28/09/2009 by admin.

The run from Lagos round to Portimao on the 23rd September was very short, less than 8 miles, but we took some time out to do some fishing and sightseeing along the coast, sailing into Portimao just after2 .
Portimao sits at the entrance to the river Arade, and is surrounded by plenty of sandy beaches, some of them within the harbour walls. Having tied up in the marina, John and I took the tender over to the east side of the river to Ferraguda where there is a little restaurant that specialises in sardines cooked on a BBQ on the quayside. The sardines were the tastiest fish I have eaten in a long time. John then decided we should check out the adjacent beach which we duly did. We eventually stumbled across a bar just up the beach, reminiscent of the soggy dollar bar in the BVI’s, only this was the soggy euro bar. John had thoughtfully come equipped with a soggy 10 euro note which we managed to stretch into 3 rounds of beer while we sat in cane chairs and put the world to right.
On Thursday, we dusted off the golf clubs, and headed over to Lagos for a warm-up game of golf . The course was a big building site as they were building another 18 hole course alongside the existing one, but we still managed to get a good game in. On Thursday night we drove over to Faro airport to pick up Nick, our eldest son, who was taking a well-earned rest to join us for the weekend.
Friday was the highlight of the trip so far, so far as I can remember it. We started with another game of golf at Morgado , followed by some sunbathing and swimming at the seawater pool in the marina. After a few tequila sunrises at the pool bar, we headed off for dinner to the fish restaurant in Ferraguda for another session of sardines and vino blanco. Nick then decided we should sample the delights of the Praia de Rocha, a strip of bars, restaurants and nightclubs next door to the marina. Without going into too much detail, there was some karaoke, a visit to a casino and several hours drinking in an Irish bar . We ended up sitting right next to the entertainment, an Irish folk singer who seemed to have an uncanny ability to sink a pint of Guinness in one, followed by a shot, several times throughout the night. His singing was not quite so good, but I’m sure he appreciated the words of encouragement from the 3 of us at various stages of the night. The walk back to the boat in the early hours of the morning was eventful, with each of us managing to get separated although we all met up back at the entrance to the marina. I was first at the gate, and had thoughtfully ensured that the gate was open for my crew, by falling asleep leaning against the gate. 
The following day, Saturday , we were off for another game of golf. The 9 o’clock tee off time had seemed a great idea when booked the day before, but there were grave misgivings in the car as we drove out to the course . My first drive off the first tee, sending the ball whistling off a good, oh, 8 yards in the general direction of the green was another sign that it was going to be a long and painful game of golf. John retired to the clubhouse after the 5th hole having lost the will to live, leaving Nick and I to complete the front 9 before calling it a day and returning with John to the marina. More sunbathing and swimming followed on Sunday before I drove John and Nick back to Faro airport for their flight back to the UK. A great weekend had by all.
Chris

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28/09/2009 by admin.

Tuesday 22nd September saw us heading down the Portuguese coast and round Cape Sao Vicente to Lagos in the Algarve. It was a hot sunny day, with not a breath of wind, so we motor-sailed all the way round. It was a 76 mile run, so we didn’t get in to Lagos until 6 that evening. We were well chilled out by the time we tied up to the reception pontoon in Lagos marina, about 0.5 km up the river Bensafrim. I left John on board and went in to the marina reception to complete the paperwork and get a berth assigned. The lady at the desk asked me which yacht we were, and I turned around and pointed back at Fizz, and then saw with a horrible sinking feeling that we had left the mainsail up. For those who are not familiar with sailing etiquette, it is , to say the least, very unusual to bring a yacht in to a marina and moor her with the mainsail still up. I nonchalantly completed the formalities as quickly as possible, and legged it back to the boat. We furled the main, and motored round to the berth at the far end of the marina. As we came alongside, we were greeted by helping hands from the boat next door. It turned out it was one of the crew’s birthday, and we had barely finished tying up when we were given a large piece of birthday cake and a glass of vino blanco.
We had an uneventful run ashore in Lagos that night and headed off for the short trip to Portimao on Wednesday 23rd.

