 |
Today's strategy was to motor sail with the genoa partly rolled and flattened and sheeted in tight to dampen the rolling - much less stressful that the 'crack' . . . 'slat' . . . 'bang' of the main in big swell/light wind conditions, and just as effective. Soon after we crosed the border the pot markers began, hundreds of them, hard to see except silhouetted against the sky when they crested on a swell. We had to alter course a few times to avoid them, andit made it hard to relax . . . it would be OK if we were sailing, the Vega is never likely to catch a line or a net with her long keel and cutaway forefoot, but under engine you never know. Each marker has a floating line a few metres long attached to a pickup buoy of some sort, almost as if they are looking to take a few yachts if the lobsters aren't playing. It makes motoring down the Portuguese coast after dark a risky business by all accounts.
The wind stayed light, mostly below ten knots, with a two metre swell and a beautiful blue sky, and although we could have sailed the last hour or two when it picked up a bit we carried on motor-sailing - this was passage making, and when we got into Povoa just nine hours after we left we had averaged six knots. The swell was breaking in clouds of spray over the northern breakwater as we entered the harbour, but it was an easy entrance. Noble Warrior was waiting for us and took our lines.
When we signed in - the first time we had been asked for the ships registration - the guy on the desk was incredibly helpful and spoke excellent English. The facilities here are excellent and berthing fees are very cheap. Later we went up to the club bar for our complimentary drink, and ended up eating there from their curious snack menu. We had something that appeared to be a toasted cheese and ham baguette in a big bowl of spicy sauce with pickles and olives. Sounds strange, looks strange but is delicious. Just as we finished eating Paul and Gerry from Noble Warrior came in, and we had a couple of beers with them before going back to Fairwinds for a nightcap. Our Irish guests provided the excuse to crack the bottle of Jamiesons we had bought in La Coruna.
|
|
Beside Noble Warrior in Povoa
|
Sat 16th Sept - Povoa de Varzim
Quiet day, went to the market, did a little shopping and lazed about. A warm, sunny day, although it gets chilly quickly in the evenings now. Our plan is to be in Porto Santo, Madeira, by the 1st October - it is nearly 700 miles further South. No sign of Orca or Kath.
Sun 17th Sept - Povoa de Varzim
Even quieter day after a very late night helping to lighten the liquid stores on board Roamer with Dave and Kate and a new guy called Nigel who is singlehanding on a MacWester 28 - he is staying in Povoa for the Winter. First time we have seen Roamer since La Coruna.
Got an e-mail from Dave and Nora - they are back in Tenerife, and may sail up to Madeira to meet us while we are there.
Big spray and waves coming over the wall today. Taking the metro into Porto tomorrow.
Mon 18th/Tues 19th Sept - Povoa de Varzim - Nazare (112nm)
After re-aapraising the weather we abandoned our planned trip to Porto and set off South for an overnight sail to Nazare. The synoptic charts show the remains of one of the recent hurricanes sweeping up this coast on Wednesday/Thursday, bringing strong South-Westerlies and big swell . . . if we stay in Povoa we will probably be stuck here for a week, and this marina might be a bit uncomfortable in the predicted weather.
Kathy did a bit of shopping, I had a shower and we got the boat ready, then we set off on what was to turn out to be a pretty miserable sail. It started fabulously, broad-reaching in sunshine at five and a half knots in perfect sea conditions . . . but within half an hour we were in thick fog, still sailing with the Navik in charge. Pot markers loomed out of the mist everywhere, and in fact we ran over the pick-up rope on one of them, the ball on the end of the rope banging against the hull. Kathy's fishing line caught it for a second then rode over it. These pot markers can be found up to ten miles offshore and in up to 60m of water to our certain knowledge . . . maybe even further.
We came out of this particular fogbank after about two and a half hours, just North of Leixoes. We had lunch and watched a few ships come out of this busy port and turn North or South inshore of us. By four fifteen the fog was back, gradually getting thicker. By six thirty I calculatd we were crossing the shipping track from Leixoes to the separation zone off Cabo Carvoeiro. It was round about now that the shackle holding the mainsheet horse to the track broke as we rolled and snatched, and the boom swing outboard suddenly . . . luckily it was not very windy, and the problem was solved with our last shackle of a suitable size.
