Plymouth to Portimao

Crossing Biscay

Sitting here in the cockpit at anchor in Portimao, surveying the nearby sandy beaches and listening to the music coming from the beach bars, the little hop we did from Plymouth is quickly fading to a distant memory. Did we really go just double-handed from Plymouth to Portimao with just a quick stop over in Baiona?!?

As many of you will know we should have been on the ARC Portugal, the annual social rally for cruisers, but delays in the shipping of Aztec meant we became bystanders as the event went ahead on schedule on June 1st. Frankly, we are in some ways pleased not to have made it, judging by the severe weather many experienced towards the end of the Biscay crossing. At least we could more or less choose when we wanted to leave now as the pressure was off.

After a few pleasant days in Mayflower marina (Plymouth), we slipped the lines in the early hours of the morning on the 23rd June and made our way under darkness out of Plymouth Sound.

The first 'issue' to come up was the fact the the engine hour meter display had decided it wasn't coming out to play. We had a log of the end engine hours from Southampton to Plymouth, but the display is useful for calculating remaining fuel as the gauges on just about every boat we know are not reliable.

The next issue was the main sail appeared to be jammed in the mast, and we spent nearly an hour trying all we knew to free it. We just about got to the point of turning back when out it reluctantly popped, looking very wrinkly. It became apparent that the previous owner had relaxed the mainsail halyard but neglected to tell us. Once we applied some tension it became easier to furl and unfurl, although some further fine tuning will be required.

We motored for a good six hours until the wind finally got some strength, and at last we were able to turn off the engine and run at about 5 knots. It was not until late into the evening when the wind got up to 16 knots that we could appreciate the extra performance the bigger boat had to offer, and after just 2 hours we had averaged 7.5 knots.

Along the way we deployed the Duogen in water mode and it got to work straight away, contributing about 5 to 6 amps. We are sold on the idea of the water generator as unlike solar panels, it makes a contribution through the night, and in fact with sufficient boat speed it just about ran both plotters and the fridge freezer, splendid!

Our watch system was three hours on, three off, and for the first couple of off watches both of us found it difficult to sleep. The new boat noises and motion were all slightly different from Scarlet Lady. However, after the first night we did both start to relax a little more and settle into a routine.

Thank goodness we are heading South

Lynne wrapped up warm

Nice!

The strategy we had was not to follow the rhumb line, but to look for best course to wind which wanted to take us into the bay rather than out. Last time we crossed Biscay we erred on the side of caution and went out to 10 degrees, but this time we not only had a better forecast, but we could also download a new weather forecast every day via the Sat phone.

Are we there yet?

For the most part the crossing of Biscay was kind to us, but the wind was pushing us East and depsite working hard to pinch at every opportunity we only got out as far as about 8 degrees. Not a great issue as it would put us inside the busy shipping lane at Finesterre. However, what we did not bargain for was the last day was spent fighting into wind and a strong head sea, so progress was very slow. In fact it looked at one time like we would be better off putting into A Coruna, but by the time we had reached it conditions became more favourable and for once the wind direction started to change in accordance with the forecast. By 6am we had passed Cape Finisterre in calm conditions, the only hazard being what appeared to be the entire Spanish Fishing Fleet in our path.

We could possibly have gone on, but being a new boat we could only take a best guess at how much fuel we had used, so decided to pull in the municipal marina in Biaona for a couple of nights to replenish.

Total journey time: 4 days, 10 hours, 25 minutes
Total log: 572 nautical miles
Total engine hours: 67.9 hours

Once we had topped up the fuel we were able to work out our fuel consumption. We had used a total of 128 litres of diesel, meaning we used approximately 1.98 litres per hour. This was with thanks in no small part to the overdrive feature of our rather fancy Gori folding prop.

Biaona is a lovely place and well worth a visit. The last time we came here was on the Rally in 2012 and frankly we did not see much of it, so this time we put on the walking shoes and had a wander.

After two nights rest, we slipped lines just before 6am and motored out of the bay and continued under engine until mid afternoon, when we had a steady 15 knots blowing from behind. Once again we favoured best course to wind, but it did mean putting in a few gybes along the way. We had discussed going into the new marina at Porto, but the wind was so good we passed it by. In fact the wind continued to favour our passage, so we also decided to skip a visit to Sines and carry on. Apart from a nasty squall that blew through in the early hours of day three, the trip was uneventful.

As we rounded Cabo St. Vincent we dipped our ensign, as is the traditional sign of respect to Admiral Nelson, and gave Neptune two pork pies (slightly out of date) by way of thanks for our safe passage thus far. 

Cabo St Vincent

When we rounded the corner early in the evening, we were greeted by gusts of 25 knots which saw the boat speed up to an eye popping 8.8 knots. As we had not yet eaten, we had to forego the exhilarating sail and reefed right in, slowed down to 5 knots and put dinner on the go. A large pod of dolphins gave us a lovely display as we sat and ate our dinner.

We arrived in the anchorage in Portimao at dusk, set the hook, popped on the anchor alarm and had a fantastic nights sleep.

Total journey time: 64 hours, 10 minutes
Total engine hours: 22.8 hours
Total log: 336 nautical miles

So what next? Well, we are really enjoying it here. Last time we came, we liked it so much we stayed for three weeks! This time we will hang on for the arrival of Phill on the 13th July, celebrate my (Steve's) 50th at a nearby restaurant on the 15th July, and head in the direction of the Guadiana river on 16th July.

Aztec at anchor in Portimao

Good shade under the bimini

Tranquil times