Leg 6 - Oeiras to Sines
Since the marina at Sines was closed at short notice and the bay is too small to accommodate 20 boats at anchor, the ARC Portugal rally was not authorised to stop in Sines. That created a bit of a problem for the rally organisers, World Cruising. There really isn’t anywhere else that can accommodate 20 boats between Oeiras and Lagos, our final stop, so everyone made their own plans to get to Lagos. We chose to leave Oeiras early on Sunday 25th June with the possibility of doing a long day’s sail to an anchorage just around the corner from Cabo de Sao Vicente, the SW tip of Portugal. Despite leaving the dock at 0430 (beautiful sunrise over Lisbon) and motoring offshore to find the early breeze, progress was slow. We found 15kts offshore but it didn’t last long. Reeling out the fishing line usually brings on the breeze but not this time. No fish, no wind. So, Plan B was to head for Sines and anchor in the bay.
With the orca moving west from Gibraltar and posing a threat to us on our last leg, we thought we had better test our deterrents. With Barry Manilow blasting out over the cockpit speakers, the fog horn against the hull, a full and fermenting holding tank at the ready and one other unspeakable tactic, we thought we were ready to defend ourselves. But let’s hope the orca have better things to do than attack us. We arrived in Sines before 1500 and had the bay to ourselves. Two other yachts joined us before Galatea of Aune arrived early in the evening. Room for all of us. Credit to Andrew and Muriele for timing their day better! We dozed our way through our day, fighting for the Golden Blanket award. Libby declined to claim victory, at least in a public forum! Deegs was just pretending to sleep. Any change of speed, heading, revs or trim would have him in the cockpit looking for something to do. Jane of course chose to swim around the anchorage rather than sleep. We won’t need much rocking tonight. 0630 start tomorrow for the 60 miles to next anchorage. Should be another lovely sail. Giles |
