And they're off....
Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Wed 25 Jul 2012 16:19
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36:09.74N 10:31.55W
Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 July 2012
Distance Run to 1200 Wednesday (22 hours) 104
Miles
We have been waiting in Portimao for a suitable
weather window to set off on the 4 day trip south west to Porto Santo, an island
about 25 miles north east of Madeira. The unusual weather which has
brought such awful rain to the UK has produced prolonged strong winds off the
west coast of Portugal. These are predicted to calm
down this week so we went in to Portimao Marina on Monday to top up the
water tanks, clean the dinghy, collect our bikes from the pontoon and generally
prepare the boat. This also gives us the chance of a quiet nights
sleep. Neither of us have slept well for the last couple of nights at
anchor because of a rolly swell. As we had access to mains electricity the
vacuum cleaner came out with a vengeance. Lin was happy.
We left the Marina at 2pm on Tuesday and set sail
under unusually grey skies. After an hour and a half the wind died so it
was on with the 'iron sail' for a couple of hours before there was enough wind
to sail again. As we got to a point several miles due south
of Sagres near the south west tip of Portugal the skies started to clear
and we reached the north westerley winds coming around the point.
Just leaving - Praia de Rocha in the background:-
 The Admiral settling down:-
 As we sailed across the shipping lanes around the
south west tip of Portugal several ships crossed ahead and behind us, travelling
both north and south. The new Automatic Identification System (AIS) worked
really well and set off an alarm if it predicted we would be close to each
other by the time our paths crossed. This was an invaluable
aid in the dark. It also tells you about their destinations. The
passenger cruise ship Aida Vita was headed for Tangier and the various cargo
ships were going to Ceuta in Morocco, Felixtowe and one to Norfolk, Virginia
amongst others. At night even when they are nearly half a mile away they
look massive! We continued sailing until about 3 in the morning
when the wind dropped and the swell increased. The sea was really
unpleasant with a confused swell from several directions. Uncomfortable
rather than dangerous. The sky had clouded over again so it was pitch
black. Back on with the engine.
Lin went down for her first 3 hour sleep just
before 10pm and we changed over throughout the night. Unfortunately we
have had to continue under engine because the slop of the sea just empties the
sails of any wind and they just crash about.
We have downloaded another forecast and the seas
should improve but the wind will die further. Nevertheless we are going to
try to sail again in a minute.
Oh, and Lin thrashed me 3-0 at
backgammon.
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