Around the evil Cape and up to Sines!

A lot of guitar playing whilst we were waiting!

Well we got our starter motor a day later than we hoped which meant we missed the weather window for going around Cabo Sao Vincente in pleasant conditions so once Ali had fitted it and tried the engine we thought we would go into the Marina for a night to get water, fuel washing and groceries.   At this point we should say thanks to Brian off Enjah for finding the part on ebay for us as all the internet connection we had whilst out anchored was my kindle and also thanks to Inga for paying for the part as the kindle could almost cope with ebay but not paypal!

The starter motor

 Lagos Marina is nice enough- it would need to be at £57 a night. I think it is the most we have paid for a night anywhere as we usually avoid places that charge that much, but we felt we deserved it and it was very good to get a hot shower!  We still had to go to an internet cafe as the marina internet isn’t up to much- it is like old dial up and refused to open some of the sites we use for weather forecasting.  We went out for a meal that night and remembered why we don’t eat out in Portugal.  When you order a meat dish all you get is fried meat, chips and rice and even our two girls like and need a little veg with the meal.  We did however have a very nice bottle of local wine....

Ali resorted to sleeping as we were at anchor again and he was bored!

Watching the boat on the computer to make sure the anchor isn't dragging in the wind.  It swings back and forth with the gusts along the track you can see on the screen but thankfully stayed there!

The next morning we decided to set off and try the Cape, even though the weather could definitely be said to be unfavourable.  So we collected or laundry, cleaned up and set off.  We had a bit of trouble with the main sail as we had gotten the sail cover  repaired in Lagos and the lady had sewn over the holes where the reefing lines should go through so to Ali;s dismay he had to cut holes through the newly sewn cover.  And then we were off and off we really were bombing along at first and then as the seas and the winds got bigger and stronger the closer we got to the Cape and I asked if it were at all possible to anchor for the night and try it early the next morning as the next harbour around the Cape is 68 miles to the North and I didn’t fancy tacking back and forth all night in big seas.  We decided to anchor in Enseada De Sagres as it is a big sandy beach with no rocks surrounding it and in the direction of wind if our anchor dragged it would just be out to sea.  The holding was very good as the wind continued to blow above 30 knots and up over 45 in gusts for the rest of that day.  We had thought we would set off at first light the next morning and set our alarm clock but the wind was still up to 40 knots so we decided just to stay where we were for another day!  We did brave the dinghy ashore to go to an internet cafe and look at the weather.Needless to say, we were disamayed by what we saw as it looked like it would be another 5 days before any weather approaching ‘favourable’ to get around the cape and so decided grimly we would just do it the next morning. 

Well what a sail the next day was we set off at around 7 am after wondering whether we should bother as the wind still hadn’t eased.  We got the girls up gave them seasickness tablets and put them in our cabin as it is less rough in there.  We set off with just a reefed main and were sailing really well approaching the point but as soon as the big waves hit us so did the big wind and we couldn’t make any north so we switched the engine on and this time didn’t jam it into start!  We could make about 285 degrees with this and so we tacked out to sea to see if it would get any better as we left the cape behind.   It was certainly shaping up to be very different to the trip South around the point in 2009 with flat calm seas!

At this point Kaylee was first out of the cabin to spew and she and I also had the pleasure of being entirely soaked when we were standing in the companion way and a big wave came right over the boat and down the hatch onto us.  So then poor Ali closed the hatch strapped himself onto the boat and had to do all the outside stuff for a while.  I was obviously busy too trying to stand up in a boat that was bucking like a bronco and keep little girls hair out of their faces whilst they emptied the contents of their stomach into the toilet (and hoping my breakfast would stay put too!)  It was at this point that we realised once again what brave tough little girls they are as they just lay down as best they could wedging themselves in somewhere only moving to get up and go to be ill again.  Alisha very drolly said at one point, “I suppose this is the day we will all die?”  I said I  thought that daddy would keep us all safe and it just felt bad as they were seasick.  Although Ali did say later he was worried as the bow of the boat was going under the waves more than he had seen before. Thankfully being locked in below I saw none of this although I did see all the water pouring over the boat I just decided not to look out except to check Ali was still there and still OK. 