Chris

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28/09/2009 by admin.

Fizz in Sines
John Absalom and I sailed from Cascais down to Sines , pronounced ‘Cinch’ on the 21st September. It’s about 56 miles south of Lisbon and is a large commercial port with a small marina tucked into a corner. The sail down was good, with 20-25 knots of breeze from the north, so we had a good run gull-winged with the main and genoa. As we got in quite late, after 7, we secured the boat and went ashore for something to eat. We had met up with Steve, the Welsh skipper from Neath while in Cascais, and he had recommended a restaurant called the Castelaria in Sines as being a great simple restaurant with great local food, including a local speciality called black pork steak. We eventually found the restaurant after climbing a hill on top of which was a castle with the Castelaria restaurant right next door. It was a great little place, a bit like someone’s front room, and all the tables were full. However, the waitress managed to squeeze us in sharing a table with a lady who we decided was called Lola. No-one in the restaurant spoke English, so everything was done with sign language. We weren’t sure if the proprietor was trying to fix one of us up with Lola, but he kept coming over, pointing at her and giving the thumbs up. We ordered the locally caught Dorade, (we decided not to try the black pork) which was really good, simply cooked and very tasty. This was followed up with a local version of crème caramel and washed down with a cheap bottle of vino blanco. We finished off with a large slug of ruby port. We paid the bill, less than 20 euros each, and then the proprietor came over and filled up our glasses with another healthy slug of port on the house. Maybe he thought this would make Lola look more attractive. She was now waiting outside the restaurant at the entrance, so it was with some trepidation that we beat a hasty retreat and scuttled back to the marina. I was tempted to send Taffy up to the restaurant to try his luck with Lola, but thought that might be a little unfair on Lola. She was certainly lonely but she wasn’t desperate.
The following day we made an early start for the long run round Cape Sao Viscente and into Lagos in the Algarve.
Chris

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20/09/2009 by admin.

The run from Figueira da Foz to Peniche was bracing, with strong N’ly winds, gusting up to 35 knots at times. The forecast was for 15 knot winds, but as seems to be common in this part of the world, the forecast was well out. Nevertheless, it was a great sail with main and genoa, with deep 4 m swells on the port quarter to contend with as well. We had agreed that Stu would skipper this run as part of his training, and he handled everything really well. In the prevailing conditions he and I shared the steering, giving the autohelm a day off. We got into Peniche with the wind still gusting well over 30 knots, and rafted up alongside a French yacht for the evening.  We met Jan and Ella on board their stunning 58′ Hoek design yacht called Jenny. Jan had built the yacht from the hull up over a period of 6 years, and they were now ou their way down to Madeira and on to Brazil.

e left Peniche on Thursday morning for the run down to Cascais outside Lisbon, arriving mid afternoon. We spent Friday doing the sight-seeing bit in Lisbon, before Pam, Stu and Claire caught the evening flight back to the UK. Claire is back to school and Stu is doing his yachtmaster theory course next week. Which left me here on Fizz doing a spot of cleaning and enjoying the sunshine. John Absalom joins on Sunday 20th and we head off to Sines on Monday morning, and then  Lagos and the Algarve on Tuesday.  The golf clubs will get an airing later in the week when Nick flies out for a well-earned long weekend break. As part of John’s birthday present, (he is eaching a certain significant milestone soon) I will probably give John a few tips on how to improve his golf.

Chris

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15/09/2009 by admin.

