The epicentre of fisheries

A fishing vessel entering Vigo

Leaving the Bay of Biscay behind is a notable pleasure for nearly all sailors. Biscay gets the full blast of the westerly winds that accompany the depressions that shuttle in from the Atlantic, and I’ve known several circumnavigators who had the worst battering of their entire voyage crossing the Bay – I even lost three friends many years ago somewhere near Cape Finisterre when the trimaran they were sailing broke up. It can be an unforgiving place.

So rounding the Cape marks a real milestone, one of the ‘Cape Horns’ that exists in every region. As is so often true, too, the wind strength rises at least one notch on the Beaufort scale off such Capes, and Finisterre was no exception, and we surfed around the corner with up to 30 knots of wind. But our yacht is built to face just such conditions, and she (and we) were perfectly comfortable.

We were also glad to be entering one of the first new areas that we had really been looking forward to, the Rias of Galicia. For those of you who don’t know the rias, they most resemble some of the west country rivers (like the Fal) although they are on a far larger scale, being more like the fjords of Norway size wise. Add to that a warm Atlantic climate, and they make a very attractive place to explore.

And they are all about fish and fishing. The Galicians are a very distinctive people, whose lives seem to revolve around the sea and its produce. Seafaring in all its forms is ingrained in them, whether through fishing, long distance shipping or shipbuilding. It’s certainly one of the most maritime regions I’ve ever visited, and some of the ports such as Vigo are amongst the worlds busiest fishing ports. And it’s also one of the foremost regions of the world involved in the development of fish farming, more of which in my next posting.