Following the last blog entry the wind has blown a lot. And that's an understatement! We had hoped to leave Cascais early Saturday morning to do the 55 mile sail down to Sines but the wind was still over 20 knots with a 4 metre plus swell. We set the alarm for 7am but quickly went back to bed.
The drawback of this delay was that the weather window to get to Lagos was getting narrower but the bonus was that I was able to go up to one of the bars in Cascais to see Liverpool whip United. Yeeeessssssssss!!!!!!! About time too! The staff in the Bar Iberico must be getting fed up with us. That's an England win and a Liverpool win in the same week. It also gave us chance to have one last drink with Rick and Connie on Calaloo as we will probably miss them in Lagos as we will be flying home before they get there. Hopefully we will catch up with them next year.
So it was a re-run on Sunday morning with the alarm set for 7 am. The wind had dropped a lot - in fact there wasn't any so it was a 5 hour motor sail until it increased to the point at which we could sail fast enough. The problem we seem to face all the time on these long sails is that we only have around twelve hours of daylight so anything over 50 miles means that we can't aford to sail at 4 knts which is what we end up with if the wind is 10knts dead behind us. We motored until we passed Cabo Espichel and then we were able to to sail.
Cabo Espichel with the wind building - we've just been round that!!
In fact, the wind managed to get up to 20-25 knts again which meant a great and exciting sail into Sines with quite lumpy seas. We ended up gybing back and forward (to avoid going dead downwind) as there were only two of us on the boat and it was a bit bumpy to rig a pole to goose-wing. It really was nice to sail "properly" again. Tea shirt and shorts, blue sky, 25 C plus - magic.
We got into Sines about five-ish and dropped the anchor in the bay. There is a nice marina (and what looked like a brand new amenities building) in the bay but we had decided to anchor to get a quick getaway the following morning (and it's cheaper!). We chucked the anchor overboard, let the chain out slowly and dug it in. Easy! We've not had a problem at all anchoring down here - unlike the "is it holding in the weed" in Scotland.
The Sines anchorage - with castle on left and me (taking the picture and drinking beer) so you can't see me
Pam was a bit worried about registering with the authorities - ie the maritime police, the immigration, the customs, the local library and Mrs Miggins pie shop etc - because there are dire warnings in the pilot book about fines if you don't. All these people are part of a huge job creation scheme in Portugal and must have something to do. Every port you go to has all these authorities and you have to report to all of them. Usually the marina does it for you - but you still need to go through the formalities at every port (and I have yet to see a library book!). Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. I called the marina on channel 9 (by the way they do have a vhf now - the pilot book said they didn't in 2005 - someone must have been saving their pennies) and asked if I needed to register. I was told that if the maritime police wanted to talk to us they would come out to the boat. That was easy then. Seems like they are very hot on having all the details when you go to the marina but couldn't care if you anchor. The YBW forum (or should I say - one of the contributors) had made the same comment. Another thing is the further south we get on the Iberian peninsular, the level of command of the English language gets much better. The marina guy on the radio spoke great English.
The pilot book paints a nice picture of Sines and it certainly seemed it. It was windy when we got in but the bay gives great protection from the north so the boat was quite quiet. Overnight however the wind dropped and a lot of swell was making it's way in, rolling the boat quite a lot. Also the following morning the wind was around 5 knts from the north and there was the destinctive aroma of a refinery (I should know. I work next to one - oh that's wrong I used to work next to one. Just about forgotten this "work" thing). Overall though it does look a nice place and one where we would have liked to spend more time. Unfortunately however, we had one more leg to sail and a flight home at the end of the week so it was to be another early start. The anchorage is very open to the south and south west so not a good place to be if the wind blows hard from that direction.
The next leg was an 80 mile passage to Lagos.....in 12 hours of daylight.. well maybe 13 hours if you can peer into the darkness to spot the lobster pots. Once again these pots are everywhere, even in over 100 metres of water but mostly around the harbours you come in and out of. That means you don't really want to run your engine in the dark. We therefore planned a 7am start and try and keep up over 6knts all the way down. There was also a big headland to go round, Cabo St Vicente. The description seemed similar to Ratray head and Carnsore point - and only 2 of us on board!!
...still we had a pleasant evening, sipping red wine and Super Bock (the replacement for Estrella) thinking about all of you back home rushing back from the office in the wind and rain. Sorry Guys!!
With 2000 miles behind us, nearly 4 months and 39 different places we have stopped, we are now one day from our destination!! We are nearly there!!!!! Will we make it?????
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