Speedwell of Rhu Ship's Log

15 th of April 2018 - Heading north at last

We set the alarm again for 0600. Unfortunately our usual plan of gently waking to the sound of Radio 4 backfired. Since it was a Sunday at 0545 we were woken by the sound of very loud church bells. This was a shock to the system and this, accompanied by the fact that we were up at 0600 for the second morning in a row, meant we were both quite shell shocked. As soon as it was light we motored out of the harbour, surrounded by murk and drizzle. Our main and mizzen were both hoisted at anchor so we just had to unfurl the Genoa once we got out of the harbour. We had a good sail around to Cabo de São Vincente, which was shrouded in mist.

Unfortunately as we altered course to north the wind was dead aft. The swell was pretty uneven and it was impossible to keep the sails filled as they lurched from side to side.  We eventually motor sailed with the mainsail out and the preventer on to keep it steady.This gave us a little bit of wind power but not much. It was a pretty uncomfortable, cold and wet sail and we were happy to see Sines harbour. The swell died down at the last moment as we entered the inner breakwaters. Unfortunately it is a very exposed coast so some swell still got in and we had a rocky night at anchor, despite tucking right in with the fishing boats. 

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