Back in July 2003, disappointed in the way our relatively new business venture went, we decided not to extend our lease for the Steamboat Tavern Public House. We were intrigued by the idea to sail our Westerly Longbow ‘Waveney’ from her berth in "Neptune Marina" Ipswich on the river Orwell to the Mediterranean Sea and find new ways of providing for ourselves, and perhaps some warmer weather. A lot of planning and preparing was to be done, and as the weeks past our Plimsoll line seemed to disappear, thankfully along with the snow. The final month came we said our goodbys to friends and family, and we started our journey to a new life on April 30th, 2004. We didn’t have a great deal of practical experience in sailing I had my Competent Crew, and Alfie had completed the Coastal Skipper Courses with East Anglian Sailing School, but many tasks involved in the daily routine of sailing did not come naturally to us. Neither my husband, Alfie, nor I were brought up with this beautiful sport. From there on we were busy planning a route (not too long please), and navigating our girl “Waveney” to the spot on the chart. Our first stop was Harwich harbour only a mere 3 hours away. This was it; we had finally left Ipswich. We moored inside the harbour breakwater and explored the town and nearby Dovercourt by foot, and had Dinner at The Pier Restaurant well known for it’s Fish Meals and thoroughly enjoyed our short stay.

Next port of call was Ramsgate were we arrived on May 1st. This involved our first ever crossing of the Thames Estuary. Most people, even seasoned sailors, can be a little apprehensive by this trip as there are numerous sandbanks and a very busy shipping lane, we did this trip with our eyes closed, literally. The visibility was down to anywhere from ½ mile to 2 miles. Luckily “Waveney” was equipped with radar. The sea was smooth until we reached Elbow. From there on the sea was pretty rough and head-on. We were quite pleased to reach Ramsgate at 18.20h. From Ramsgate we intended to cross to Calais. We worked out our tidal predictions and decided the best time to depart would be 03.00h in the morning. We set off and ran straight into winds of F5 to 6 with quite poor visibility. By the time we reached South Goodwins NC we both agreed Dover looked very inviting. When we reached Dover it was only 06.55h in the morning, so we found a café and consoled ourselves with a full English breakfast. Our trip to Calais was interrupted by two days at Dover whilst we waited for the storm to blow over.

Thursday, 6th May, 10.30h saw us finally leaving Dover for Calais. Another first for us, crossing the English Channel. The part we worried about, crossing the busy shipping lanes turned out to be relatively easy, as there was very light traffic. The part that was hard was trying to keep the right course for the entrance to Calais. After crossing the lanes and plotting our course for the Calais entrance we experienced such a strong current and southerly winds, that Alfie had difficulties to steer to the right course. The GPS would not agree with his compass readings. We made our first port of call on the continent securing ‘Waveney’ to a buoy in Calais outer dock and spent a very uncomfortable night being buffeted by currents flowing out of the harbour and the ferries entering and leaving. The next morning 02/05/04, at 07.30h called up the Calais control to ask permission to leave and the reply was: “Only if you are quick.” Our log reads: ”07.45h, stuck on sandbank in Calais.” We dropped the mooring buoy and turned in a tight circle only to stop with the keel stuck in mud, less than 5 meters from where we were moored. There he was, my beloved husband, hanging on the boom, trying to tilt our fin-keeler into deeper waters. 15 min. later and pumped up with adrenaline we headed for Boulogne. We secured the boat and wandered towards the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer were we were amazed to find that most of the streets were blocked off. We were in the middle of the Tour de France 2004. Standing at the bottom of the hill (in pouring rain) we had the best places and we watched all participants passing us with incredible speed. Boulogne-Sur-Mer is a beautiful town to visit as it has the old quarters inside the town walls. But this time we had the strangest feeling that we weren’t so much visiting as just passing through.

