Leixoes to Cascais

Hi everyone,

Gday from Cascais!  We had a good sail south from Leixoes.  No motoring.  Broad reached all the way.  Pretty sloppy at times but we got the job done.  The Med isn't feeling far away any more!

In traffic on Sunday morning

Here are the plots...

Track

Arrival Track Detail

Graphs

And here are the vital stats for the passage…

    • Distances/Speeds

        • Route Distance = 170nm

        • Logged Distance = 157nm (log still under-reading)

        • GPS Distance = 177nm

        • Duration = 32 hours

        • Average speed over ground = 5.5 kt

        • Minimum boat speed = 4 kt

        • Maximum boat speed = 8 kt

    • Weather

        • Minimum wind speed = 8 kt

        • Average wind speed = 20 kt

        • Maximum wind speed = gusts to 29 kt

        • Apparent wind angle range = 100 to 160

        • Seas up to 1.5m NW

        • Swell up to 1.5m NW and W

        • Cloudy initially, clearing up to clear skies with scattered small cumulus

    • Engine

        • Total = 1 hour

We departed at 0800 under scattered low and mid-level cloud and a high-level overcast.  The term 'anti-cyclonic gloom' comes to mind.  But there was a nice NNW breeze of about 10 knots, just enough to get Zen Again sailing nicely on a broad reach, bringing the apparent wind forward almost to the beam.

Morning departure under cloudy sky

There's always traffic moving in Leixoes!

Broad reaching under single-reef and yankee

As the day progressed the cloud moved off until by mid-afternoon the sky was clear.  The wind increased to 15G20 in the afternoon.  We tucked in a second reef (trisail size) and furled/unfurled the yankee to suit.  The seas got up too, making it a rolly ride even on a broad reach.  Reminded us of the southern Indian Ocean.  There were definitely two distinct swell trains running - NW and W(ish) which was ugly.  The sea state also varied a lot with water depth - much smoother when off-soundings.

We saw a few fishing floats initially but then very very few until we were approaching Cascais.  We deliberately sailed out into deeper water.

Clear sky at sunset

Overnight the winds peaked at 25G30.  We though the sea state worse than those winds suggest but Zen Again handled it well.  So did the crew, but it wasn't much fun!

By Sunday morning we were well offshore and getting into the shipping lanes.  We wanted to stay well clear of Cabo Carvoeiro and its off-lying islands.  There's an amazing undersea canyon here which narrows the continental shelf from 30nm to less than 10nm.  Apparently it can really mess up the sea state so we didn't want to go there.

We timed out gybe to take us inshore of the Traffic Separation Zone off Cabo de Roca.  As one approaches Cascais from the north one seas a high cape from far off.  This isn't Cabo Raso, but rather the land behind Cabo de Roca.  Cabo Raso is further south and much less prominent.

Cabo de Roca (Cabo Raso to the right)

Once around Cabo Raso its a short distance to Cascais and the marina.  The winds abated but were gusty as they came over the low cape.  We anchored E of the marina.  Being a sunny Sunday afternoon the beaches were busy, yachts were out for a sail and fleets of dinghies were out in the bay.

Cascais marina entrance from the anchorage

We expect to go into the marina for a few nights.  It'll be good to catch up with sv Thistle Doo.  We met Ian in Gosport over the winter.