Hurrying south...
Persephone... Cruiser/Racer
Nigel & Karen Goodhew...
Sun 31 Jul 2016 09:56
The chat on board Persephone brought out a defensive line from her skipper, yours truly..." Well of course, if we were racing, we would simply have to find the right sailing angle and go with it, and if that takes time, then so be it...." But we are not racing. Nevertheless, we do have a deadline and must make it round the corner to the Algarve before the end of the week, and the forecast is for next to no wind for the next few days...until Thursday, in fact.
Sines appeared over the horizon...and we arrived at dusk. Anchored just off the beach and ate a delightful stuffed pork fillet, drank a bottle of wine and were entertained from the beach by the sines music festival, which got into full flow around 11....
The vhf crackled into life just before supper...it was Judy from the immaculate Tivoli, tied up in the Marina and wanting to catch up and swop plans. Quickly it was established that they were going our way, as were the Silver Linings, so we organised a loose convoy, to round the corner of Cape St Vincent the next day.
SL were up earliest, pulled up their anchor before 7. We were next around an hour later and Tivoli nosed out of their berth at 0800 sharp.
Before long, we had 10 to 12 knots of breeze from around 330 degrees, and with our course set at 185, we had a perfect kite run....and duly gave the engine a rest for a few hours. After a late lunch though, the wind did 2 things....it dropped to 7 knots and it clocked right to due north. So more of the same as yesterday....
You can't sail a heavy boat dead downwind in light breeze and sloppy sea. You have to sail at " funny" angles. And that makes the sailing better, but the distance to travel nearly doubles, and with it the elapsed time.....which is ok for racing, as there is no choice....
Anyway, before the decision to motor was taken, we had a fun few hours holding off Tivoli....she is 44 feet long, and significantly faster than us, but with both boats sailing under spinnaker, it took her nearly 5 hours to catch up the 30 minutes time advantage we took leaving Sines.
Rounding Cape St Vincent this time compared well to our 2012 rounding. Then it was night time and thick fog. This time it was mid afternoon and the early haze had lifted, so we sneaked round in large short chop, under engine, but very close in, and saw the cliffs which mark the south western tip of Europe at very close quarters.
There was a large swell from the south west to greet us as we rounded, and a slowly building breeze from the north too. I went on the foredeck to plumb in a number 2 Genoa as the breeze came up past 20 knots and Persephone surged into action.
A racy looking crew on an X 35 came up behind us as we set our sails, and we had a superb " race" to Lagos, some 16 miles along the southern Algarve coast. Persephone surfed down the largest lumps at approaching 10 knots and we held off the X, with her crew all hiked out on the windward rail.
In the late afternoon sunshine we were treated to an interesting wildlife spectacular. Dolphins enjoyed our speed, and came and went in several groups. But ahead and to both sides we were surprised to see silvery dolphins leaping right up into the air. But something seemed wrong. Then I realised it...these dolphins had tail fins which were set vertically....Dolphins have horizontal tails. What we were witnessing were in fact, tuna, presumably hunting smaller fish and forcing them to the surface, then accelerating towards them for the " kill" and leaping high out of the water on the follow through!
It was nearly dark by the time we sailed up towards the harbour entrance at Lagos, and certainly so after we completed the formalities, checked in and slipped through the swing bridge to be greeted at our pontoon by the Marina staff.
Persephone will stay here for August, while we sort out other priorities. Lagos is safe, very convenient and has excellent facilities, including a rare decent chancery, so an opportunity to get some little jobs done.....
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