Our Route North.
Our Journey North Begins.
That is, if we can finally untie our mooring lines from Port Velcro.
Then the question is, will we be beating into Northerly Trade winds or motoring
in flat calms,
and how big will the Atlantic seas be?
Sines (15th April, 89 Miles from Lagos)
The alarm clock sounded at 0330 and so commenced
the first of our passages North. We had left the marina the previous night and moved
to the waiting pontoon in order to leave Lagos at 0400. Neither of has had slept due to tension and over indulgences the previous
day so the day ahead could have been a real ordeal but as it happened it was a fantastic
first sail of the season.
Algarve sun rise.
The Passage to Sines. We motored out of Lagos in little or no wind;
so much for the F4 easterlies of yesterdays forecast,
the moon had long
since set so our only light was from the two BBQ LED solar lanterns fixed
in the cockpit which seemed perfect.
The headland of Cabo St Vicente was 3 hours of motoring but on route our need to
steer around at least 20 fishing boats caused time to fly by; I suppose watching
the sun rise behind also helped.
Passing the Cape coincidently brought a really good easterly wind and it stayed
with us until midday. During this time, as is the norm with Ruby Tuesday, we caught
and passed a couple of cruising ketches. Its pleasing to say that the passage had
no excitement so our possible lack of sea-legs was not a problem. We did see a huge
Sun Fish, but we had zoomed over it so fast it did little to evade us.
We motored for the last few hours and arrived at Sines at about 1700 where the 24 hour staff
showed us our berth and helped us tie up.
We checked in at the new office, looked at the weather on the staff computer and
decided to take advantage of the last good day before 7 days of high winds, big
seas and rain. Another early start then. We were charged 17 Euros for the night.
WiFi is via a national group but we chose not to register with them. Sines has a
good chandlery within the marina complex but, from our previous visit, it has little
to offer as a town. Its also a bouncy location being only 50m from the huge and
busy inner harbour. Ruby Tuesday also got covered in black soot spots,
from the numerous big ships docking and unloading. Hell of a job to scrub them
off.
Cascais (16th April, 57 Miles from Sines)
By 0700 we were heading NW, having already
exited the marina, hoisted the main sail and crossed the harbour. We were expecting
fresh winds from the NW by early afternoon so we aimed to head as far west as we
could in order to be in a good position to tackle them in the final stage of the
passage.
Sun Fish.
The Passage to Cascais. Until 1100 we motored NW in almost zero wind.
Initially it was quite hazy, maybe 1 Mile visibility, but the sun soon won and we
could then see the glassy smooth water. We saw another Sun
Fish but, although it wasn't very big (about 1m long), we went back and photo'd
it.
At 1100 a westerly wind appeared so off went the motor; peace at last. We chose
to maintain our course out to sea as we were still expecting the fresh north-westerly's.
And so at 1300 when they did arrive we simply turned North and headed direct to Cascais,
arriving at 1530. We like it when a plan works.
Only one thing marred our smashing passage. About 5 Miles from Cascais a tanker
came down the River Tagus from Lisboa. Passing No. 2 buoy it turned South directly
towards us, placing us exactly head to head. Our radar repeater "Sea Me" was flashing
merrily and visibility was near perfect, if they looked they could see us. So we
held our course. At roughly 1 mile apart we could still see the windows of the bridge
so they had no excuse; they could see us equally well. Then suddenly the ship turned
to starboard out to sea just as we were about to turn. I think the arrogant crew
realised, "Might is not always right."
Being in no hurry, now we were safe from the expected weather, we went to check in
at the office. Core, talk about bureaucracy. The friendly marina staff speedily
completed our registration and then printed the resultant document. It was 5 sheets
all in different colours. We could keep the white, the marina kept the yellow, the
pink, green and blue were stapled to copies of our passports and also handed to
us. We were to take them to the three doors on the seaward side of reception. Inside
the first door was a friendly lady who asked me to be seated, she then asked for
the green copy. She was the customs officer and tapped away at here keyboard for
a few minutes before saying every thing was OK and we could go see the Maritime
Police next door. He asked for the blue copy and scanned it for, well, who knows
what, then he said we could go. Into the swing now, we went to the final door and
offered the pink document to the man. He turned out to be Immigration and he also
checked the document before saying everything was fine and he hoped we enjoyed our
stay.
What was that all about? It was the first time whilst travelling within the EU that
we have ever seen more than the marina staff. Its good to see we are keeping people
in work. That's one thing about Portugal; they will always employ two people where
other countries will employ only one person. Naturally each person only gets half
pay but they have jobs, they take home a wage and they are proud to do it.
No sailing today.
The dubious sounding weather forecast from WindGuru said West(ish) winds between
F7 & F10, seas up to 7m and loads of rain for the next 5 days. So when we woke
on the 17th and found 2 inch of rain had fallen overnight we realised the days ahead
would be seriously problematic. No walking, no cycling, sightseeing might need a
wet suit, umbrellas would last minutes, groan!
On day one we dodged the rain showers, ignore the 49 knots in the marina, wandered
around Cascais and did a bit of shopping. Actually it is a
smashing place, very up
market and cosmopolitan.
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