Nazare to Lisbon (Oeiras)

With seventy five miles to go it was an early start. We were boxed into a corner so we had to wait until Brizo had left before we could exit our berth. Not having a bow thruster we had to do it the traditional way with a stern spring. It worked like a treat and once the wind had caught our bow the boat swung out and we were able to motor gently away,

More than half the fleet decided not to leave but would miss a day and do the journey tomorrow when lighter winds were expected. We made the decision to go slightly apprehensively as the forecasts were for strong winds and we had seen the huge waves coming in yesterday.

We left the safety of the harbour having quickly stowed the lines and fenders and into the swell. It was something of an anti-climax the swell wasn't as bad as when we had arrived. This was the pattern of the day.

All of the boats were ahead of us some having left fifteen minutes before. We headed out to sea with an angle of 120 degrees to the wind, this is a good direction for sailing but we were rolling from side to side as the swell was hitting us beam on. We all knew that once we had go to the point we would have to turn down wind and with the swell behind us we would be rolling quite badly for the next 60 miles or so.

We reached the point put up the pole on the port side, pulled out the genoa. We then pulled the mainsail over to the starboard side and rigged a preventer in place to stop the main swinging out of position and we shot off like a train. It wasn't long before we overhauled Castle Island the smallest boat that had left today. 8.2 knots and surfing down the waves at up to 9.6knts we were on our way and we were not rolling at all. It was a brilliant sail. We slowly caught every boat in the fleet and finished first. It wasn't a race but we overtook the other Discovery 55 under sail which was a good feeling. We were last away and first in without the use of any engine and it was about seventy six miles which we did in under ten hours.

As we approached the harbour all hell broke loose as the afternoon winds arrived and suddenly we had thirty knots of wind just as we had to dock.The entry to the harbour was very interesting because it was both very narrow but also involved an almost a 180 degree turn into the allocated berth. As we entered the harbour we were almost going sideways with the force of the wind so it was very important to watch where the boat was going and not where it was pointed. Needless to say once we made the turn I was able to take transit to the dock and just put her in the right place. Unfortunately not all the boats were so lucky with one boat taking a great gouge out after hitting a pontoon.

As soon as we were tied up I rushed down and had a quick shower and Linda and the crew got out the cockpit cushions and made a huge jug of Pimms. We drank the Pimms but eventually gave into the winds and went below.

In Portugal there are winds that arrive very suddenly in the afternoon until just after midnight . This occurs where the temperature of the land crosses over with that of the sea and is very strong. In the UK we get a gentle "Sea Breeze" during the day but Europe is a much bigger land mass and Portugal is on the Atlantic coast where the sea is much colder than the med so this thermal wind is much stronger here because the temperature difference is so much higher. It also seem to happen quite predictably at around 5pm.