One of the great pleasures in cruising is observing wildlife, both exotic as in polar bears and whales, and common, like the various types of gulls. Seagulls are amazing flying machines and very adept soaring pilots. Not the most aesthetic of birds at rest, they are exquisite in flight, reminiscent of the high performance gliders we have flown.

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Part of the cruising experience is occasionally renting a car, getting off the boat, and visiting the countryside. If you are in Galacia at the top of the list is a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella, one of the three most visited sites in Christendom. For us, this was more about the journey through some of the interior, and people watching, than visiting a shrine, although the latter has its allure as well. We are hesitant to write this up as pure travelblogs are boring to us, but this one is hard to resist.

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We are always interested in the local commercial boats. Design wise, there are often lessons to be learned. The Galacian Rias have an ongoing commercial fishery, with small craft and large. The punt design above seems to be common for local fishing.

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Astute readers of this blog will no doubt have noted by now the absence of the rust stain on Wind Horse’s aft starboard quarter. The rust stain was a continuing nuisance, courtesy of a not so “stainless” steel smokestack on  our Kabola diesel heater (now replaced in non-staining aluminum). The rust stain removal took a half an hour.

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The Ria de Vigo is a study in contrasts, and a reminder to us of what makes cruising in the more developed world interesting. Take the lead photo, of Baiona, Spain (that’s the Galacian spelling, the Spanish spell it Bayonna). The enormous fort in the background dates to the 11th century. The red tiled roof to the right is the Montereal Club de Yates, a three time challenger for the America’s cup, contained within the fort complex.

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For those of you who are really hard core we offer a slide show of the open 60 rigging and hull shape details. These are the ultimate sailing machines, designed to be raced around the world single-handed. When viewing these slides keep in mind that you can control the progress of them  with the +/- buttons (or let the show play automatically) and view full screen images by clicking on the box in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

Click here for the Open 60 details.

We’re in the land of Med mooring (stern to) and most yachts have some form of stern gang plank system. Many are elaborate, others more like a plank of wood. This is the first time we have seen a gangplank also used as a dinghy launching system.

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Several interesting details to comment on with this aluminum French yacht.

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Between Open 60 racing and various Spanish festivals, we have been seeing some interesting craft the past few weeks. We love the modern designs of course, but the functionality of the traditionals also has a certain appeal – and perhaps a lesson or two.

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