Half an hour or so later we had the eerie experience of being passed by an unseen ship in the fog . . . we heard its engines, but saw nothing. Hopefully they could see us. We spoke to Roamer on the VHF - they have AIS, and could confirm that all the big ships they had seen had altered course to avoid them, proving someone is on the radar. A Norwegian boat with radar, Nano, confirmed that we were giving a radar signature at five miles, which was reassuring as we had never asked anyone to confirm our radar signature before. Fog has been an unwelcome but almost daily feature since Camarinas . . . at home we would not dream of spending money on radar - fog is almost unheard of - but for a trip down this coast it would be very comforting.
|
|
Fog!
|
The wind dwindled to three or four knots, so we put the engine on to motorsail out of the main shipping track. As it began to get dark we reverted to sailing, but after a very nice meal of sweet and sour chicken I took down the main and we reluctantly went back to motoring with a scrap of headsail to steady the boat. Kathy got her head down for a bit while I dropped the sprayhood and peered into the fog in the hope that I might see a marker in time to avoid running it down. With Fairwinds' keel and rudder configuration it would be hard to catch a rope while motoring, but at sea the unlikely is a regular occurence. Luckily the wind came back up - not strong, ten knots or so from the North, putting us on a dead run. The tricolour's stern light cast a shadow of the backstay on the fog behind us, a strange sort of seagoing brocken spectre. Around half past eleven a most unwelcome glow through the thick fog meant something was there, and a large ship duly appeared, scared us then merged back into the gloom, all in maybe three minutes - although it felt longer.
By four o'clock we were just North of Cabo Mondego and thought we could see the lights of a whole load of boats inshore of us . . . but as the fog gradually cleared they turned into very welcome shore lights. Round the cape we encountered the fishing fleet out of Figuera de Foz, who played fisherman's tricks on us, whistling on channel 16 and rushing up and down in a series of random and confusing high speed manoevres in close proximity. We didn't want to play and turned out to sea for a mile or so . . . our nerves were strained enough by now. Once it was light enough to see pot markers again - just after seven o'clock - we put the engine on, wanting just to get in somewhere and relax. At ten thirty we talked to Roamer. They were already in Nazare and warned us that the marina was very full and that we might not get a berth if too many other boats got in ahead of us. We could see two other boats outside of us, and not relishing the thought of having to continue another thirty miles to Peniche we 'put the hammer down' as Jackie Connick would say, and made six and a half knots for the remainder of our trip, tying up in a very snug berth beside a local boat just after midday.
After making the boat secure we checked in with Captain Hadley and his wife Sally. Mike told us with apparent glee that the tail ends of two hurricanes were due, and showed us the current forecast. Winds of 50-60 kph with gusts to 90 are expected, with swell heights of 7 metres or more, so it looks as though we will be here for a few days. Thewy then took us to check in with teh man with the gun, after which we went back to the boat for a beer then walked along the fish wharf to a restaurant just under the port control tower, where we had delicious cod fish pie with salad and a jug of white wine for twelve Euros for the two of us, then back to the boat for a sleep.
We woke up at about seven o'clock and walked into town - about amile and a half. Nazare is obviously a big holiday destination, but the season looks to be nearly over - most of the cafes and restaurants were emptry or had a handful of people in them. We walked along the wide mosaic pavement of the seafront for about a mile then took the funicular up the cliff to the uper part of the town, where we peered over the wall at the edge of the dramatically overhanging cliffs, had a beer and a tuna pasty then came back down the funicular and walked back to the marina. Noble Warrior came in just as we got back at eleven o'clock, and were temporarily berthed against the wall for the night. Kate and Davey from Roamer came on board Fairwinds for a nightcap, and so to bed.
Weds 20th Sept - Nazare
No sign of the bad weather when we got up (late) - a lovely sunny morning. Tidied up a bit, plugged in the shore power and checked for Wi-Fi networks - none, as expected - we are a mile and a half from the town, and even with the Repeatit WiFi modem anything would be out of range.
