Sines

I set the alarm for 0630utc as our intended time of departure for Sines was 0800utc. The wind was still howling at around 20-25 knots and we soon heard Bruce on the VHF saying he was ‘shortening chain’! Bearing in mind he raises anchor by hand and with his new shiny 30m of 8mm its quite hard work, however, ‘shortening chain’ to have a rest in between lifting the chain in high winds can only end in tears. Sure enough a short while later, Bruce announced on the radio that his anchor was dragging and had to leave immediately. Needless to say we fired up the windlass and followed suite.

With Dave at the helm after raising the anchor we sailed Doris out of the anchorage at 2 knots under bare poles! Again the decision was made to use the head sail until we cleared the local area with its freaky winds. The forecast was for F4-5 NE, but we were seeing winds to 30+ knots of warm wind from the East (that’s a ‘Near Gale’ of about F7 to you land lubberz). The swell soon started to build and the sea was black as we got into deeper waters, with both Dave and I getting a good soaking from waves breaking over the cockpit.

Some dolphins made a brief appearance which was good because this was the last chance for Dave to see any. The sea state settled down as we made the 100m depth contour and the winds dropped off to allow us to use the Hydrovane to do the work. Dave slept while I passed the time splicing some anchor rope. Steve called and he is still in Baiona as yet unsure of where to go next, it’s either into the Med or Canaries via Madeira.

For some reason the boat has been taken over by flies and they are driving me insane! What’s worse is that they actually leave the boat to get some air and then go back inside – even after flying off, they must figure there’s no place to go due us being at sea and then come back – aaaarrgghh!!! Memo to Self – must buy some fly trap strips or something – anything!

On the final approach about 2nm from our waypoint I called Dave from his slumber below as the winds were back up to 30-35 knots (Gale –F8) on the nose and it was only ‘round the corner’ before we would be in the Sines anchorage.

Everything went smooth enough with the final mile or so approach being made under motor (beating had become a real chore). Despite the howling wind, inside the anchorage all was calm and we dropped the hook in just over 4m of water and had celebratory ham and cheese rolls washed down with a bottle of beer while we waited for the others.

We had made the 35nm trip in just less than seven hours using only the head sail (120% Genoa – heavily reefed), that’s not bad going. The trip would have been a good test for the Storm Jib (as yet untested in anger). Upon later inspection of the boat I discovered that the bottom shackle that connects the sail tack to the furlex had come undone (my bad for not using a cable tie to secure it) and must have only been held in place by pressure in the sail alone.

It seems the Gods are still smiling on me as for the sail to break loose in 30+ knots of wind could have been nasty.

Feeling pretty tired I dozed off to sleep only to wake to find it dark outside with Dave returning in the dinghy from chatting to Bruce on his boat. We decided to venture ashore and look for a shop. Finding nothing more than a few empty restaurants we soon returned home with nothing other than a couple of ice creams for our trouble.

After a few hours sleep I awoke around 3am to find it pouring with rain and a strong southerly wind blowing. The squall only lasted for about 15 minutes but was enough to create some swell which entered the anchorage making the boat unbearable as it rocked from rail to rail. At 5am we made the decision to go into the marina not more than 100 yards away.

Bruce had already gone into the marina hours before as he was worried about the weather. Finally after only getting out of bed another couple of times to stop various ropes banging in the wind I managed to get some sleep. Niels remained at anchor.