We send you our warmest thoughts and best wishes for this holiday season.
May your world be a safe and peaceful one!!
Our last blog posting was almost a year ago on December 31st 2013 while we were enjoying family and friends and a Christmas in Vancouver. Now a year later we are a continent away and experiencing this holiday season on the north coast of Spain in the province of Galicia.
In May of this year we flew to the Netherlands from Canada and after a few weeks of provisioning and organizing we loaded up the “Mulder” family Kangoo and drove to Spain, destination Punta Lagoa Marina in Vigo.
It was a fairly fast drive south through Europe to get to Vigo but we did discover some
true gems along the way. The outstanding highlights for us included walking the ancient village of Le Mont San Michel at sunrise and having it almost to ourselves. As we left the city the first of many dozens of tour busses started to arrive. In Les Sables d’Olonne France we met our Vendee Globe Team Plastique hero Alessandro Di Benedetto, working on the vessel he skippered in that single handed sail race around the globe in 2012/13. And in the town of Saint Jean Du Luz on the Bay of Biscay just before the Spanish border, we saw the most incredible old world waterfront walkways, truly a great gift of inspired architecture. 
On June 1st we had our last night on the road in a lovely hotel called Hotel Playa in Cangas Spain almost directly across the bay from where the Ar Seiz Avel stood perched “on the hard” waiting for our return. The next day we moved into an apartment close to the boat and commenced a five month epic of boat refit, reno and rejuvenation. What had started as a five week project with the intention of joining the OCC (Ocean Cruising Club) rally to Finisterre in August became a full on stay “on the hard” and do a
“go for the gold” reno aboard the Ar Seiz Avel.
The fun beauty jobs included creating a richly varnished companionway hatch and interior chart table. Cosy new upholstery for the main cabin seat cushions. Setting up warm white led track lighting in the galley. Restoring cupboard doors with rich varnish and new rattan caning. Fresh paint and liners in all the bins and cupboards. As well as the wiring and installing some new
solar panels that will give us an extra 275 watts of power off grid. The not so beauty jobs included finding a very rusty and aged bottom to a Dorade vent that necessitated a full extraction through layers of deck and then full deck repair. The endless grinding and surfacing of the hull below the waterline to make it even more smooth and streamlined underwater. Followed closely by the bottom paint with all its very toxic antifouling properties. The list seemed to grow exponentially every time we crossed another job off of it.
In the middle of August we were finally able to leave the apartment and move aboard the Ar Seiz Avel. We were still on the hard and the bathrooms and showers were in a trailer in another part of the yard but it was a delight to finally be back in our cosy home and to fully enjoy the fruits of our labour.
We were able to stay onboard working and living until near the end of October when the weather started to become cool and unpredictable. We had completed all that we had set out to do with the exception of some final jobs that are waiting for the spring so we packed up and headed off for some well-earned rest. We loaded the Kangoo and travelled back to Cangas for a few days to recuperate and enjoy the
last warm days of the year on the beach before travelling north. With the costs to travel abroad so high the opportunity to stay in Spain became a possibility so we decided to investigate a long term rate for our Hotel apartment. We are now living in Cangas Spain at Hotel Playa until we move back aboard the Ar Seiz Avel later in the New Year. Luck would have it that the Azores high pressure system has stalled over us for the better part of the fall consistently giving us spectacular warm temperatures. The greatest blessing of this delay in the return to Canada, was that it offered up an opportunity to realize a dream that Paul’s has had for many years. Over a friendly lunch with our friend Alfredo we were granted a small workplace at the 100 year old wooden boat building facility Lagos Boatyards in Vigo. This three generation family run boatyard is steeped in history and tradition and is among the oldest of the surviving boatyards of its style. 2015 will mark their 100th year. Congratulations!!
Paul now has a nice section of workbench at the Lagos Boatyard and has started serious work
on the prototype of the “Universal Offshore Hatch”. This hatch concept includes the ability to turn 360 degrees and will have a solar component for charging batteries. The first prototype is 75% complete and looks incredible. The initial water test on the hatch was also a success, so we are well on our way to seeing this invention through to the next level with installation sometime next year. At the end of this blog you will find a link to the Electric Sailing Project.org website
to see the features and the progress on the prototype for the “Universal Offshore Hatch”.
The Ar Seiz Avel
is now pretty much good to go. With a new exterior paint job and graphics in
the spring and new windows all around we hope to launch her in June of 2015 two years exactly since we crossed the Atlantic. It has been a long road to get here. We crossed the continent multiple times by various means over these past two years and our Camino trail journey is now complete. Our vessel as it stands at Punta Lagoa waiting for the season to change, is facing the opening between Isla de Montefaro and Isla de San Martino in the Cies islands group where we entered through it almost two years ago. The next time we are in the water we will thread the needle again through those islands as we continue our cruising lifestyle and our exploration of the beautiful Galician Coast.
With kindest regards and all the best for the New Year
Barbara Ann & Paul and the Ar Seiz Avel.
Adventure in Spain Photo Gallery
Universal Hatch Project www.electricsailingproject.org Lagos boatyard Vigo http://www.astilleroslagos.es/index.php/en/
Below please find links of interest of items mentioned in this blog.
Le Mont Saint Michel http://www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/index.htm
Team Plastic sailing team http://www.teamplastique-voile.com/
Vendee Globe sail race http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vend%C3%A9e_Globe
Town of Saint Jean de Luz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Jean-de-Luz
Ocean Cruising Club http://www.oceancruisingclub.org/
Hotel Playa, Cangas Spain http://www.hotel-playa.com/
