PAVAN - Sunday 26/8

Pavan
Sun 26 Aug 2007 11:33
We arrived back in Rota on Thursday evening. Still blowing old boots, so were very glad of some extra hands to take ropes when we berthed. A rough night !
 
Friday 24/8 brought light SE winds and a bit of cloud. We headed north for Chipiona, but needed the engiine for part of the passage. There were no spare berths, so we spent the night alongside the fuel pontoon.
 
Saturday brought a very mixed bag of weather reports, ranging from variable Force two and three, to NE gales. A question of take your pick ! However, they were all agreed about thunder and lightning.
 
We sailed from Chipiona for Mazagon in light airs, which soon vanished altogether. We flopped around in a calm for a while, with very threatening clouds overhead. The barometer had risen two points in less than a couple of hours.
 
And then it all happened ! From nowhere came thunder, lightening, a NW gale, steep seas and viz down to 200m.
PAVAN tok it all in her stride, but we were  very glad to have radar, if only to see the size and path of the storm
 
Mazagon was a welcome haven, if not very interesting The ' green leafy village up the hill' sems to have been the figment of someone's imagination !
 
Sunday is a better day altogether. Clear, hot and calm. It is nearly noon, and we are motoring east to Rio Guardina, which is the border river between Spain and Portugal. When we get there we shall decide which country we want to be in.
 
.......................and tomorrow is another day.