Fai Tira Blog 23/09 

Fai Tira on route to Lisbon 39:48.62N 9:16.18W

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After a fantastic day in Porto we set off quite early for us at 9.00 am.  We had 170 miles to cover to get to Lisbon. 

As we left port the wind got up from the east and we were zooming alone at 7 knots, unfortunately this situation only lasted about half an hour.  The wind dropped to nothing and we were on motor again.  I decided to do some fishing, so the new supper lure I had bought the day earlier was deployed and low and behold after about half an hour we caught a Gannet!!!  Bugger we had a big bird problem.  We slowed Fai Tira and hauled in the frightened bird.  When we eventually got the bird next on to the deck I was pleased to see it had dived in to get a fish I had caught but got stuck on the barbs of the bait. 

Gannet released and OK the problem was we had two fishing lines that were a complete tangle.  Please note if you ever get bored on a boat throw some fishing line over the side then pull it in and spend the next 3 hours untangling it.  This is what Dee and I found ourselves doing most of the afternoon. 

Around 3 o’clock the wind picked up slightly so we decided to give the cruising chute an airing.  This was a great decision as we were able to switch off the motor and zoom along at 7knots again. 

This lasted until about 6 o’clock when the wind died again and we were on motor for the rest of the night.   Back to shift work 3 hours on 3 hours off.  At least it was warm and we had a number of visits from dolphins which were fantastic.

Bye for now. 

Pete,  John  and Dee