Sunfish, sharks and waxing the deck

We left Nazaré at dawn to ‘sail’ the 60-odd miles south to Cascais, near Lisbon. However, as the Portuguese Trades (northerlies running parallel to the Portuguese coast) haven’t made much of an appearance this year, we have had to do a lot of motor-sailing. We do get some wind – mainly when we tie up and let go – just to amuse the locals (same as in Aber really but without the rain!). From Nazaré to Cascais we motored the whole 13 hours – horrible it was – David and I didn't really speak to each other the whole way ('cos we can't talk comfortably above the engine noise, not due to any marital disharmony). Sound-proof the engine room’ has been added to the list of things to do over the winter…

Sunrise over Nazaré.

In addition to seeing three small sunfish, one of the highlights of the trip was the sighting of a small shark (1 metre from dorsal to tail fin). I was taking advantage of the smooth passage and lack of the need to make small conversation to wax my legs. Unfortunately, the unexpected shout of ‘SHARK!’ made me drop the wax strip I was using onto the deck (anyone who has ever used this method of torture will know just how sticky they are…). I missed seeing the shark, but you will all be pleased to hear that both the deck and I are now fuzz-free.

Reading ‘117 Days Adrift’ aloud on deck on passage.

Cascais

As the anchorage in Cascais is relatively shallow (meaning that we wouldn’t have to put out too much anchor chain in our windlass-less state and could therefore retrieve it relatively easily using David-power) we intended to anchor rather than go into the expensive Cascais Marina (€50 per night). However, things didn’t go quite according to plan and the windlass wouldn’t let go of the anchor chain when I asked it to. When David asked it a little more violently (by hitting it with the winch handle), it bit David’s thumb and spat out 70 metres of chain before we could stop it. We pulled in the anchor as quickly and quietly as we could and scurried off to the marina to nurse David’s thumb, back and pride! This little fiasco was, of course, conducted in full view of numerous spectators with G’n’Ts on the surrounding (safely anchored) boats.

Cascais is very swish and picturesque, although the noise level from the two local discos (which started at 01.00 and didn’t stop until 06.00 – not what we needed after a noisy trip down and an aborted attempt at anchoring) and facilities probably don’t warrant €50 per night. We did get ashore with BARBARY DUCK and TENGY for the first Indian since leaving the UK – luckily it more than fulfilled expectations! Bethany and Bryn also had splashing competitions and dinghy races with some of the Norwegian children that they had met in Figueira de Foz.

Cascais Marina by day and night.

Oeiras

We have since moved out of Cascais to Oeiras (pronounced O'Irish) 5 miles further up the River Tejo towards Lisbon – it’s a bit cheaper and there is access to an excellent Olympic-size sea-water swimming pool next door – all in the price.

The swimming pool next door.

Lisbon

We caught the train to the Belém area of Lisbon to collect our new windlass. While we were there we visited the Maritime Museum (or a fraction of it anyway), which is housed in the west wing of the impressive Jeronimos Monastery. The children LOVE museums and this was a great place to brush up on our knowledge of Henry the Navigator, and (following on from our studies of Christopher Columbus’ “Pinta” in Baiona) to learn more about the designs of the ships that Portuguese used to discover much of the known world. The museum also contains gems such as the world’s largest collection of navigational instruments, beautifully illustrated navigation charts, recreations of cabins from the royal yachts, and models of Portuguese fishing and naval ships throughout the ages.

Holes blasted through the 4” steel armour plating of a modern ‘Portuguese Man O’War sunk in 1961 during India’s campaign for independence.

News from Aber

Sorry to hear that the final league race of the rowing season to be held in Aber had to be called off due to too much wind. However, news has reached us that a sailing race is planned in Aber for 22 September – it’s great to hear that the sailing section is starting to take off (rowers beware!). Please keep us posted on the build up to the big race, team reports, tactics, scandals, etc. Who will be on the protest committee (you'd better get one as you know someone will want to protest when they lose)? We will also want a full and litigious report of the actual race and of the social afterwards. Any information and photos received will – of course – be treated as confidential.

We have had feedback from Jackie and Stu (MYMAX) on our position in the language stakes – it appears that we have competition on this front, as between them they can get beer, food and the bill in French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Greek, Croatian, Czech and Dutch. All I want to know what happens when they want the loo after all the beer and food? (We may have the edge on them here as long as we don’t stray out of Spain or Portugal.)

On the Voodoo front…

It’s also good to hear that there is a hard copy of our blog up in Aber Boat Club. However, we aren’t so sure about people trying to track us by sticking pins in a world map – are you sure it's not a wax model of CAPE? We wondered why we were having all of these technical hitches – we now know that it is jealousy among all those left in Aber Boat Club and in the marina. STOP STICKING PINS IN US – PLEASE GIVE US CHANCE!