We left Povoa De Varzim yesterday with light airs and plenty of sunshine for the 70 mile run down to Figueira Da Foz.  We enjoyed a good dinner out in Povoa the night before at a steak restaurant next door to the local casino. The veal steaks were particularly good, but the highlight of the evening, particularly for Stu, was the head waiter, called Vito, who looked a bit like Feddie Flintstone and who took a particular shine to Stu. There were high fives and even a shoulder massage. In fact it looked at one stage as if Stu was going to get a better offer and we were going to lose a member of the crew. During the sail down to Figueira we had a sea breeze kick in after lunch , so flew the cruising chute for 3 hours, giving us an average speed of 7 knots. We also had another school of Dolphins visit us for some fun in our bow waves, including a baby dolphin following it’s mum around like a shadow. We got into Figueira at sunset last night, mooring up next to a 43’ German yacht. The marina here is the most expensive we have come across for some time,  in spite of the fact that the facilities here are almost non-existent. No internet access, primitive toilets in portacabins, and finger jetties that almost submerge when more than one person is standing on them. Today we had a slight altercation with the neighbouring German yacht. It was blowing 20 knots as he was leaving the berth, and he managed to catch his port shroud on our dinghy as he was backing out. Initially we thought the dinghy davits were damaged, but on closer inspection it looks as though the damage was limited to a bent cleat. Insurance details were exchanged  and we parted company best of friends, agreeing to meet up further down the coast.We are off to Coimbra by train this afternoon for some sightseeing, and then off to Peniche tomorrow. Stu will be skippering the boat tomorrow as part of his yachtmaster training, so it could be an interesting day !Chris & Pam

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15/09/2009 by admin.

Today we did the run from Bayone in Spain to Povoa de Varzim , our first port of call in Portugal. The trip was characterized again by a distinct lack of wind, but we had wall to wall sunshine throughout, so no complaints from the crew. Stu tried his hand at fishing, but apart from attracting the interest of a large seagull, his lure didn’t trouble any fish. The big excitement of the day was the sighting of what appeared to be a small whale. It was about 20’ long, had a blow hole, and was definitely too big for either a dolphin or a porpoise. The marina here at Povoa is small but very reasonable, with 50% discounts for ARC boats, and very good shower/toilet facilities. We are off to the yacht club here for a quick drink and hopefully wiffy before heading off into town for dinner. Taffy has had his shore leave stopped after what can only be referred to as an “incident” last night in Bayone. The 50 Euro note slipped into the Chief of Police’s pocket seems to have smoothed things over, but it was made clear to us that the Welsh would not be welcome again in Bayone. Hopefully they will be able to get the spray paint off the statute of the Virgin de la Roca. Tomorrow we have an early start as we have a 70 mile run down to Figueira de Foz.Chris & Pam  

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13/09/2009 by admin.

Fizz in BayonaWe left La Coruna on Wednesday 9^th September and sailed round to Camarinas, a small fishing village just to the north of Finisterre. We had plenty of wind from the NNE which produced great sailing conditions and boat speeds up to 10 knots. The Ria de Camarinas is considered to be one of the most scenic Rias in Galicia, with plenty of anchorages, beaches and conifer forests covering the hills surrounding the Ria. The marina in Camarinas was fairly basic but the people there were friendly .We set off yesterday for the longer 68 mile run round Finisterre to Bayone. Unfortunately the wind had dropped to less than 10 knots, so as we had a lot of miles to cover, we had the engine on for the trip round. Just south of Finisterre Claire spotted dolphins about 200 m ahead of us racing towards the boat. It was a fantastic sight as what must have been over 30 dolphins played in the bow wave of the boat, just inches away from us. They stayed with us for about 10 minutes, causing great excitement, and were without doubt the highlight of the trip. Will hopefully get some pictures on the web site shortly.We got into Bayona yesterday evening at about 7, and tied up in the Puerto Deportivo de Bayone.  There is a replica of the Pinto, caravel which Pinzon sailed across the Atlantic to discover America in 149, berthed next to the marina. The town has a lot of history, including the Monterreal Fort on a peninsular looking over the town, which dates back to the 9^th century.  We are sitting outside a cafe opposite the fort, in bright sunshine, gearing ourselves up for a walk round the fort.Tomorrow we sail for Povoa which is just inside the Portuguese border, so tonight we will be making the most of our last night in Spain for a while. Taffy has got friendly with the skipper of the yacht opposite us, who is from Neath in S. Wales. They were talking about a night on the town tonight, giving the senoritas something to think about.Chris & Pam

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09/09/2009 by admin.

