Susanne Rudolph
The journey is the destination!
This is about how I experienced my first time sailing on Regina Laska.
Up until now, my husband and I had been happy charter-sailors in the Baltic. Nothing strange with that. And naturally, anything beyond the Baltic remained behind our imaginary horizons and felt far too challenging for us to even think about. In addition to this, my own displeasure of (high) waves, constant seasickness, constant fear for (unpredictable) wind and their resulting unpleasant movements of the boat meant that many of my previous sailing experiences had simply not been relaxing. Not until now.
What a difference this week made! As soon as we had arrived onboard Regina Laska, we got to know our fellow crew for the first time. It was certainly no co-incidence how well we suited, especially when it comes to us women onboard, who all previously had experienced similar challenges when sailing before. What a wonderful crew to spend our joint time sailing together!
First thing onboard, Leon moderated the relaxed get-together so we immediately felt we were on the right boat! The crew had clearly been put together with great care by Leon and his wife Gaby, who is a psychologist and who is apparently quite engaged in the planning of the individual sailing legs. Thank you, Gaby!
During the first days we were just doing short trips across the Rías of La Coruña from one anchorage to the next in order to slowly get used to the Atlantic wind, waves, navigation and Regina Laska’s speed performance.
Leon made sure we would all completely understand the various weather models used by Windy and PredictWind. Especially with PredictWind we could see how modern weather computers could help us providing a “Departure Planning” as well as a “Weather Routing” so we jointly could decide which day would offer the most comfortable passage. Of course our previous sailing experience, or lack thereof, played a major roll when deciding when to round the notorious Costa da Morte (the “death coast” of Galicia).
Despite the fact that I was the only one who had not previously participated on the Reginasailing RYA theory course in Malta, I was allowed to do the Passage Plan! This was really great fun!
Everything we could take into consideration was used for the passage planning, except one crucial uncertainty: The rudder-hungry orcas which were patrolling just outside our route! There always remains at least one uncertain variable, and we learnt how even something as “unpredictable” as the orcas could be handled and avoided.
Thanks to our joint planning we found an excellent weather window and the passage became perfectly enjoyable! I can admit my fresh passage plan might not have been followed to 100% due to the fact that we had to do some detours closer to shore to avoid the above mentioned orcas, but I was very content nevertheless. The arrival time was spot on!
Leon was (and I’m sure he still is!) very proud of his ex-scaredy-cats onboard. We had all now sailed fearlessly conquering huge 1.8m waves where the wild movements of the boat did no (longer) upset his transformed crew. What a difference this week made to the fear we all had felt before we came!
Once arrived in the Ría Baixas, we were met by completely flat wasters and happy dolphins who were playing with us as if they wanted to say: “Welcome to the calm Rías! You did a great job sailing the Costa de la Morte!”
Each evening was also enjoyed culinary highlights: Leon cooked for us, we had onboard BBQ on aft deck or Leon led us us to the most authentic and traditional local restaurants. How great to have such a local guide!
Leon showed me one more thing: If you know how to plan and prepare a thorough passage plan, then you can master the most challenging coast and sail in safety, comfort and style! I can’t thank you enough for this valuable insight!
I learnt so much, but one wish remains: To come again!
See exact track and more photos on Voyoa for Leg 8-2024 here.
Susanne Rudolph, Germany, Sailing Leg 8-2024 from La Coruna, Galicia/Spain to Portosin/Galician
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