Vilamoura scrubbers
ULA
John & Jackie Richards
Sat 30 Aug 2008 12:38
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Position 037:04.380N 008:07.310W
After a day in Lagos (very nice but full of English
tourists) and an evening with Paul, skipper of Libertad, we moved Ula the
26 miles east along the Algarve coast to Vilamoura on Thursday, thus completing
stage 1 of our trip. Paul had filled us in on the details of their aborted trip
to Madeira over dinner and it had been quite an experience for them (see
Libertad blog). The boat is remaining in Lagos for a few weeks and he and his
crew were heading off over a two day period by land to Seville and eventually
home returning to Lagos in October. Their experience prompted John to discuss
the sea and weather conditions, reliability of forecasts etc with the English
owner of a local yacht charter company based in the marina who was very helpful.
The forecasts generally appear to be accurate but the big issue seems to be the
height of the swells once away from the coast which can have a big impact. This
is also forecast and is something we will need to consider
carefully.
Our trip to Vilamoura was uneventful, not much wind
and from a North East/Easterly direction - another motoring journey! It did give
us an opportunity to try our third reef in the mainsail which we may need
to use in the future! Our Dutch friends on Finborg were also here in
Vilamoura having 'sailed all the way' (again!) (see previous blog)
While we were moored up In Baiona a couple of weeks
back, a 'super yacht' came in. The professional crew on board had everything
ship-shape within a couple of hours-ropes neatly coiled, fenders cleaned, decks
scrubbed and polished, hull washed and gleaming - in fact the full monty - ready
for the owner getting on board the following day. John appears to have taken
note and is aspiring to a similar level of attention to detail from the Ula
crew. Admittedly he did buy us lunch first yesterday before going off to
assuage his need for some nautical retail therapy (ie the obligatory search for
the nearest chandlery looking for bits the boat may or may not need) which seems
to afflict all skippers once in port, leaving Laura and I to scrub the decks and
clean up! Several boats around us (mainly very large powerboats) also
appeared to be having a professional valeting service prior to their owners
arriving over the weekend although judging by the size of these, the valeting
cost would not cause the slightest blip on their radar! Our skipper
reappeared some considerable time later (the chandlery was miles away and the
walk very tiring in the heat- poor thing) to a pristine Ula. Given the marina
fees here in August he may be hiring us out!
We are currently dividing time between Ula and
Andrew's villa (life is hell). Our first night ashore after almost five weeks
aboard was very strange and had us 'sheeting in the duvet' and waking in a
panic thinking we were adrift! Back to the UK on Thursday 4 September so
this will be the last blog until we return late September to move Ula via
Madeira to Gran Canaria. Son Andy has now finished his exams and is flying out
to Faro today to spend a few days with us. Many thanks to next door neighbour
Inderjit at home for waking him up this morning to catch his flight!
Jackie
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