Aleria's Adventures

Our boat was hauled out at Astilleros Lagos in Bouzas near Vigo, Spain yesterday. The boatyard is legendary and has been hauling and launching vessels using a complex system of custom built cradles on a rail for almost a century. We were not present when they hauled her but it looks like they had good weather and plenty of water.

View from the maritime museum toward Bouzas We are docked at the Liceo de Maritimo  in Bouzas, Vigo preparing Aleria for her winter at the Astilleros Lagos  boatyard. We've removed the sails and other sundry items from the deck, stowed the dinghy, cleaned out the fridge, swept up and done the laundry. Yesterday, Alberto Lagos stopped by and we reviewed all the work we'd like done over the winter. He is such a gentle and kind man. We are fortunate to consider him and all the Lagos family our friends. It is very warm and dry but not unpleasant. The climate here is much to be desired.

Aleria heading out the Ria Vigo toward Baiona. Photo by Alberto Lagos.  Nice photo of Aleria by Alberto Lagos. After we got all the canvas in place, we took off from Vigo as the afternoon wind was filling in. We hoisted the sails and quickly realized the sheet had been incorrectly led from the staysail. First fix. We were lazy and decided to sail along slowly without the yankee as it was not very far from Vigo to Baiona. We dodged several ferries and a powerboat came straight at us. We soon realized it was Alberto coming out to take pictures of us sailing out. He took some great shots though we felt bad we hadn't raise the full complement of sails. When we arrived in Baiona, we were assigned a berth right next to the President's yacht about as close to the clubhouse as we could be. Easy to get in, too. Someone had made a welcome sign that was secured to the dock in our slip. Oscar Calero, the manager of the club, was there in a flash with a bottle of wine and gre...