To Alvor – 6 September, 83 miles

Accordingly, we set out at 2000. At first, in the last of the afternoon breeze, we were bounding along at 8 knots, and I feared we’d get to the cape too soon. However, the wind gradually eased to F2/3, although, of course, the seas took longer to die down, and we had some difficulty keeping the sails pulling, and found sleep impossible. An added entertainment was that a ship appeared to be trying to run as down, as its course veered from one side of us to the other and back again. The AIS simply confirmed that this was what he was doing. My guess is that they were picking up a pilot for Sines.

Cape st Vincent

The night was warm and the visibility perfect, with a big moon to guide us. At last, in daylight, we approached Cape St Vincent in F3, with almost smooth seas, and just a little mist. As we rounded, a pod of dolphins came to escort us, playing around and between the hulls for an hour or so. The sun started to scorch and the wind dropped to F1/2, but we enjoyed some sleep and some swimming, and reached the entrance to Alvor just after high water. This was tricky time to come up the unbuoyed channel, but all was well and we finally managed to anchor with enough water to float, we thought, and clearance from the large number of other boats, at the third attempt.