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Date: 02 Jul 2008 12:41:41
Title: Wednesday 2nd July Lagos, Portugal
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Whoever said that "it is better to travel hopefully than to arrive" had never been sailing.The favourable weather pattern that we had anticipated did not develop, and by the end of our first 24 hours at sea we were presented with north easterly wind, which persisted for the next 6 days. This had us close hauled, sailing into a building sea as the wind came up to force 5 to 6, with occasional gusts up to force 7, so with two reefs in the main, and plenty of rolls in the genoa, these were days to be endured rather than enjoyed.The weather was cloudy, although very little rain, so no sun in the day, and no moon and stars at night. At least in these latitudes there was only about 6 hours of darkness, with a long twilight. We were doing 3 hour watches at night, so only one watch in the dark, and very little shipping for the first week.By Saturday afternoon we were in fairly consistent gusts of force 7, and so put the third reef in the mainsail, which with 11 rolls in the genoa was enough to keep us moving along in a rough sea. Rather more regular deluges of spray over the boat, we had been in foul weather gear almost all the trip.
By Saturday we were passing south of the Josephine sea mount, about 250 miles from Cape St Vincent, and were sighting increasing numbers of ships, passing both east west from the Med, and north south going round the sea mounts. With around three encounters a watch, life was becoming busier. Decided, with not much option given the wind, to pass to the south of the next set of sea mounts, the Gorringe Ridge, hoping for some reduction both in the sea and the level of traffic, assuming the merchant ships would keep well clear of the sea mounts which rise to only 28 metres below the surface.By Sunday morning it was apparent that even close hauled, given the effect of the sea, we were actually heading for Cassablanca rather than Cape St Vincent, so resorted to motor sailing to improve our heading, and to get up to the Gettysburgh sea mount and out of the path of shipping. Still had a couple of near encounters just to keep us on our toes.By the early hours of Monday the wind and sea had eased suffficiently to sail without engine assistance, but still with 3 reefs and 11 rolls, and by dawn we were delighted to find there really was a sun in the sky. We then enjoyed a fine sunny day with the wind finally backing into the north so we could actually head towards our destination.
The next obstacle was the traffic separation zone off Cape St Vincent, which we reached at nightfall. By then we had a good wind with good visibility on a starlit night and were flying along at 6 or 7 knots, with a course at right angles to the shipping lane, so we decided to go for it. With Henry in the cockpit and Martin on the radar we managed to dodge our way through rather more ships than we had expected, followed by random fishing boats in the inshore traffic zone, before finally dropping anchor in Sagres bay at 0248! So we returned to our departure point of last September, over 9 months and nearly nine and a half thousand miles later,  an emotional moment which well merited a liberal application of the whisky before falling into bed.
Slow start later that morning, and with a clock change of 1 hour we were heading ashore in the dinghy at 1230 new time without even the benefit of breakfast. Our destination was the Sagres Pousada, located overlooking the bay across to Sagres peninsula and Prince Henry's navigation school, dating from the 1400's. There we enjoyed a bottle of champagne and a fine 4 course lunch, fussed over by pretty Portugese waitresses, what more could one wish for. Afterwards, we walked over to the navigation school, and enjoyed a stroll around the peninsula, all in glorious sunshine.Back onboard before nightfall for a light supper, and the first round of the new European crib contest.
Wednesday morning we made a leisurely start for the final 16 miles to Lagos marina, arriving in time for a late lunch. Here we stay for a few days, with Anne arriving on Friday evening to join us for a couple of weeks.
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