Harriette - Portgual

Hello world,

Another month and another stage completed in our voyage. We left Bayona, our last port of call in Spain, for Viana do Castelo in Portugal on Friday 22nd September. We saw a few dolphins playing under the bow on this trip. Next day we left for Leixoes. An hour out, with the wind picking up Jo noticed a piece of wire hanging from the mast. Part of the standing rigging had come adrift (the lower reverse diagonal). We furled the sails to reduce the load on the mast and decided to motor the rest of the way (7 hours) to Leixoes, rather than return to Viana do Castelo. The problem turned out not to be too serious and we managed a temporary fix in Leixoes with an 8mm bolt (instead of a 9.5mm Clevis pin that we had lost). It was several ports later before we managed to find a shop where we could buy another Clevis pin. After I finally fixed it I found the original pin lodged at the base of the mast!

Leixoes was a very dirty marina, with dead fish and a dead seagull in the water near our berth. Being the nearest recommended port to Oporto we took the bus into Oporto one day. Here we met up with Max and Alice, who we had first met in Camarinas. We spent most of the day visiting first a port cellar, then the Solar do Vinho do Porto, where you could sample from literally hundreds of ports.

Then we sailed on to Figuera da Foz, a well-sheltered harbour up a river, but with a dodgy entrance in a heavy swell. There is a black ball displayed from a flagstaff in a castle when it is too rough to enter, or at half mast when it is just dangerous but only forbidden to craft under 12 metres length. The ball is not easy to see when you first arrive and we were into the rough water over the sand bar when I first spotted it. It turned out that it was actually in its down position but that is not clear until you have seen it in the other positions.

We spent several days in Figuera da Foz, partly because the black ball was up most of the time. There was a deep depression over the northern Atlantic, several hundred miles away, and the associated winds caused swell up to 4 or 5 metres to extend down to Portugal. This caused breakers right across the entrance to the river.

We had a Portuguese speciality called a Cataplana in Figuera. This is a kind of stew of fish, seafood or meat, with potatoes, cooked and served in a copper pan with a hinged, domed lid.

Most meals in Portugal start with bread and a selection of individual servings of tuna pate, sardine pate, creamy cheese and olives. Some of these are charged for only if you eat them.

On 1st October the swell finally abated sufficiently for us to leave Figuera. We left before dawn with flashing green lights at the castle, the night-time equivalent of a ball at half mast.

Nazare was next, well-sheltered but with very little room at the pontoons. We first rafted 3rd-out against Blue Ann II, a much smaller yacht belonging to a Dutch couple, Harm and Anneke, who we got on well with. There was a French boat with a Frenchman sailing alone with his cat on the inside. We soon swapped round, the Frenchman coming to the outside and Harriette to the inside.

Later the Frenchman had to move again as they don't like more than 2 rafted at one berth at Nazare.

Nazare was an interesting town, 20 minutes walk from the Marina. In the old part are a maze of streets only a metre wide. A great many of the women wear short, wide skirts and characteristic blouses and head scarves. There is a cliff railway up to a distinct part of town at a higher level, with a wonderful view down over the lower town and across the bay and beach to the marina.

Next stop was Peniche, where the only place on a pontoon was occupied by a small French yacht, taking up the space of 2 boats. Someone on the pontoon asked him to move and we slipped onto the end of the pontoon behind him, nearest the harbour entrance. It was our Frenchman that we had already got to move twice in Nazare!

That night was not very comfortable because the fishing boats, of which there were many, ignore the 3 knot speed limit and nearly caused Harriette to jump up on the floating pontoon with their wash.

Soon after dawn the next morning I explained to the Frenchman, with his cat, how to spring off against the wind which was pinning him onto the pontoon. We left early as well and headed for Cascais.

We had a good sail with force 4 and 5 winds from the NNE, untill we got off the Cabo Raso, a headland which we had to round. Here the winds suddenly picked up to force 6, then 7. This added confused seas on top of the already 3.5 metre swell. We immediately put a reef in, then furled the jib, then started to put in the second reef. At this point Jo, who was standing at the top of the companionway to operate the winch, dropped the main sheet down the campanionway to get it out of the way. No problem with that, except that she then stepped down on to the rope, slipped and ended up hanging horizontally by her safety line with one leg through between the treads. Without the harness and safety line she would have gone all the way down into the cabin, probably hitting her head on the table on the way to the floor. Luckily there is no permanent damage to boat or chief crew member.

The wind stayed between 25 and 30 knots for the next hour or 2, while we sailed beam-on to the swell and wind to reach the shelter of the bay off Cascais.

Cascais is a purpose-built marina, with no fishing boats. There is a town as well, which has some of the atmosphere of a Portuguese village, but with pedestrianised areas, an Irish pub and quite a lot of foreign visitors.

From here we took the train into Lisbon one day, and managed to buy replacement oars for the one that we lost way back in Bayona. The most interesting thing about Lisbon was the tram trip (no 28). We were following 2 others which had got bunched together so it was interesting to see them snaking through the narrow streets, doing jerky turns just avoiding hitting walls, parked cars and shop awnings. Some good views down onto the river.

While we were in Cascais a throat problem that had started 2 weeks before with a tickle in my throat when I got chilly sailing to Nazare, got worse. I woke up with my throat completely blocked by phlegm, unable to breath for nearly a minute. Quite frightening. So that morning I went to the hospital and was prescribed 2 medicines. The next morning I was not much better so I went to a clinic, where the doctor told me to stop taking the medicines and take 4 others instead! The next night was not so bad.

The following afternoon we joined the Lisbon Hash in Estoril, 3 minutes by train from Cascais, and ran with them. We were driven out to the countryside and had a good, sociable family run. That evening we joined the hash in an Indian restaurant. Unfortunately I tried the hot chilli sauce on a popadom, which immediately set off a repeat of my breathing problem. Many thanks to all who immediately offered help - asthma puffers, a lift to the hospital, advice, ringing the ambulance, etc. Apologies to everyone for causing an incident. I'm sorry I missed the curry as I was really looking forward to it.

The ambulance arrived quite quickly and at the (same) hospital I was seen by 2 (different) doctors who said that the antibiotics that I had were no use but nevertheless said to continue taking them, but to stop taking 2 of the other medicines and take another new one as well! It make you wonder about doctors.

Anyway, I'm on the mend now.

In Cascais we met Max and Alice again, and also Mark and Marie. The latter are sailing a junk-rigged yacht with a lamp post for a mast down to the Canaries. They were all setting off direct from Cascais on Sunday 15th October, the day that we left for Sesimbra. Hope you all made it OK, and hope to meet up again.

Overnight in Sesimbra, then a day hop to Sines, then an overnight hop to Lagos, where we are now, waiting for our crew to help us to cross to the Canaries. The crew are Ray Fuller, Terry Baverstock and Steve Sansom. Ray and Terry are both Yachtmaster level with teaching experience so I should learn a lot over the next week. I'm expecting the crew to arrive at 1328 by train, so we may set off this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

That's all I've time for now.