Got the two-thirty bus into town and had a wander around. Took the funicular up the hill and had a look at Sitio in the daylight, had a beer at a bar with a spectaular view (see the photo on the right) then wandered slowly back down the hill and through the town to the marina.
|
|
Nazare from Sitio
|
Thurs 21th Sept - Nazare - Batalha - Alcobaca (by bus)
Took a bus to visit a couple of monasteries. On the way to Batalha the bus was stopped for about twenty minutes by the traffic police for an inspection of the tachograph and various features of the bus. Fat, jackbooted uniforms with guns. They took no notice of the passengers (Just us, the Noble Warriors and one other guy by this time) which was a relief as I didn't have any ID on me. Makes you remember how recently this country was a military dictatorship.
The monastery at Batalha is spectacular, and contains the tomb of Henry the Navigator - the sone of some Portuguese king and Queen Isabella of Lancaster. On the way back we broke the journey at Alcobatha and had a look at the monastery there. It is even bigger and more spectacular - the kitchen was surely Peake's model for Swelter's kitchen in Gormenghast. Pix of both monasteries in the Gallery if you want a look.
Fri 22nd Sept - Nazare
In the internet cafe . . . news from home that Kathy's Dad is ill and has been taken into hospital. Weather positively Scottish.
Sat 23rd Sept - Nazare
Kathy went shopping in the morning while I stayed on the boat and read. In the afternoon we went up to the Wall of Fame and painted Fairwinds. Denis did Noble Warrior and Davey did Roamer. Out for a meal with Gerry, Denis and Paul from Noble Warrior plus Kate and Davey from Roamer.
Sun 24th Sept - Nazare
Kathy's sister called to say that she should come home. Sally Hadley kindly booked a flight for us on her computer in the marina office. Easy enough to get to Gatwick, but then the usual hassle getting to Aberdeen.
Mon 25th Sept - Nazare
Saw Kathy off on the bus to Lisbon then had an hour or so in the internet cafe before going back to the boat. Farewell meal with Gerry, Denis and Paul - they fly back to Dublin tomorrow, but Paul will be back in a week. Most of the people we have met are leaving tomorrow, so I am hoping that Bruce and Alison arrive on Kath to keep me company.Unless something extraordinary happens I'm not going to make any more blog entries until Kathy gets back and/or the boat moves from here.
Weds 11th - Friday 13th October - Back On Board in Nazare
I eventually flew to Aberdeen on Tueasday 3rd, and Kathy and I arrived back in Nazare on the evening of Wednesday 11th October after what was essentially a two day journey back from Aberdeen - Ryanair flights via Dublin to Porto. Stayed in Dublin overnight courtesy of brother Ben, who was owed a favour by the airport hotel. Took us nearly three hours to get from Porto Airport to the right bus station, where we missed the Nazare bus by five minutes and had to wait two hours for the next one.
Back in Nazare at eight thirty Wednesday evening we ate at the restaurant at the end of the fishmarket pier then went for drinks on Noble Warrior. Paul was planning to leave early in the morning for Cascais. We were too shattered to even contemplate leaving immediately, so decided to go the day after, which would have been Friday. However, when I went up to pay the Marina in the morning I noticed the date on the receipt, and couldn't face sailing on Friday the 13th even though the weather looked reasonable. Will we ever escape from Nazare, or will we join the legion of the damned, those who just dropped in and never left. Checked the weather in the internet cafe and reckoned we could motor-sail it OK on Saturday.
Spent most of Friday locating and installing a new battery as the domestic battery was not holding its charge any more - too many long stays in windless marinas without running the engine. A very nice guy whose name I never got but who owns an Albin Ballad which he keeps in the Club Navale marina gave me a run into Alcobaca where we obtained a battery at an only mildly outrageous price in the agricultural co-op. Food and drink may be cheap in Portugal, but other things - including batteries - aren't. Moved the 110AH 'leisure' engine start battery to domestic service and made the new one the engine start battery - only 92AH, but lots of cold cranking amps. Took ages with my head stuck in the cockpit locker wrestling with too many cables and connectors that were too big for the terminals, but the job was done eventually. One last meal at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe and an early night for a dawn departure - didn't want to leave earlier because of the pot markers and small unlit boats which litter the harbour mouth and the bay.
