adventure all around the world, in between five to ten years.
Before getting on their next adventure, they talked to us about their experience sailing till here. Today, we share it with you!
A letter to Marina Coruña
Hi, we are Caron and Martin Wagstaff, a retired couple from the UK and we are currently at the start of a five to ten year adventure around the world, hoping to explore new and exciting places along the way.
Our boat is an Oyster 47 called Escapade of London. We bought her in Ipswich (Suffolk, UK) in September 2016 and, for the last five years, she has undergone a major refit. This included replacement rigging, new Coppercoat anti-fouling, installation of a generator and watermaker and upgrading of all of the electrical and navigation equipment.
We set off from Ipswich on the 4 th July 2021 and sailed from there along the south coast to Portland in Dorset. Next, we travelled across the English Channel to Jersey. Then, finally, from Jersey, across the Bay of Biscay to A Coruna.
We have had all kinds of weather to deal from Force 6 (22-27 knots) with sea swells of several metres to no wind at all and flat clam water. We have rain and fog and beautiful sunny days and blue skies. It has not been boring!
Our future plans are to continue to head south, spending a few weeks in the southern Rias and then the Atlantic Coast of Portugal. From Lisbon, we will set sail for the Canary Islands as we are taking part in the World Cruising Club (WCC) rally ARC+.
This is a rally of about 100 boats which will set off from Las Palmas (Gran Canaria) on the 7 th November and head for Grenada in the Caribbean, with a short stop in Cape Verde. Although we could have easily done this crossing independently, we are fairly new to sailing and the Atlantic is a big place. The WCC is a brilliant organisation with years of experience of many different rallies and the support and advice that they give participants is invaluable. This includes support with checking in and out of new countries, useful local information and lots of advice on preparation for long crossings.
We also liked the idea of sailing with likeminded people and (COVID permitting) lots of social events and parties!
It was through the WCC that we heard of Marina Coruna. It is one of the marinas mentioned in the preparation handbook. We checked out the Marina website and the excellent reviews on Navily. It was lovely to see that all of these reviews are acknowledged by Marina staff.
The reception on arrival at Marina Coruna was superb. The staff have all been extremely friendly and helpful, making our check in to Spain very easy. It was especially good that the staff speak such good English, as our Spanish, although improving with practice, is very limited.
We have had a wonderful time here in A Coruna, visiting the old town, the Tower of Hercules and, of course sampling the local food and drink. We will be sad to move on, but other adventures are waiting for us. We would like to thank the staff at Marina Coruna for helping to make our stay so enjoyable and we will be definitely recommending the Marina to other sailors we meet.
Caron and Martin Wagstaff
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