Oriole 29°42'N 13°04W
Oriole
Sun 6 Oct 2002 11:13
06/10/02
We are at present 33miles from the north end of Lanzarote hoping to arrive
in daylight in a bay in the straight between Lanzarote to the south and the
island of Graciosa to the north. We have had an excellent passage, downwind
sailing all the way and sunshine most of the time. We left Portimao as
planned on Wednesday morning and motored out of the harbour into quite a
rough sea and overcast skies, at times raining, not very inviting, but by
the afternoon the sea had settled and we had a good sailing breeze. Inspite
of this inauspicious start, John had been researching the weather pattern,
which as those of you in the UK know, was being dominated by a high pressure
system over you which should have been over us. We are able to get five day
weather maps from our radio and download them onto the computer direct from
Northwood in England these were now indicating at least 5 days of northerly
winds for the first time for 4 weeks. It was worth waiting for and in the
meantime had enjoyed the Algarve. Life on board has been very pleasant, we
have been running a 4 hour watch system from 1000 to 2200 then 3 hours
during the night and although we haven't had the moon the nights have been
brilliantly starlit and surprisingly light. We have seen two or three ships
and one yacht, one lonely turtle, one flying fish and the occasional sea
bird. Although Africa is only 100 miles away the sea seems very empty. We
have had daily radio contact with other yachts and have enjoyed receiving
and sending emails. Jill's cake and marmalade have gone down extremely well,
thank you. Other gastronomic gifts await the next part of our voyage. The
plan is now to spend a few days at anchor off Graciosa, swimming and
relaxing before heading for Puerta Calero on Lanzarote where John and I will
leave Andrew in charge of Oriole for 3 weeks while we return to the UK on
17th October. He is hoping that brother, Robert will get some leave and
join him.