On The Continent !

We were eight days out of Horta and one day away from mainland Europe. The ocean only had one final hurdle for us to get over. There is a band of wind that comes out of the Bay of Biscay, sweeps around Finestere, France, and hurtles down the coast of Portugal. It varies from 10 to 25 knots and is usually 90 miles wide or for us, 15 hours wide. Thursday morning we looked at the latest forecast and knew we were in for a faster ride than we usually like.

We could have elected to heave-to and wait a day, but the forecast for the next day was even stronger and when these winds get going they do last for several days. We could have turned back to Horta, but after eight days that didn’t get any votes. So we had our hot meal at 2 PM and got ready to go. Here is Rob in the galley next to the gimballed stove.

We put up our smallest jib and brought the mainsail down to its third reef point. After a couple hours we brought the mainsail down to its fourth reef point. Here is a photo of Remedios with the small rig. The main with four reefs is about ½ the size of the storm jib. It’s a ridiculously small amount of sail, really. So we were rigged up and ready. We agreed (with some remarkable foresight) to shorten our watches to two hours each to lessen the time under duress for each of us while out there in the dark.

The good news is that we were ready. The bad news is that the forecast was wrong. The wind built to over 40 knots at its peak and just howled all during the night. It was the roughest night any of us have ever had on a boat. Our intruments logged the wind at Beaufort Force 8 (Gale Force). Here is what they say about Force 8:

Moderately high waves with breaking crests forming spindrift. Well-marked streaks of foam are blown along wind direction. Considerable airborne spray. Some twigs broken from trees. Cars veer on road. Progress on foot is seriously impeded.

We each used up one of our nine cat lives that night and I think Pat used up two. He got the worst of it. I stuck my head out into the cockpit around midnight to see what was happening and was momentarily confused. The stars were all out in the clear dark sky, but Pat was back by the wheel getting sprayed by horizontal rain. Where was the rain coming from?

When the wind gets over 40 knots the waves, of course, get huge. When the tops of the waves start to break, the wind blows them off and what you get is horizontal salt rain. It was not a pretty sight. I hollered at Pat that this just didn't look good and he hollered back “I know, but think of the story we’ll have to tell if we make it.” I went below to ponder my shortening future.

A bit later I heard Rob poke his head out. He hollered out asked Pat if he wanted some company out there (something I was way too smart to ask…). Pat just said he was fine and told Rob “Get some sleep, you’re next.” Rob, who really does like being out there in the wind, ducked back down and he got kind of quiet, too.

We didn’t have any smaller sails. And even with the sail plan we were using, we still were going 7 knots with these little hankies for sails and hitting 10 knots down the backs of waves.

And finally, we entered the shipping lanes of all the north-south freighters along the European coast and we got to match radar blips with freighters in all that mess and dodge them, too. We saw seven freighters that night. And we didn’t hit any although several were within a mile or so. I have no idea what they thought about our madly bouncing red and green bow lights that illuminated the spray as we mashed into the waves. We must have looked demented.

So, enough drama. We made it, although we would never want to go through that alone, or again. It blew like stink til around 9 the next morning and then the winds moderated to 25 knots and we made it into our planned port. Here is a link to a video shot after it got light and things calmed down...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wYLtJ89w-g


We are nestled up against the pier in a small Portuguese fishing village called Nazare. It’s about 100 miles north of Lisbon and is a wonderful natural harbor with a local fishing fleet and daily fish auctions. We hoisted the storm jib to hose all the salt off of it...

We only have one regret.

We really wish you could all be here for the party we are going to have tonight. We’ll miss you!

Tom, Pat, and Rob