Poor Alisha feeling very green.

Calmer seas

With weather like this the best thing is that it can’t get any worse and as we hoped (prayed) the further we got from the point the less the wind got – we had recorded 47 knots going at the worst bit.  The seas let up slightly too so we got a bit of the jib out, switched off the engine, and started tacking back and forth up the coast. 

Feeling better but it was still to wet to come out on deck

 The girls recovered amazingly quickly and were up on deck singing as soon as it was safe enough to let them and demanding I cooked lunch even though it was only 11 o’clock.  Cooking was a little difficult and once again I was very thankful for the bar Ali had put in front of the cooker so that you can tie yourself to it or lean on it depending on which tack you are on.  I did get bruised by it every time I slammed against it but that is better than slamming into the gas hob! 

What a difference a few hours makes!

There is an anchorage - Arrifana - 20 miles from the South West tip of Portugal and as we still wouldn’t have got to Sines until the next morning due to the tacking we decided to at least check out the anchorage.  It is reported as good but rolly as it is a surfer’s beach ‘and they know where to find waves’  We got there at about three in the afternoon and decided that the rolling was really nothing compared to what we had just come from and set off with the dinghy for some fun in the surf.  If the wind had been anything West of North then the anchorage would have been untenable and if you can’t cope with a bit of rolling I would imagine it is not an option but we were just glad to have finally after a week and a half to have made some progress we couldn’t care less. 

The girls jumping into the surf

We had a great couple of hours at the beach after nearly getting swamped in the dinghy coming ashore let’s just say it was good we all had our swimming suits on and were intending to get wet!  The girls and Ali had dug out their shorty wetsuits as the water is much colder here than the med and we were feeling it!  Arrifana is a really pretty beach and it wasn’t too busy – quite a few surfers and families but plenty of space.  The cliff on either side made it a very pretty place too .  

Islay Mist at anchor in Arrifana

We set off for Sines at 6am the next day and motor sailed the forty miles to get there as the seas had died a little so we didn’t have to tack back and forth all the time.  Ali did suggest switching the engine off and tacking at one point but quickly realised the rest of the crew just wanted to get to port. 

We got to SInes in the afternoon and the marina is just as we remembered it from September 2009.  When I was signing in the marina guy said that this winter Portugal had very little of the usual rain and this summer all they had had was cold and wind and the temperature was much lower than normal I thought typical. When we left Shetland three years ago, Shetland had it’s hottest summer ever and whilst we were in Cornwall for it’s wettest ever July, then Barcelona had snow down to sea level whilst we were there for the first time on over 20 years. Then the South of France and Italy  areas had their windiest springs in a very long time  Then when we wintered in Turkey,  Alanya made the CNN news for the amount of rain and the mud slide that came down the hill into the marina.  Last summer we went home for the coldest windiest non summer Shetland has had in a long while and finally now we are here for Portugal’s coldest windiest summer in living memory?!  Hopefully by the time we get to British waters the horrid summer they are having at the moment will have changed, though I will not hold my breath!

There is an English bloke in the marina who helped us tie up and he has a boat about two thirds the size of ours, it took him three days on his own to tack around Cabo Sao Vincente!  He said he just wouldn’t be beaten and turn back, now we feel we had a fairly smooth trip around! 

Ali had us all working here are the girls polishing the steelwork!  Slave driver but they were paid in icecream!

Our plans at the moment are to go find an internet cafe to look at the weather which was looking good for the next two days and set off from here tomorrow morning and just see how far we get before the Nortada  kicks  in again, but we haven’t seen a forecast in four days so it may have changed.  But at least now we are making progress in a northerly direction- only 1500ish miles to go – not including tacking.....

Since writing this and not finding an internet cafe in sines we have travelled up to figuera de Foz over the last two days and plan to head up to Oporto tomorrow and check out the new marina in town just having a lazy day today as we only anchored at midnight two nights ago, got up at 6 and only got into the harbour here at 4am this morning!