Sat 14th October - Escape From Nazare (to Cascais, 69nm)
A very disturbed nights' sleep thanks to mosquitoes. The man with the gun came down to the pontoon and gave us our deposit back for the key at 6.30 and just before seven we were groping our way out of the harbour in a vague hint of light. Already the bay was scattered with small unlit fishing boats. There were a few knots of breeze off the land, so both sails were hoisted and we motor-sailed briskly down the coast at six knots as the sun rose. For a while just after ten o' clock we even switched hte engine off and sailed on a cracking beam reach with fourteen knots of wind for a while, but within half an hour the Beta was thumping away again as we wanted to arrive in Cascais with the minimum of night sailing. A yacht that gets down this coast without getting a rope or a net round the prop seems to be the exception here.
At midday we were in mid channel between Islas Berlengas and Cabo Carveiro, where Mike Hadley had told us we would pick up half a knot of favourable tide. We had a knot against us. Ciona, a Westerley Fulmar that had left Nazare about fifteen minutes before us, called us up on hte VHF. They were about a mile further offshore, but still had a knot of tide against them. An opinion was expressed that perhaps Mike was not omniscient when it came to sailing down this coast. We had half a knot against us for another five miles, but it gradually tailed off. We never did see the favourable current though, and Ciona, who stayed a couple of miles further offshore, reported bucking hald a knot of foul tide for the entire trip to Cascais.
By mid afternoon the wind was up to ten or twelve knots, giving an apparent wind that would just fill the main if I sheeted it in hard with the traveller up to windward. A short choppy sea began to slow us down and so we went into Kilmore Quay Vega sailing mode and 'put the hammer down' to keep the speed up. At quarter past six, in quieter conditions again, we rounded Cabo Roca, the most Westerly point of mainland Europe, and fired up the electronic charting system on the laptop to allow us to cut the corner round Cabo Raso a bit. As we headed East towards Cascais darkness fell, but the shore lights gave enough ambient glow to spot pot markers. A couple of times we had to hurriedly go into neutral as we got close, but we didn't run any over. |
|
Cabo de Roca
|
We found the marina entrance easily enough, but nearly ran into an unlit port hand buoy just outside- luckily Kathy's night vision is better than mine.
We were put on a temporary berth for the night. Went for a wander - the far end of the marina is several blocks of bars and restaurants, all full of Saturday night clientele. Had the misfortune to sit down in one for a beer and were subjected to the vile rantings of a group of young Brits at a nearby table, who were discussing male/female relations in a manner that would have resulted in them being asked to leave any English-speaking establishment. Our mosquito bites had by this time swollen to enormous proportions, resulting in 'elephant man' ankles and huge lumps on my arms in my case and a very badly swollen hand in Kathy's. Retired to the boat and spashed calamine lotion around in liberal quantities. Early night hoping for a bite-free sleep and somewhat underwhelmed by our Cascais experience so far.
Sun 15th October - Cascais
Moved the boat to a pontoon down the far (bar-infested) end, but the very nice girl in the marina office thoughtfully put us on a pontoon for larger boats so we could be farther away from the revelry. We are on a pontoon opposite Noble Warrior and Orca (Bart the Dutchman's boat, last seen in Bayona).
Visited Bart and met his girlfrieng Jeanette who joined him on the boat in Leixoes - which I think has cheered him up enormously. He was however a bit dismayed when the water rudder of his Windpilot self steering fell off somewhere between Leixoes and Figuera de Foz. With Dutch cunning he managed to get himself a free tow into FdeF by requesting a pilot. (He had first called the emergency services with no success . . . he says that eventually he put out a Pan-Pan and got some military guy in Lisbon who asked if there was immediate danger to life then hung up when he said no). For those planning a trip down this coast it is worth noting that a tow by the emergency services wil cost you a packet if there is no immediate danger to life - something that maybe should be implemented in the Solent. Anyway, Bart is here waiting for a part for the Windpilot, which appears to be poorly designed yet over-engineered (in the German style). When they are sorted they are off to Morocco.
