Saturday 230612

41:08.58N 08:39W

La Coruna to Porto from Cape Finistaire

00:01 42:19.87N 09:16W W: NE 20.8 T; SOG: 8.7 kts; DTG 75nm SOG: 8.3kts motor sailing at 1800 rpm with Genoa and mizzen out.

03:00 41:55N 09:07W Jackie takes over watch from Mike. W: N.21kts, Bearing 244 SOG 8.5kts :DTG 38nm.

04:00 41:47N 09:04W W: 16.5kts T SOG: 8kts Bearing 245 DTG 30nm

04:15 Crossed Spanish / Portuguese border. Plotter time automatically goes back one hour. We are now 03:15 hrs.

03:50 W: NW 17kts T SOG 7.5kts Bearing; 244; DTG 36nm to Porto.

05:00 41:31.9N 08>59.7W W:NW15kts SOG: 7.7kts

07:40 41:14.69N 08:49.87W W: 4.7kts T sails have been brought in as, with no wind, doing nothing. Motoring only 1800 rpm SOG 7.5kts. DTG 7 nm

10:00 41:08.58N 08:39W FWE. After taking on some 400 litres of fuel we take up our berth in the new Douro Marina, built on the Douro river that separates the towns of Porto and Afurada. The staff here are young, very friendly and helpful.

Trip distance done from La Coruna: 173 nm Time taken from LC to Porto: 24 Hours Ave. Speed : 7.0 kts Total distance done from Peel: 1185.nm Fuel Tank: 200 L remaining; ( Third tank ) 400 L consumed from LR to Porto.

Getting home from Porto proved a nightmare. Our flights were booked from Lisbon, our original destination from La Rochelle. Train tickets were purchased to get to Lisbon on the 05.50 am train Sunday morning. The Taxi that picked us up from the marina advised trains were all cancelled due to strike. No option left for us but to book him to Lisbon 350 km down the road ! After an hour he pulls into a gas station to fill up his diesel Merc and does so – with petrol ! We wait an hour before a replacement taxi is obtained from a nearby town. Our new cab driver demands a lot more money than previously agreed on our arrival at Lisbon airport. Result was that in total we paid over 450 Euro for our two taxis and180 Euro for our now useless train tickets, making a total journey cost of 630 Euros !!