As the weather looked good on Wednesday 10th we sailed at mid-day from Cascais, with the idea in mind of perhaps going al the way up to Cabo Finisterre in Galicia, and then in one shot have a weather window to cross over to Brittany in Northern France.
I would have to say that we have had more or less the wind which was forecast, and as I was fearing, we are too late arriving at Cabo Finisterre and making a dash for Brittany. What the weather is saying is that strong Northerly winds in the region will generate big swell from the North, and quite soon our route across the Bay of Biscay will be blocked by these Northerly winds as they move East in to the bay from the Atlantic.
The plan is now thus to make a stop here in Galicia, and then go for the passage to France in 4 days time, after the bad weather has passed. The time we have here will be for exploring one or two of the famous Rias of Galicia, and perhaps even ticking off a spot of work or two from the job-list for the boat!
Also, we are actually looking for more crew to join for the passage to France, so I’m hoping that somebody has a chance to travel all the way out here and join the boat sometime next week!
Anyway, the sail up from Cascais and Lisbon to here has been nice. A lot of time has been spent drifting. Four nights where we have mostly not even had to bother with sails. This makes for good rest and plenty of time for cooking nice food, reading, or going for a swim.
The days are usually with a little more wind, and we had one full day of down wind under spinnaker, a lovely smooth ride with fantastic steady speed. A real joy.
We’ve not had as many dolphin with us as on the sail from Algarve to Cascais. But what we have had was a fin-whale come by and check us out… and, what a sound they make when they breath!
Fortunately, also, we have seen nothing of the infamous Orca which move along this coast. There have been many yachts attacked… well, “played with”, by these Orca. One yacht was even sunk two weeks ago outside Sines in Southern Portugal.
We are now in the Ria of the Rio Vigo, and will stay the night at anchor by Bayone. visit the town and see what can be found here at this place! We are in Spain now, so a whole different thing than Portugal.
Departure looks to be on Thursday 18th, and we will also go to Ria de Arosa, which is some miles North from here.
Sailed 270nm in 94h, 1h engine. Avg. speed 2.88kts.
