Tuesday 10th November: Islas Berlengas abeam
Awelina of Sweden
James Collier
Tue 10 Nov 2015 16:38
The night continued smooth and starry. We have a 'planisphere' on board and used it to help identify the constellations; last night Sirius was particularly bright and high enough in the sky for James to use it to plot a star sight, crossing it with Venus. There were also plenty of large ships about but as we get used to the AIS they are getting easier to identify and predict courses for. We have found that we spot ships much further away using AIS and also that the old method of telling their course using repeated compass bearings is not necessary. It is, however a comfort when you are not entirely sure the AIS is telling the truth - as was the case last night when we were passed by a group of about 8 warships, only one of which admitted to being a warship on AIS.
We managed to sail overnight in a gentle force 3-4, running down the coast of Portugal. This morning after somewhat misty start the sun has been hot and bright all day and we hoisted the yellow and blue spinnaker for a couple of hours, much to the delight of the dolphins who pay repeated visits to us. The water is so clear here you can see them breathing out under water before they surface.
The Islas Berlengas are currently abeam about 6 miles away; steep cliffs to rounded rocky tops. They are a nature reserve, presumably for the gulls. We intend to carry on to pass near Cape Roca off Lisbon, and maybe to call in to Cascais which is a yacht port near the entrance to the estuary to buy more fuel and possibly an updated forecast if we get an internet connection once near the land. However the wind is currently forecast (but we got this one on Saturday so it's maybe a little out of date) to remain fairly light and from the NE right up until Saturday or even beyond. Rather a contrast to the winds around the UK we gather. We're in sea area Trafalgar by the way.
Fiona's notes on night watches. It seems that you can spend most of your solo might watches desperately trying to stay awake and make correct decisions only to get to your bunk at the end of your stint and be unable to sleep. The three hours on, three off routine takes some adjusting to. We're about a week in and I hope it's going to get easier than this. At the start of this trip I had lots of plans and ideas for all the things I would accomplish whilst passing the hours on watch but at the moment getting through the watch seems to be enough.