There are few better places to wait for the right weather than Bayona and the sailing club once again lived up to its outstanding reputation. We were not the only ones waiting to head south as several French boats arrived with varying tales of their exploits crossing Biscay. The passage weather site predicted the wind would go north sunday afternoon and stay that way at 15 to 20 kts for the next 4 days. As the flags on the fort moved round so did we to refuel and head out into heavy seas as we cleared the harbour mole with intense rain for a bonus.
Once clear of the offshore rocks, we made rapid progress with full main and working jib, a deliberate choice of to allow for stronger winds during the night. Rather than run dead down wind, always a difficult point of sail but more so in the heavy swell we encountered, I decided to tack either side of the wind line with the going tack only 15 to 25 degrees from the desired heading. In the first 24 hrs 138 nm were covered. Most of the time we could see the lights on the coast and I was struck by the immense waste of energy involved in lighting empty streets.
South of Peniche it was possible to make a long reach down the coast and pass very close to Cabo Roca, the furthest point west in Europe, and despite a good sea state and 15kts of wind the cape still managed a reminder to exercise caution rounding this cape by way of an extra 10 kts of wind and some rough seas. Soon after we were checking in at the marina at Cascais having sailed the 238 nm in 38 hours. I am pleased to have made it to the 38th parallel and hope for some easier sailing as I head south. Had I not been able to set off as the wind went north, the swell from a severe gale pounding the UK was predicted within a few days to increase to 6 to 9 metres along the Portugese coast.
Lots of dolphins came to play and seemed to enjoy diving under the hull when it was being elbowed about in the swell at 7 kts.
Now its time to sort out some minor problems and prepare to move down to southern Portugal.