Fizz in La Coruna
We arrived in La Coruna yesterday, Tuesday, 8th Sept at about 18:00 after a long and boring motor round from Ribadeo. There was less than 5 knots of breeze for the whole day, so the engine got a good long run. The new marina here is very good, plenty of space , brand new facilities and fairly inexpensive. Have noticed more foreign flag yachts here, some Brits, Swedes, Germans, and a Farr 50 racing boat from Newport, Rhode Island.
Had a day ashore here today doing some shopping and sightseeing. La Coruna sits on a peninsular with a lighthouse on a promontory called the Hercules lighthouse, originally built by the Romans in the 2nd century . It is said to be the oldest working lighthouse in the world.
Sun is shining so we have had a good boat cleaning session. Plenty of wind here, gusting over 30 knots. Hoping it moderates tomorrow as we are due to sail down to Camarinas, 40 miles south west of here.
Taffy is now sporting his new hat, given to him by an admirer from Upper Beeding. It makes him look as though he has taken up Jewish holy orders. All he needs now are prayer beads and he will be well set up.
Chris & Pam

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07/09/2009 by admin.

The run from Gijon to Ribadeo in the Asturias was marked by a lack of wind, and wall to wall sunshine, so sunbathing was the order of the day. It was a 68 mile stretch and we tied up in the marina at Ribadeo at 5. The marina staff were on the pontoon to take our lines and have proved to be very helpful throughout our stay here. Ribadeo is well worth a visit. The town is on a steep hill with narrow streets and alleys and ancient buildings. You get the impression they do not get many foreign visitors here, which makes it all the more fascinating to visit. An example of this was when we tried to buy a postcard and after a lot of searching found on in a newspaper shop. There was no choice, just the one postcard, and the picture was taken in 1988 when the marina hadn’t even been built. Tonight is the festival of Santa Maria Del Campo, a local religious festival in Ribadeo, so there are lots of fireworks and partying. This afternoon we went scuba diving in the estuary . The water was very cold but visibility underwater was good.
Tomorrow we head off to La Coruna in Galicia, just on the corner of South Biscay near Finisterre. It’s a long 80+ mile trip so up early. Stu and Claire do not like the early starts, but they are getting used to them. Taffy is off at the festival. Apparently he knew a girl called Santa Maria back in Port Talbot, so he reckons he should be on to a good thing tonight !!

Chris & Pam

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05/09/2009 by admin.

Today we had a great sail from Santander to Gijon. The forecast was for 5-10 knots of breeze from the East, but we ended up with over 25 knots for much of the day. It was a long day’s sail (88 miles) but fantastic down-wind sailing. We had the cruising chute up and averaged 8.5 knots, with the highest recorded speed for the day, and the trip so far, at 11.2 knots. Stu gave Pam a masterclass in steering under challenging conditions with 2.5 metre waves , and she did very well, clocking up over 10.7 knots at one stage. The coastal scenery is remarkable, with the Cantabrian mountains providing a dramatic backdrop along the coast.
The other highlight of the day was Stu’s fish that got away. We bought a new trolling rod and reel yesterday , which was a challenge in itself as the only Spanish words we knew were Ola,Gracias and Adios, while the only English words the shop assistant knew were Hello and goodbye. In spite of this, we had a successful outcome, and the rod was put to good use today. Stu had only been fishing for 20 minutes when we spotted what looked like a small shark just off the bow. Less than 2 minutes later, Stu’s reel started screaming as something big (could it be the shark?) took the bait. Stu fought hard for a good 5 minutes but then the line went slack. The lure was still on the line, which was more than could be said for the fish.
Still, tomorrow is another day. We had a quick walk around Gijon tonight. The town’s history goes back to the Romans, who took a liking to the place on their way to Seville. Many Roman buildings are still intact. It’s a pity we don’t have more time to spend exploring the place. But we have a lot of ground to cover if we are going to get to Lisbon by the 18th Sept.
We have a 68 mile sail tomorrow to Rubideo, and then a day ashore on Monday.
Chris & Pam

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