Lexoes Portugal

A quick motor out past the breakwater and then it was ‘downhill’ sailing in about 10 knots of wind off the quarter. Niels had rebuilt his boom incorrectly meaning he could not fully raise the full main sail (1 reef) and Bruce’s classic line after we had been purely sailing for the last hour ‘Shall we turn off the motors now?’.

Doris really struggled to go slow enough to stay with Bruce and Niels even with a reefed main sail and a scrap of head sail and soon all I could see were two distant tricolors on the horizon. Instead of staying inshore and struggling to keep the boat moving in the dying winds I chose to go offshore. Firstly because of my morbid fear of lobster pots, secondly because there seemed to be a lot of shipping close in and lastly, because I was on the phone to Crutey for about an hour and it’s hard to change direction and trim sails with one hand in the dark while on the phone.

The night went smooth enough and I was escorted throughout the night by dolphins, with their luminous phospherous wake streaming out from behind them.

I struggled to stay awake a lot of the time but there was too much shipping and fishing boats to sleep. I did get the kitchen timer out once it was light for the final twenty or so miles and managed to get some sleep, but not enough. I am going to have to change my ways and ‘relax’ when doing night passages alone. I started the trip wearing nothing but a pair of shorts but ended up in full ‘foulies’ and frozen! It’s not possible to sit out in the wind (behind the wheel) all night and not get cold or hypothermic and remain functional.
I wish I had a tiller then I could just live under the sprayhood. I should be getting more sleep and either use the sprayhood more or just check the horizons before going below in the warm. I guess it depends on who and what is about in the water around you, didn’t mind sleeping during Biscay and I think I’ll be fine once properly offshore, which will next be the Madera crossing.

I do have a confession to breaking my own rule as well which scared the shizzle out of me! I usually only rig preventers as and when needed and I have a single line which I use and swap it from side to side as required. Normally when I have a preventer fitted I am on the same tack for hours and hours so not a problem. However, last night when I went forward to rig it, I couldn’t stay clipped in due to the dinghy straps and rather than spend the extra few minutes negotiating the safety line I ‘risked’ it. Just as I was threading the line through the forward cleat, the boat dropped off of a small wave and my foot slipped off the toe rail and through the guard rail. For a second I was hanging by my armpit on the guard rails. It wasn’t until I got back to the safety of the cockpit that it dawned on me, the impact of what nearly happened. It was pitch black and I was wearing a life jacket but I would have been almost (if not) dead by the morning! To be honest, even the thought of going over while tied on with the boat going at speed is scary enough!
I need to rig permanent preventers which are ready to go from the cockpit and think of some solution for safety lines with the dinghy and genoa pole on deck… more things to think about.

On a brighter note, the motor was only required for the first hour of sailing (departure from Baiona) and then the final (5 miles) approach into Lexoes. The winds picked up to 25+ knots and the sea was ‘all over the place’, I guess I could have sailed it, but knowing the batteries needed some juice (I was down to 11.4v), didn’t feel too bad about spending about two hours motor sailing, besides I was knackered and wanted to sleep.

Initially I was worried about anchoring with such strong winds blowing, the approach had been fun and games trying to get the main sail down with the wind blowing me in circles, however, once inside things calmed down.

The anchor was down and the new Portuguese flag flying by 1100 utc. My god its hot here!

Despite the wind, it’s like a furnace, for the first time ever I couldn’t stand bare foot on the teak! Eventually Bruce and Niels arrived an hour or so later. Niels has a long list of repairs and we may be spending a few days here.

Aside from the boom problems, Niels also had his autopilot pack up just as we left and a Low Oil Pressure alarm go off en route which he said was mildly entertaining!

I spent the evening eating soup, chatting to Niels and thinking about what to do and where to go next. We should have gone ashore to ‘clear in’, as it’s a new country but we couldn’t be bothered. We’ll go ashore tomorrow and have a mooch around and Niels can complete his repairs.