Day 118 - Leg 6 Day 9 at Sea 'A slight diversion'
Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Tue 20 Oct 2015 14:09
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I had to laugh when I reread the final paragraph of
my previous post -' ...to avoid a really nasty looking storm; ....100 miles from
Lisbon will head north up the coast ' - I must have been having a stupidly
optimistic moment!!!
The weather was awful. We had massive confused
waves accompanied by an uncooperative strong wind. We were struggling to
motor at 4 knots in the direction that we wanted to go and when we put out the
jib, we managed to make 7 knots but 50 degrees off our intended course. We
spent Sunday and Monday taking the jib out and putting it away, time and time
again. It was extremely frustrating, very difficult to sleep and
everybody was getting tired.
The bimini also gave up the ghost and ripped in the
strong winds. To be fair, we had always intended to replace this once we
got back to the UK and I am surprised that it made it as far as it did. We
still have the sprayhood so can keep the worst of the spray out of the
cockpit and we are keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn't rain between here
and Southampton!!
Eventually, the winds came around on Monday and we
managed to set a course about 50 miles south of our intended course to
Lisbon. I came on watch at midnight on Monday when we were motoring at 4
knots. The winds seemed OK so I put out the jib once more and we were
making a respectable course towards Lisbon. We had been having a debate
whether to continue to Bayona or divert to Cascais (near Lisbon) which was
about 240 miles further south. We had pretty much decided to stop at
Cascais but, sod's law, the wind then swung round and gave us a perfect line for
Bayona.
Paul came on watch at 03.00 and, after a brief
chat, we decided to divert to Cascais as everybody was knackered
and needed a break. Also, although we had sufficient fuel to reach Bayona,
if the winds and seas turned against us, we may have had to divert for
fuel.
At 15.00, we arrived in Cascais Marina, checked in,
refueled, tied up and had a beer or two before heading out to dinner. We
will set off again at 14,.00 tomorrow.
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