Would you believe that after my last missive off Cape St. Vincent, as we rounded the corner, the wind picked up and we had a short sail in flat water to cap off our cruise in the nicest possible way.

We filled with diesel (for the nerds in the readership (?), we had used exactly the same as the previous time we filled the tanks, 3.18 litres per hour) and, having checked in, we passed through the opened footbridge into the Marina at Lagos.

Lagos is an excellent location. The marina is large but not vast with lots of space and good dockside facilities. The proximity of the delightful town and beaches is ideal and there is a station with trains to Faro. A number of the yachts were flying ARC flags, Lagos being the final destination of ARC Europe from the US & BVI to Portugal and ARC Portugal from the UK to Portugal. My ARC flag was therefore in good company.

Southerlies are wonderful yachts and Hejira performed exceptionally well on passage south. The generous windows in the saloon are a boon most of the time but with blistering sunshine and 40 degrees forecast, it was time to try the new blinds.

Thanks go to Ivan Bole, ex of Arun sails for the inspiration to fashion these blinds (and a bimini) from material used for conservatory blinds. They successfully reflect the heat while allowing sufficient light to pass so you would not know they are in place – perfect and thanks Ivan! You will see from the two spouts of water in the photograph that I am also running both Air Conditioning systems and this combined with the blinds result in a cool oasis inside Hejira rather than the usual yacht cauldron.

Another improvement not unrelated to Ivan is to the mainsail third reef cringle – Arun made my new jib and main sail fitted with Ronstan luff track ball race cars. These are excellent, strong and low friction but because of their bulk, fewer are fitted than the usual sliders so there are longer spacings of unsupported luff. This can result in some luff vibration even when the tension is right. Ordinarily this would be no more than a mild irritation but, instead of just an eye for the third reef tack as the third reef is too long for single line reefing, Ivan fitted a ring each side with webbing sewn between. This is a good job as if a reef eye is not passed over the ‘rams horn’ correctly it can result in a rip and this has happened to me in the past. The problem that we found was that, if sailing off the wind with a reef tucked in, the chattering luff rattled the ring relentlessly against the mast and in time this would damage the anodising and expose the aluminium mast to corrosion. Our solution was to serve the ring in rubber self-amalgamating tape – simple.

It is true that I did achieve dry bilges, even after a long and choppy passage! Unfortunately, I have recently found water again, even when not running the AC (the condensate drains into the bilge) and this has been a great disappointment. So, checking the water; it was fresh, next question, what has been different over recent days – answer, I have been running the engine extensively. Any other factor – the water from the hot taps is scalding hot after a period under engine. So, I laid tissue paper under the calorifier where I could when running under engine and sure enough it became wet. The calorifier is boxed in but there is an inspection hatch and this revealed evidence of water leakage where the plastic domestic water connections are made off onto the brass valves. There is also a thermostat of the radiator type which was set to the hottest setting. Having turned this down, I am monitoring for water with tissue around the suspect connections and I will report back in due course.

Our delivery cruise to the Algarve logged 1310 miles, visiting Swanage, passing through the Chenal Du Four, Raz de Sein, visiting Loctudy, Houat, Les Sables d’Olonne and Royan in France, Ribadeo, Carino, La Coruna, Estorde, Muros and Bayona in Spain and Viana do Castelo, Porto, Figueira da Foz, Peniche, Cascais, Sines and Lagos in Portugal. The cruise was crewed by Dave Cooke for 835 miles, Mike Watson for 475 miles and Dave Wright, with Mike for 196 miles. We discovered a great deal about Hejira and we have a list of repairs and improvements to be made over the ‘lay over’ in Portugal before another test sailing south to the Canaries at the end of August. This will be the qualifying passage for the ARC crew leading up to the Atlantic crossing in November.

I have enjoyed writing this blog and it has been a welcome diversion on the passages under engine which have been an unfortunate feature of the Iberian west coast.

This will be my last regular missive until I resume in Vilamoura on the 26^th of August.

Best wishes to all the readers – if you exist !

There is only the one practical port of refuge with a marina to break up the passage from Lisbon to the Algarve Coast and that is the shipping port of Sines. Thankfully, within the main arms of the port, EU funding has built a leisure harbour with an under-used marina. We were to be the only yacht on the outer pontoon and, with the strengthening wind, we chose a berth which would mean that we would be ‘blown off’ and not rub our fenders through the night.

Berthing up to this point had been slick with the procedure understood and carried out with military precision. We had selected the inner row of pontoon fingers so that we faced into the wind (selfishly) to prevent the ripples slapping under the counter which reverberates directly under my berth, the only problem was that these fingers were shorter than the outer fingers and, as a result, somewhat less substantial.  There being just the two of us on board, there was extra pressure on Mike to ‘do his job’ seamlessly and with the shorter pontoon, it was necessary for him to step onto the pontoon finger from a position further forward at the shrouds. Unfortunately, when he stepped off with his warp onto the very end of the pontoon, the finger was so unstable, he became frozen to the spot, unable to move, adopting the pose of a surfer or spiderman, crouched with his arms outstretched to balance on the unstable pontoon, his legs pumping up and down as the finger oscillated from side to side, unable to even contemplate securing  the warp to the cleat. Where is a camera when you need it, it would certainly have been in contention for ‘you’ve been framed’, the look of terror was priceless as he tried to avoid an early salty bath. Fortunately with an empty marina and the judicial use of bow thruster and prop thrust, the situation was saved with damage only to Mike’s dignity and his previously unblemished berthing record.

