Return to Persephone 36 9.436N 5 21.385W
Persephone... Cruiser/Racer
Nigel & Karen Goodhew...
Mon 9 Dec 2019 12:23
We returned to Sopromar by road in January and did most of the annual maintenance, including preparing the hull for re antifouling, and revarnishing much of the saloon, but by then our ambitious plans to try and cruise P whilst at the same time compete in a full RORC season double handed in Cora with Tim was looking increasingly unfeasible. Technically possible, with EasyJet, but the pressure we would put ourselves under to be at certain points by certain dates was just too much, the risk of missing a flight just too damaging to what was going to be a full on racing campaign.
So Persephone remained in Lagos, Portugal and we visited her from time to time to look after her; a kind of private apartment in the town, albeit in the boatyard, though we were far from alone in that.
Roll on the calendar to September 2019, and with a successful RORC campaign and the Fastnet done and dusted, Karen and I returned to Lagos to complete the final preparations, and Persephone was relaunched at the beginning of October. The engine started promptly and we took up a place in the Marina do Lagos.
Next was a little help for Graham to swop some engine mounts on Zephyr, also in the boatyard. Graham came for a curry, but alas we missed Gillian.
But we were able to catch up with Marty and Heleen, in Arcadia as they came past, which was fun.
Next was the formulation of an outline cruising plan. We still want to return to the UK but the Atlantic coast of Portugal can be a very inhospitable place in Winter, so the plan is to head to the Canaries, then out to the Azores and back north, maybe to Galicia and then the Atlantic French coast, and home...
Lots of chat about Brexit amongst the UK overseas cruising community. We established that there is a slight advantage to UK yachts being in the EU on the leaving date, with the VAT rules, compared even to being in the UK, but then the politicians postponed again and the “deadline” of 31st October came and went without any real developments. But for the time being, we remain inside the EU!
We left Lagos after 3 weeks in the marina and made the short trip across the bay to Ferraguda, across the river from Portimao. We have enjoyed this delightful and peaceful anchorage a few times before and the short sail was just what we needed to test all the gear and make sure everything was still working, before straying too far from the oasis of expertise in Lagos.
We had had the stackpack serviced and repaired, and the mainsail laundered. Perhaps the simplest and most surprising thing we noticed was the ease with which the main was hoisted and particularly lowered, after I had coated all the sliders with a ptfe lubricant. It positively falls down now, rather that requiring a solid tug down the luff to get it to come down!
I noticed a slight leak from the rudder bearing, but was unconcerned, as this had been a feature of the last longish lay up in Madeira, and cleared up after a few days.
We arranged to meet Marti and Heleen in Vila Real at the mouth of the Rio Guadiana so after a few days enjoying the delights of Ferraguda, we upped anchor and motored around the coast the 20 miles or so to Villamoura, listening to the semi final with England against Australia in the Rugby world cup, staying close enough to the coast to receive internet radio!
One night in Vilamoura, a splash of diesel in the morning and a 6 hour motor sail in 6 knots of headwind the following morning, found us plugging the ebb tide in the Guadiana, and then ferry gliding onto a nice easy hammerhead pontoon at Villa Real, where Marty and Heleen took our lines.
The next day, the four of us stepped out to a very local fish restaurant in the town and enjoyed a very pleasant evening, before Heleen had to return to The Netherlands.
To keep our social life moving along, we also arranged to meet Eddie and Claire, from near the parish, to come down for a bite to eat and a proper catch up, which we did in the Real Club Nautico....and I think I can remember that a very good time was had by all.
Whilst in Villa Real, we decided that a visit to Gibraltar again might be fun. So we determined to keep sailing east. There’s an airport there, and maybe we could fly back to France for Christmas and a big New Year party planned to celebrate, as well as New Year’s Eve, Tim’s 30th birthday.
So after a few days, we slipped out and enjoyed a cracking (white sail) reach of about 60 miles, to Rota. Whilst there, we made a day trip to Cadiz, once again by bus as the windy conditions prevented the ferry linking Rota to the city from running.
After Rota, it’s a solid day sail to Gibraltar, and we enjoyed another brisk 17 to 20 knot beam reach past Barbate and the kite surfers summer paradise of Tarifa, arriving in the outer harbour at Alcaidesa, La Linea, just across the Spanish border from Gibraltar, at dusk.
We popped the anchor down and slept soundly before sliding into the marina the next morning, Saturday 9th November.
Excellent timing! On Sunday, we went across the border on foot, across the runway, and witnessed the Armistice Day parade, somehow finding ourselves a top vantage point in an area ostensibly reserved for the family and friends of the servicemen involved in the Parade.
Then, on 13th, we flew back to London, ready for the RORC dinner with Tim and Kirsty to celebrate our memorable double handed season. I took the opportunity to pick up a few spares as well, whilst in the UK and we returned to Gib after 8 days away, to deal with the leak.
Did I just say leak? Well, the two longish day sails up to Gibraltar from the Guadiana, revealed that the rudder bearing was still leaking, especially under way, and we were taking on about 2 or 3 litres per day. Not a lot, but unlike 2018, a few weeks in the water had not remedied the leak, which I was now sure, was coming from between the bronze bearing and the hull, rather than from the bearing itself.
The marina reception office referred us to Eric Oosthuizen, a South African who runs a shipwright business in La Linea, and he came promptly to see us and agreed with me that we were not going to sink, but that this kind of leak was not going to get better.
So we arranged to haul out in Algeciras, across the bay and investigate.
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