Next stop was Noble Warrior, where we caught up with Paul's news. He also kindly gave us a tube of Germolene to smear on our bitten bits, which helped a lot. Back to the boat for a light lunch, then off to explore Cascais. We had been told it was touristy, and fair enough it is - but it is also very attractive, with some dramatic modern architecture - much of it in retro styles but very successful. Walked along the seafront, and agreed that the anchorage was choppy and that we were glad we were in the marina. We checked out the supermarkets, had a beer then repaired to Fairwinds for steak, potatoes and salad with a botttle of expensive (nearly E1.50) red. Pouring with rain with a spectacular thunder and lightning storm going on, but no mosquitoes!
|
|
Casino, Cascais
|
The plan is to head for Madeira from here, but the situation in the Atlantic between here and there is very unsettled at the moment, so we will give it a day or so to see how the weather develops.
Mon 16th - Thurs 19th Oct - Cascais
Very unsettled weather. Night before last we had a spectacular thunderstorm and a gale. Lots of spray coming over the marina wall most of the day yesterday, but the sea has gone down a bit now. Doesn't look like the weather pattern is ever going to settle down . . . have been catching up on some Webcraft work and socialising. Off to the internet cafe to upload the work I have done for various clients, then maybe into Lisbon on the train if it isn't going to pour with rain again.
Thurs 19th - Fri 20th Oct
Just after the last entry we checked the weather and decided there was going to be a (tight) window to motor-sail to Sines, 50 miles down the coast, once the coming front had been through. We paid our six nights marina fees and arranged for the security guy to come down with our deposit to reclaim the gate key and shorepower adptor at seven thirty, with a view to leaving at first light. We then took the train into Lisbon and had a wander round, came back to Cascais around seven and had a meal at a restaurant before going back to Noble Warrior to speak nonsense and drink. Paul was planning to leave at nine - after the fuel berth opened - assuming that we had left and not turned back by then.
As the evening wore on the wind began howling and the marina began rocking, but we had been expecting this and still hoped to leave in the morning. Even though I was being sensible, and staying off the Jamiesons Bart was astounded that we were still socialising at midnight with an early departure scheduled. I explained that the Scottish style of hard cruising develops a certain type of stamina, and anyway there would be plenty of time to sleep at sea.
We got up at six thirty and it was still howling, pouring with rain. Wandered along the pontoon to see if Ciona had left - still tied up and in bed. The security guy eventually arrived at eight. There was a temporary lull in the wind - had the front gone through? Even if it had, the sea state would be fairly horrendous for a few hours. I mentally tossed a coin and it came down tails, we stay. Retired back to bed and within half an hour it was howling again. More wind and rain until about eleven o'clock, when of course the weather window promptly opened, but too late for a day sail.
After the initial disappointment we decided that we were fed up with snatching short windward motor-sails down the coast anyway, and that Sines was not really on our way to anywhere . . . so we are going to wait for the weather pattern to change and then head straight for the Canaries, probably Lanzarote first. Paul says not to worry, they have Christmas decorations in the shops up town . . .
Sat 21st - Mon 23rd October - Cascais
The endless depressions keep tracking across the Atlantic and hitting the Portuguese coast. Strong South-Westerlies all the way from here to Madeira to Casblanca and Agadir, but at least we aren't getting the severe gales that are hitting further North. Lots of rain, and some major winds at night with spray coming over the marina wall in sheets. Cockpit rarely dry enough to sit in. Saw an H to the South of us on the synoptic chart yesterday when I checked the weather in the marina office - looks like there may be a break in this weather pattern coming towards the end of the week, but for now it's strong South-Westerlies. Several boats entered in this year's ARC are also stuck here in Cascais waiting for a break in the weather to get to the Canaries.
Playing chess with Bart and Paul - I beat Bart yesterday - and I'm reading a lot. Finished Log of the Mahina again, John Neal's book about his 12,000 mile Pacific cruise in a Vega. His mast step collapsed badly on the trip . . . we have a VAGB mast reinforcing kit stashed under the starboard bunk ready to install should there be any sign of the mast step starting to deform, but so far so good. I don't have the rigging quite as tight this year though. The aft lowers in particular seem to have slackened off a bit since I first set them up, so maybe there is a little bit of compression - will keep watching it. Main mast step problem is the drips of water finding their way in via the mast in the torrential rain we have been getting.
