UTC 1932

We have arrived and anchored in port Sines, Portugal.

 fog should disappear about noon, and the wind, at about 8-10 kts should pick up shortly…  Why did I expect so?  For a couple of days it was the pattern.  And it was in a good correlation with the  weather .grib files I had… 

Noon arrived.  Sick fog, no trace of wind….  One o’clock…  The fog lifted a bit, but still here, and no trace of wind…. But I decided to risk and to go…  To wait further in the harbour   meant to stay there another day…  I love Sesimbra… But spending another day there — has no reason at all…  So, the anchor has been lifted and we left… 

In retrospect,   it has been a right decision.  Half an hour later, and couple of miles from the shore — we are sailing in 10-12 knts of wind, under nearly clear sky, with no swell…   Nice  broad reach,  in direct direction to the Sines…  which is about 32 nm ahead, plus a few nm in manoeuvring towards the anchorage…  Today was a lucky day — the wind has been nearly all the way with us… 

During the trip — routine tasks… A bit of cleaning,  since we can discharge the water,  etc…. because we are far away enough from the land… And… we can make fresh water… For the same reason — we are far away from the land, and the water outside the boat is clean. At least, it looks clean! ;-) 

Another exercise was to play with the new — for me — navigational software,  MaxSea.  ( Which has been kindly donated to me by Claude Vandais… ).  Indeed, looks like a very nice package…  The only challenge — as usual — the maps ( or, as substitution of the challenge… money… ).  Having spent in software development most of my life, I still do not understand why the maps, issued by the same company in different years and by different products, are not compatible, ( or not understood by the next version of the product… ).  The manual says — they should be… But… they are not…  The irony is — I have the edition(s) of C-Map maps of the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal… in  3 different versions, started from 2007…   I do not think that the coast has changed too much since….  But… Maxsea does not want to understand and to take those maps…. and suggesting to buy another set for only ~850 Euro ( for Atlantic coast and West Med) …  Meantime, it is showing some kind of generic maps…. Which gives enough to evaluate the tool itself. ( When it is coming to the need to have a precise chart, I have another electronic gadget ( with C-Map!!!), and paper charts, so we are ok. )   But, it is fun to double check the new product, and to see what the package can do. 


We arrived a bit late in the evening. No surprises, nice sailing, a tiny bit of motoring… 
Our goal — to have a rest,   to double check the weather, the boat… and targeting to St. Vincent — which is about another 60 nm South… And then we have to turn left towards Gibraltar!  ;-)  ( And lost the wind, or meet the wind into our face… ;-).  I’m really doubting that we would have the ‘proper’ wind all the way to  the Med… But… we will see… )

Meantime,  a dinner and rest!   Tomorrow is going to be another day — working on the boat,   exploring the place around… 

Our status — everything is OK!

Talk to you soon, 
M.