Martinis on the foredeck...
A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Mon 11 Oct 2010 21:17
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42:47.178N
009:02.956W Today was the best sail of the trip so far. We
pushed out of Camarinhas this morning without exploring the town, but after an
excellent night's sleep with the smell of pines everywhere. The cloud was low
and though there was little wind, the everpresent wind turbines were spinning on
the peaks over the estuary.
As we edged out of the shelter, there was no
evidence of the big breakers that had accompanied us in the night before. But
slowly, steadily, the swell built up until we riding up and down waves about 5m
high. The wind got up the further we got from land, but because we were running
downwind, we felt it lese than we would if we were heading into the wind. With
just the jib billowing out ahead of us, we kept up a speed of 7 knots, surfing
down waves at up to 11.
We passed Finisterre at about 8 knots, then turned
from a run onto a reach as we headed for Muros. Literally as we passed the
lighthouse near the end of the headland, the low racing cloud faded out and the
sun emerged, so we spent the rest of the passage fizzing along at the same speed
but in blazing heat. Finally we turned upwind into the ria and found a good, but
surprinsingly windy spot opposite a the small fishing village called
Muros.
We buzzed in in the dinghy for drinks and tapas and
ended up hunkering down in a pulperia (octopus restaurant) and tucking into
fresh squid, complete with eyeballs and ink. So, the squid quotient is returned
to normal. But we had an exciting ride back to the boat. In the dark, it was
hard to make out Summer Song from a mile away in Muros, but more importantly,
the wind was gusting quite hard, and we ended up slapping from wave crest to
wave crest, veering back and forth with water spouting over the bow at each
touch. We got soaked and feared at one point that the dinghy would somersault
over backwards in a strong gust. Luckily we made it without
incident.
More importantly, we're at last round the corner of
Spain and heading south into the sun. According to the pilot books, it's all
martini and olives on the foredeck from here on in. And octopus, of course. As
if to tell us that the good times were here, we picked up an escort of dolphins
off Finisterre who stayed with us larking round the bow for a good hour or
so.
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