We made another early start for the 77 mile passage south, around Cape St. Vincent and then eastwards to Lagos in very little wind once again. Although we willed an improvement, every time we made sail, the wind died away and we had no option but to resort to engine power alone, wallowing languidly along in the big Atlantic swells.

Our ‘lay day’ in Cascais was very welcome after relentless daily passages down the Iberian coastline. An unhurried reveille was followed by an amble through the pretty streets to the train station. There is a feeling of affluence to the town which appears to have an active fishing fleet while being a destination for the residents of Lisbon. The tacky ephemera that is usually associated with a seaside holiday resort is largely absent.

The trains into Lisbon are frequent and the journey is interesting, running along the coastline through the villages that line the Tagus estuary. I remembered driving to Lisbon on business and it wasn’t until we had taken the tour bus and I began to recognise familiar locations that I remembered visiting with my wife, Paula and her father only about 6 years before to watch England Students play the Portuguese National rugby team. It is probably my age but I have put it down to the arrival by sea being sort of ‘out of context’ and dis-orientating…………

We made an early start on the 55 mile passage to Sines and, once again we have lacked wind.

It has been essential to keep a good look out all along this coast and the style of markers for the nets has evolved from the tiny corks further north to a string of water bottles in a line along the surface. Thankfully Mike has keen eyes and is happy to keep watch while I write this – and read the first newspaper for nearly a month.

It may be worth recording (for fellow anoraks) some of the ‘Nickisms’ which are mods that I have made to improve (or not) the yacht, particularly with the Ocean passages that I have in mind.

In this picture there are several visible. The insert into the small sink holds 4 thermos ‘cups’ (each laser engraved with crew’s initials) and a spoon – very helpful when pitching about. The black strip retaining the ‘rough rations’ lidded Tupperware is cut from square plastic downpipe and stuck in place using double sided tape. There is a stainless steel retaining rod in the cupboard (and in all similar cupboards) so that the contents don’t all crash out when heeled. A proprietary bottle holder (there are can holders and other ‘holders’) is shown stowed on a turned ‘button’ and elsewhere the standard 1” stanchion fitting has been supplemented by unique fittings for the binnacle grab handle and the ‘goalpost’ behind the helm so that drinks can be safely to hand around the yacht – see photo of me reading the Telegraph. Thanks for many of my ‘isms’ must go to the ATOM ‘marine division’ (non-profit making charity) which has helped with the development and manufacture of a large number of ‘improvements’.

While France was quite relaxed about paperwork (in contrast to 15 years ago), Spain and Portugal have been excessively bureaucratic, demanding ships details and copying the passports of the crew members – in every port. It has been conceded by several marina managers, when challenged, that it is an exercise in ‘jobs for the boys’. It has certainly been an inconvenience. This was exemplified when, after an exchange offshore with Coastguard boat number 42, we were then challenged to produce our documents again by Coastguard boat number 21 – in the same day! This was our third ‘brush’ with the authorities, having been boarded by the Customs in La Coruna.

The passage from Peniche to Cascais was unremarkable. We derived a little help from the jib for a while until the lack of wind led to it’s collapse and we had to give up our vain attempt to sail. What masqueraded as a breeze was northerly and chilly but the sun shone and the coastline was of more interest with hills and what looked like pretty coastal villages. We were entertained by a lone dolphin which accompanied us all the way until just short of Cascais, she or he seemed to delight in showing us some fancy ‘moves’ from time to time and for Mike, for whom this was his first ‘dolphin experience’, he was enraptured.

Cascais is a large, swish and expensive marina but for the purposes of having a ‘lay day’ and visiting Lisbon, it was ideal. With a bar at the top of the pontoon ramp and plugged into the mains with our AC working, it ticked all the boxes. Mike even paid a visit to the laundry and experienced another example of the endemic excessive paperwork. Before he could buy a token for the washing machine he had to give the name of the yacht, our mooring location and wait for a two part receipt to be printed !

Figueira da Foz was a very welcome destination after a pretty unpleasant, overcast day of motoring for over 60 miles into a headwind. The coastline south of Porto is just one long sandy beach and un-remittingly boring when you are just slowly plugging on. This was alleviated to some extent by a couple of episodes of Ed Reardon’s week and a Sharpe talking book. Having prepared and pressure cooked a chicken and lentil casserole prior to our arrival, it was a case of moor up, square up, quick dirty beer, food & bed. Eating on board, I produced (rather gingerly) a 5litre box of red wine which had cost 7.49 Euros. My hesitation was compounded by the fact that Mike, my only crew on this leg, qualified as a sommelier after his retirement. At only 10% alcohol content, I am not sure that it even qualifies as wine – loads left as you can imagine.

An early start and we are on passage to Peniche. It is another overcast day but with a light westerly, we have an angle to at least fill the mainsail and without the chop, we are making good progress with some assistance from Mr. Yanmar. The coast is continuous beach again but today, although initially low lying, it is backed by what looks like pine forest. We had some relief from the tedium when we were intercepted by a Coastguard Patrol vessel. After an exchange of details on VHF, they wished us safe passage and made off at speed.

Peniche has one long visitor pontoon and it was partially taken up with what looked like a semi derelict French yacht. We were beaten into the harbour by a 55 foot Swiss X-Yacht which clearly had a mission to get in first and the limited space justified his haste. We did however grab the last slot and thereafter, it was what has become the usual format…………