John Neal also had a catastrophic rudder failure on his trip - he was hove to in a storm with the helm lashed when the boat was picked up and flung sideways by a wave. The tangs that hold the rudder shaft into the body of the rudder twisted and broke, leaving the rudder jammed to one side and useless. He sailed the boat seventy miles like that with a warp streamed from one quarter to counteract the locked rudder. This is the only documented catastrophic rudder failure of a Vega though, so I am not going to lose sleep over it. Neal blamed himself for lashing the helm too tightly, and always left some play in it after the repair.
Reading Neal's book again also made me wish we had managed to get an inner forestay fitted before we left. He had non-furling headsails, so could deploy a storm jib on the forestay, and he also frequently used a trysail on a separate mast track. I am hoping that our heavy duty foam luffed headsail will do us as a storm jib if necessary, as our dedicated storm jib (with wire luff) can only be flown off the spinnaker halyard. At some point we would like to have an inner forestay professionally fitted. I talked to a rigger yesterday (who is living on a converted trawler) and he said that although the best solution was a deck fitting connected by a wire to the forefoot of the boat, a strongly backed dedicated deck fitting would probably be OK on a small boat like this. We could also have the old main cut down for a trysail and a track riveted on the mast, although our new heavy duty main with three reefs in is not much bigger than a trysail, and in very strong winds we drop the main and sail under jib only - Vegas perform brilliantly under headsail alone on all points of sail, it is one of thier well-known features.
OK, enough of that nautical stuff for now. Just started reading 'The Life of Pi' - really enjoying it so far. Kathy bought a couple of Sudoku books and spends some time doing that. I have tried a couple, but am not hooked yet. Just had a call from a client whose e-mail is backed up - no broadband connection and soneone has sent him loads of multi-megabyte photos - so I have to get off to the internet cafe soon and fix this for him. Hopefully it won't take long - we had hoped to make some progress towards finishing the construction of the series drogue today.
Tues 24th October - Cascais
Weather poor again with showers and strong SW winds. Managed to splice a hard eye into the end of the series drogue line, then borrowed Bart's drill and jigsaw and made a new bottom washboard with a hole in it to mount the Silva compass. It's not an ideal solution, but will give us a steering compasss with a light mounted in a reasonable position and free from interference. Normally the Navik or the Simrad autohelm is steering and we use the heading on the fluxgate compass or our track as shown by the GPS repeater to adjust our course, but a couple of times we have found ourselved steering by hand in fog or at night - and it is not easy to follow a digital readout. The Silva was a bargain from YBW's 'For Sale' column.
We were invited over to a French boat just across from us last night - a very nice couple with two children. The boat is an unusual 10.5m French design in aluminium, with a safe, small cockpit, a big aft cabin with walkthrough, and the other double berth a large quarterberth open plan with the airy saloon. No forepeak, just a storage area. The design makes the interior seem very roomy for a 10m boat - useful if you have two children on board, especially if one is a teenager. Valerie baked us a chocolate cake, and I beat Manuel and then another French singlehander also called Manuel at chess. This now makes me the chess champion of three pontoons, not bad considering I haven't played for four years or more.
Weds 25th October - Cascais
Finished Life of Pi this morning - what a wonderful book. I didn't realise it was a full-on shipwreck story though - probably as well I finished it in harbour. Bart has had another look at the weather this morning - looks like it will be good to go tomorrow with a longish window opening. The intended destination in Graciosa, a small island to the N. of Lanzarote in the Canaries, 602nm on a heading of 202 degrees. Will e-mail a noon position report and a brief log to Dave Parkhill (Silkie) once a day via satphone, and he will post it on the forum. I have also asked Dave to watch the weather sites and do some weather routing for us if anything kicks up while we are on passage. (Should be 6-7 days given decent winds).
The satphone should come into its own on this leg as a weather routing tool . . . many thanks to Gary from GCOM for organising it. These guys know what they are doing when it comes to yacht-based communications, so get in touch with them if you have a trip in the planning or just want to be able to run your business from your boat wherever it is. Tell them you saw it here.
Hopefully, as stated above, this will be the last entry from Portugal. Watch the forum for updates over the next week or so, more detailed reports will follow once we start cruising the Canaries.
| |
|
Next - Madeira
|
