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We arrived early in Plymouth, which gave us chance to put our feet up while most of the other crews finished last minute maintenance jobs, or in some cases rebuilds! The weather was also a problem for some boats arriving at the last minute and two boats didn't make the start.
We were very cold sailing across Biscay and were almost never out of foul weather gear. The winds were at least in the right direction, mainly blowing from the north but the swell was quite tiring with wave height of up to 12 feet, and adverse currents of up to 1.5 knots. The nights were very dark, and later we also encountered some fog. Off Finisterre we encountered a force 7 blow which kept our concentration up
The Yacht Club at Bayona
The weather never fully settled in Bayona. Our lazy line was too short and when one afternoon the wind suddenly increased dramatically Tapestry was blown back onto the pontoon, damaging the wind steering gear.
Tapestry sailing from Bayona to
Povoa de Varzim
Povoa de Varzim was a nightmare because the strong SW winds brought in a large swell which hurled the yachts onto the pontoons. Several yachts had their warps break and it was fortunate that very little serious damage was done to the fleet. We sat up most of the night trying to prevent damage, and we had to forgo the port tasting trip to Porto. We were pleased to leave for Figuera da Foz but had a very long day fighting a strong current and F4-5 winds from the south. But we finally worked our way between the endless lobster pots and arrived for a Sardine BBQ. We visited Coimbra which was an absolute gem, and later were entertained at the casino to a very good variety show.
We thought that we had reached a low ebb during the night in Povoa, but the slog to windward, still against a strong current and a very large Atlantic swell, on the trip from Figuera down to Peniche was worse. The weather gods were certainly not being kind! We finally berthed in a modest Portugese fishing town and really would have liked longer to relax there.
The wind finally turned and the sail down to Oeiras was much easier. The sun finally shone on us. We ended the day with less of a smile on our face than most because our cruising chute finished up in the water when we had problems hoisting it!
Coimbra Oeiras at Night
Oeiras is close to Lisbon, and this gave us a chance to visit this lovely city.
Rather to our surprise we won our class sailing downwind from Oeiras to Sines. We had always seen ourselves as better upwind sailors, but this is a good sign for the future as we expect to be mainly sailing downwind on our circumnavigation. Sines is Vasco da Gamma's birthplace and now is a pleasant mixture of a commercial fishing port and a beach resort.
Our downwind speed for the previous passage encouraged us to try our new twin headsail rig for the final 80 mile sail down to Lagos. This was a great success and we were delighted to be up with the catamatarans for speed, as well as being very easy to control. We are hopeful that it will significantly reduce our future ocean passage times.
Tapestry
rounding Cabo da St Vicente to head east along the Algarve
After Arrival in Lagos - Party Time!