Rounding Cape Finisterre
- charles29292
- Jun 2
- 2 min read
Headlands often mark the great milestones when making a voyage under sail. Some of my earliest sailing memories as a small child were rounding notorious promontories – such as the Lizard, Start Point or Portland Bill on the southern coast of England, or Cap de la Hague, the Raz de La Seine or Pointe de Penmarch on the French coast. Those memories mostly comprise feeling seasick - as headlands always seem to bring on more extreme conditions as the wind accelerates around them and the sea gets increasingly lumpier as one approaches them – followed by relief once safely past.
On the Northwest coast of Spain, passing round Cape Finisterre (translating as “the end of the land”) is one of those big sailing landmarks. Marking the most western point of Spain, the famous cape seems to act as a dividing line between North and South Europe. Once passed the cape, the weather often changes for the better, with the Bay of Biscay left astern and the all the excitement of exploring the Rias Baixas of Galica and beyond lie ahead.
Having first made landfall in Spain at the historic city of A Coruña a few days previously, we then worked our way down the forbidding Costa De Muerte (Coast of Death) with some day hops, stopping in the ports of Corme and Cameriñas. After a couple of days exploring this stunningly beautiful Ria both on foot and in Kayaks, we headed back out to continue southwards before a fresh NE wind in typical Finisterre conditions – damp, misty, cold, windy and rough.
However, as the headland emerged out of the murk, the Cape lived up to expectations weather clearing to a beautiful blue sky. With a fresh wind behind us we “goose-winged” our sails, with the Genoa poled out to port and the mainsail set to starboard and passed Finisterre at a fine 7 knots of boat speed, and at one point hit our record 11 knots as we surfed down a wave with the lighthouse abeam. With this milestone now astern, it definitely felt like the next chapter in Saecwen’s adventures were beginning.
Saecwen’s crew marked this key milestone on our journey by wearing our Finisterre fleeces for the customary celebratory team photo. Perhaps the outdoor clothing brand will send us a t-shirt or two for the free publicity as at that moment their new slogan; ‘brave souls and wild seas’ felt entirely appropriate.
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