Portugal Coast at 37 to 42 knots.

Some fishing in the Bay of Biscay

Over the Biscay

Perfect sail in for most of the way. Here the First Mate has a relaxing watch.

So we started out on Friday late afternoon from Camaret in France.
The sea was at time rough before you get to "the steps" where the depth goes from ca 100 meters down to 4000 meters.
We had tailwinds all the way and night sailing in 15 knots with a beautiful star filled sky.
One can almost become seriously religious under such circumstances.

Early morning on the 3rd day I woke my brother up when rounding Cabo Finisterre on the NW corner of Spain ( Finisterre= Fin De Terre= end of the world). It was now light rain an the forecast for the day was Strong winds up to Force 7 for the Portuguese coast. Not bad except that after 3 hrs the wind increased to force 8 which is up to 42 knots.
The waves were for us humongous.
We got sideways once when surfing down a wave at 15.4 knots. Rather unpleasant experience even when the sun was shining
So instead of heading to Lisbon we searched for a harbor in north Portugal.
We found beautiful Viana do Castelo, surfed in at 6 pm, and this is where we are at the moment.

Pål

Finally on the way to Portugal

So we finally got on the way one hr ago at 18.15 CET.
Boat totally ready to go with a lot of upgrades.
Just now doing 7 knots in 20 knots wind.
So just now we are two happy twins.
We may go directly around Spain an Portugal directly to the Portugese
town of Albufeira or stop in north west Spain.
Time will tell.
We will be back with updates in ca 3 days since we have no satphone.

Pål

Unhappy boys

What can we say? Have we been too naive, believing in the French "no
problem, monsieur" statement.
We have observed the work on the boat crawling along for a week now,
understanding the total unrealistic statements of our contractor.
Prioritizing is not his strong point.
We finally put together a contract (translated to French by Google
translate) based on what we thought would be realistic. This will give
him a severe pr.day penalty after 5 June.
He muttered, but signed and stamped it.
So fingers crossed for adventure sailing after this date.

To be con't........................

Per at the Camaret harbor

Per at the Camaret Marina
We will move in on Isabell on Thursday.

Planning con't........

Per in front of the chart for Biscay.
The boat is unfortunately still not ready. New departure date is set for ca 20-21 May.

Predicted WX 18 May

We were hoping the weather would at least start out good, and looking
at the predicted forecast a week in advance seems promising.
However, things can change.
The big High over Russia and in the Atlantic will create Low's in between.
Looking forward from 22 May, that seems to be the case.
Fortunately, we will be in Portugal by then.

The adventure begins 15 May. (Our Birthday)

A little planning in Sweden, and we are off on the deep Seas.