Time zone UTC + 0.00
Local time (Portugal ) + 1.00
06.35 - Departure from Cascais, Portugal - motor
Coordinates 38º41’741N 009º24’866W
07.20 - Full sails
Coordinates 38º37’962N 009º28’760W
Heading: 220 degrees
Wind speed: 18 knots
Wind direction: 110 degrees starboard (northwest)
Cloud coverage: 30%
Visibility: 90%
Barometer: 1004
Sea state: 1.5 metre waves, 8 sec period
SOG: 7 knots
Pre-departure weather forecast suggests we can do a simple rhumb line route straight to our destination.
Forecasted weather: 10knots mean wind, 15/16 wind gusts, 1.5 metre waves on 9 second period, 140AWA (Apparent Wind Angle)
08.40 - 1 reef Mainsail, Solent sail
Coordinates 38º32’371N 009º35’455W
Heading: 220 degrees
Wind speed: 20 knots
Wind direction: 120 degrees starboard (northwest)
Cloud coverage: 30%
Visibility: 90%
Barometer: 1004
Sea state: 1.5 metre waves, 8 sec period
SOG: 7 knots
Getting ready to cross south of the TSS (Traffic Separation Scheme just off Cabo de Roca)
Quadrant or rudder doing a load squeek.
11.25 - 1 reef Mainsail, 1 reef Jib
Coordinates 38º19’478N 009º51’277W
Heading: 220 degrees
Wind speed: 17 knots
Wind direction: 120 degrees starboard (northwest)
Cloud coverage: 30%
Visibility: 90%
Barometer: 1004
Sea state: 1.5/2 metre waves, 9 sec period
SOG: 6.5 knots
Crossing south of the TSS completed
15.40 - 1 reef Mainsail, 1 reef Jib
Coordinates 37º56’813N 010º17’670W
Heading: 218 degrees
Wind speed: 18 knots
Wind direction: 110 degrees starboard (north northwest)
Cloud coverage: 25%
Visibility: 90%
Barometer: 999
Sea state: 1.5/2 metre waves, 9 sec period
SOG: 7/8 knots
16.45 - 1 reef Mainsail, 1 reef Jib
Coordinates 37º50’783N 010º24’401W
Heading: 218 degrees
Wind speed: 19 knots
Wind direction: 110 degrees starboard (northwest)
Cloud coverage: 25%
Visibility: 90%
Barometer: 1000
Sea state: 1.5/2 metre waves, 9 sec period
SOG: 8 knots
John spotted a marine mammal spout in the distance behind us.
Orca or Whale?
With the aid of binoculars I also saw one of these spouts. Both of us considered it to be too high to belong to an Orca. Didn’t managed actually spot the animal in question.
18.40 - 1 reef Mainsail, 1 reef Jib
Coordinates 37º39’551N 010º36’817W
Heading: 217 degrees
Wind speed: 18 knots
Wind direction: 110 degrees starboard (northwest)
Cloud coverage: 25%
Visibility: 90%
Barometer: 1001
Sea state: 1.5metre waves, 8 sec period
SOG: 7 knots
Sunset. Huge pod of small dolphins all around us jumping and swimming incredibly fast, making small appearances. Biggest individuals between 1 and 1.2 metres, seems most are much smaller and maybe juveniles or babies still?
04.15 - 1 reef Mainsail, 1 reef Jib
Coordinates 36º59’246N 011º27’455W
Heading: 220 degrees
Wind speed: 16 knots
Wind direction: 110 degrees starboard (northwest)
Cloud coverage: 80%
Visibility: 70%
Barometer: 1001
Sea state: 1.5/2 metre waves, 8 sec period
SOG: 7 knots
Night weather forecast update similar to original pre-departure forecast.
Forecasted weather: 10knots mean wind, 15/16 wind gusts, 1.5 metre waves on 9 second period, 140AWA (Apparent Wind Angle)
Daily run (22h) - 143 nautical miles
09.00 - 1 reef Mainsail, 1 reef Jib
Coordinates 36º39’116N 011º53’189W
Heading: 230 degrees
Wind speed: 18 knots
Wind direction: 110 degrees starboard (north)
Cloud coverage: 100%
Visibility: 70%
Barometer: 1003
Sea state: 1.5/2 metre waves, 8 sec period
SOG: 7 knots
Morning PredictWind forecast update shows a complete change from previous updates. Suggests wind is going to drop significantly on rhumb line route but remain a bit stronger if we track north.
When checking all forecasts and the predictions regarding arrival it seems there’s not a significant difference on ETA.
Conclusion tracking north will give better speeds but considerable extra mileage while rhumb line might become a slug of a sail but still arrive at similar time due to the reduced mileage.
We decided to track slightly north but not as much as suggested by PredictWind mainly because we have no wish to beat to a swell of 1.5/2 meters if we can carry on as we are comfortably.
