An Off Day

We woke in the lovely bay that we had stayed the night and it was a still beautiful morning. Swims and paddle boarding was the order of the start of the day. The sky was blue and it looked like it was going to be a lovely day.

 We thought we would move on to see more of the cliffs and caves toward Lagos and decided to tow the dinghy behind us. The angle for sailing was good for a change and so we set reefed sails. Soon we were whizzing along and the wind levels rose. We were worried about the dinghy and reduced sail. However the wind rose again and soon we were off Ponta de Piedade and anchored watching the flow of boats taking people in and out of the caves and arches like lines of traffic. It was still quite windy but manageable. We had a nice lunch and then explored the caves ourselves using the dinghy which was great and Jules took some great pics. We then had a chat and decided it would be nice to go to Sagres as this was more remote. It was about 14 nm.

 We set off and decided to tow the dinghy. Soon however the wind rose to 30-31 kts (force 7 nearly an 8) and it was difficult to slow Stormbird down. She wanted to go. Despite our efforts this was tricky in the wind conditions and then we saw an oar had come loose on the dinghy. As we were taking the sails in to resolve the situation, the oar came loose off the dinghy and started to float away. We then started to search for it and found it but it was not easy to get close enough to get it and it was not easy to get it up by boat hook as there was nothing to hook on to. We had to circle a few times and the wind was howling and there were a lot of little waves and white horses. However before we could work out how to get the oar back it had sunk. How annoying and the wind howling seemed to be laughing. It made me realise that man overboard exercises are vital as unless you practice – it is difficult to recover someone from the water.

 As a result we decided to turn back and call it a day and we went slowly back to a slightly sheltered anchorage. When we got there it was full of tourist boats so we anchored a little way out with a lot of wind. It was a good test for the anchor. We thought we would move when the tourists boats left for the day. This was about 6.00pm.

When we came to lift our anchor it was stuck in a rock and despite the tripping line it would not move. With a bit of motoring forward it came clear luckily. We then moved as close as we dared but the wind would not seem to let up with gusts of 25-30kts. There was no alternative but to ride it out. We had planned to barbecue a whole chicken on the cobb. Due to the wind we decided to cook it in the over whilst being thrown about by the wind.

 Some way through the cooking the gas ran out so we had to empty the lazarette locker to change the cylinder. So we eventually got our delicious roast chicken dinner in the howling wind which seemed to continue even late into the night. It had been one of those days where some things conspired against us.

 However we have to remind ourselves that we are lucky to be doing what we are doing and there are many far worse off. It was just one of those days.