14.00 - 1 reef Mainsail, 1 reef Jib
Coordinates 36º16’662N 012º29’259W
Heading: 230 degrees
Wind speed: 18 knots
Wind direction: 110 degrees starboard (northwest)
Cloud coverage: 80%
Visibility: 80%
Barometer: 1000
Sea state: 1.5 metre waves, 8 sec period
SOG: 7/8 knots
Hmm, winds are still considerably stronger than forecasted. Still doing good speeds without effort.
For a period of 2h where the wind had reduced a bit we’ve flown a full Jib, but with the winds back at previous strength feels better with a reef on the Jib.
19.10 - 1 reef Mainsail, 1 reef Jib
Coordinates 35º52’918N 013º02’142W
Heading: 225 degrees
Wind speed: 18 knots
Wind direction: 100 degrees starboard (northwest)
Cloud coverage: 80%
Visibility: 80%
Barometer: 1001
Sea state: 1.5 metre waves, 8 sec period
SOG: 7 knots
07.40 - 1 reef Mainsail, full Jib
Coordinates 34º57’732N 014º15’752W
Heading: 235 degrees
Wind speed: 15 knots
Wind direction: 100 degrees starboard (northwest)
Cloud coverage: 80%
Visibility: 80%
Barometer: 1005
Sea state: 1.5 metre waves, 8 sec period
SOG: 7 knots
House battery bank at -390.2Ah, turned on portable generator for 2h to boost charge by roughly 200Ah.
Daily run (27h) - 185 nautical miles
10.25 - Full Mainsail, furl Jib - motor
Coordinates 34º49’351N 014º32’051W
Heading: 225 degrees
Wind speed: 3 knots
Wind direction: 100 degrees starboard (north)
Cloud coverage: 80%
Visibility: 80%
Barometer: 1004
Sea state: 1 metre waves, 8 sec period
SOG: 6.5 knots
Forecast finally caught up with us.
11.10 - Full sails - no motor
Coordinates 34º46’631N 014º36’313W
Heading: 222 degrees
Wind speed: 7 knots
Wind direction: 120 degrees starboard (north northwest)
Cloud coverage: 80%
Visibility: 80%
Barometer: 1004
Sea state: 1 metre waves, 8 sec period
SOG: 4.5 knots
15.15 - Full sails
Coordinates 34º31’291N 014º49’367W
Heading: 220 degrees
Wind speed: 6 knots
Wind direction: 45 degrees starboard
Cloud coverage: 40%
Visibility: 80%
Barometer: 1000
Sea state: 1 metre waves, 8 sec period
SOG: 4.5 knots
18.05 - Mainsail and motor
Coordinates 34º21’007N 014º56’899W
Heading: 220 degrees
Wind speed: 4 knots
Cloud coverage: 10%
Visibility: 90%
Sea state: 1 metre waves, 8 sec period, long swell
SOG: 6.5 knots
20.05 - Full sails
Coordinates 34º11’595N 015º07’017W
Heading: 210 degrees
Wind speed: 6 knots
Wind direction: 60 degrees starboard
Cloud coverage: 60%
Visibility: 80%
Sea state: 1 metre waves, 8 sec period, long swell
SOG: 5 knots
John caught a small Bonito tuna!
23.00 - Mainsail and motor
Coordinates 33º59’025N 015º16’630W
Heading: 215 degrees
Wind speed: 3 knots
Cloud coverage: 60%
Visibility: 70%
Barometer: 1004
Sea state: 1 metre waves, 8 sec period
SOG: 6.5 knots
PredictWind forecast update still suggests we should track north.
01.25 - Full sails
Coordinates 33º47’008N 015º29’168W
Heading: 215 degrees
Wind speed: 3 knots
Visibility: 90%
Sea state: 1 metre waves, 8 sec period
SOG: 6 knots
02.55 - Full sails and motor
Coordinates 33º40’414N 015º35’360W
Heading: 210 degrees
Wind speed: 3 knots
Cloud coverage: 40%
Visibility: 90%
Sea state: 1 metre waves, 8 sec period
SOG: 6 knots
08.30 - Full sails
Coordinates 33º19’548N 015º50’769W
Heading: 215 degrees
Wind speed: 11 knots
Wind direction: 50 degrees starboard (west northwest)
Cloud coverage: 40%
Visibility: 90%
Barometer: 1006
Sea state: light chop
SOG: 5 knots
Started seeing the shape of Porto Santo island on the horizon!
Daily run (25h) - 128 nautical miles
13.20 - Arrival Porto Santo
Coordinates 33º03’578N 016º19’153W
Total hours of the trip: 79h
Total hours sailing: 70h
Total hours motoring: 3h
Total hours motor-sailing: 6h
Maximum Speed Over Ground: 9knots
Average Speed: 6knots
Distance: 486 nautical miles
***In the spirit of sharing our dreams and experiences we have shared this blog post in the NOFOREIGNLAND.COM website sailors community.