We left Boulogne at 06.35h on May 9th and made for Fércam. At 16.00h we realised that we must have miscalculated the distance to Fércam. We were still 35 miles away. With the wind veering we were now motoring. At 22.00h we realised that our engine developed an oil leak and we had to look for an anchorage (appr. 1 ½ hrs off our destination) to inspect the damage in detail. The anchorage was very uncomfortable and we were glad when the dawn arrived. The damage to our engine was not serious and Alfie could repair the leak temporarily. Fércam emerged after a narrow harbour entrance. We were surprised at the size of this town, as we could not see the town from the sea at all. Our first task was to find a Volvo agents, which was very interesting since neither Alfie, nor myself speak any French. Eventually we found a very nice technician who tried to help us but did not have an oil pressure switch in stock. When Alfie discovered an identical engine for repairs at the place he showed him the part and to our surprise the technician dismantled the switch from his engine and gave it to us at no cost. Fércam was a big town amongst various harbour basins. We went wandering through the narrow backstreets and came across some large gothic style buildings and the (former) monastery where “Benedictine Brandy” is still being distilled. Mooring fees were higher than we anticipated and allowed us to stay only 1 night.

We left Fércam on 12/05/04, 06.15h and made for Oistreham/ Caen. Totally unaware of the shipping lanes to Le Havre we crossed on a direct route to Oistreham. We entered the Port de Plaisance after manoeuvring the lock gates and rafted five deep. I suppose there is a first time for everything. We found out later that Caen harbour was undergoing a major refurbishment and that it was closed to all yachts. Determined to visit Caen we used our dinghy for the 8mile trip along the canal. At Caen we were immediately drawn into the continental mood and spent the early afternoon having lunch in a restaurant by a busy road watching the world go by. We knew that we didn’t have enough petrol to take us back the 8-mile journey to Oistreham but our attempts of finding a garage were negative. The worst would be to row half the distance. That didn’t look dramatically unappealing so off we went. After half the journey back under motor, and twenty min. of rowing into the tide and breeze, we had got as far as Pegasus Bridge. After securing our dingy we had an enforced rest over a beer at the old café that has appeared in so many war films, and organised more petrol (only 2-mile walk). A large sign by the bridge gently reminded us of the liberation by the 6th Airborne Division, during the Second World War. There was also a steady stream of coaches, full of tourists. June 2004 was there 60th anniversary, and the French seem to know how to make the most of it!

The trip to Cherbourg was split into two one-day journeys. We found an anchorage after 21km in about 12m in Arromanche-les-Bains where we were anchored at mid afternoon. “Waveney” was the only sailing yacht anchored in the beautiful bay. The other visitors where motor cruisers, divers, fisher(wo)men and children playing on the beach. Come evening ‘Waveney’ was the only boat left Alfie was worried all night about the anchor being dragged. Luckily our anchor did not drag; all we did was going around in circles. Our next big landmark was Cherbourg, a 51km trip with no wind so on with the diesel spinnaker. Cherbourg, which is quite pretty, but not quite our taste and nowhere near as pleasing as Caen. We stopped for 2 nights and sailed on to Diélette. Thick fog and a narrow band of fair tides prolonged our stay to 3 Days. In all the time we were there we could not find a shop. Bread could be bought from the friendly staff at the Marina café (as we found out on the third Day) where we had the largest portion of Môules and Frites ever. Time for scrubbing the deck. She needed it! Our neighbours a couple from Dortmund / Germany in their Omni 34 attempted to leave port and returned 90 min. later to await a more favourable turn in the weather. Thick fog was preventing them to see further than 100m.

As yet we hadn’t found the comradeship we had hoped for, and found that the yachtsmen tended to keep themselves to themselves, Alfie has changed his deodorant since (only kidding). Only when we reached Spain we happen to meet the same boats and their crew regularly and therefore got acquainted with some. We wanted to visit the Channel Islands, but the Pilot books with talk about the Alderney Race had us slightly uneasy, hmm, lets cross Alderney off our list, perhaps a little more experience first, so it was set sail for Guernsey. A nice easy 28km. St. Peter Port Guernsey was welcoming us and 300 other yachts as our visit co-insided with a local regatta. We were lucky to be able to moor on a floating pontoon in the outer harbour. A cold front moving through was enough excuse for 2 days café- & pub-culture. In St. Peter Port we witnessed some mishaps of other crew. One beautiful 45footer was lying in the sand waiting for the tide to come in to re-float the yacht. Other boats with 4 or even 6 crew didn’t appear to have a lot of knowledge about sailing and mooring in particular. We didn’t think we did too badly. After all we were only beginners. After two days we decided to move to an anchorage called Doyle’s cove south of St. Peter Port in 6m of water over sand. This turned out to be a beautiful spot in brilliant sunshine and apart from Radio 2 and Radio 4 we made no contact to the outside world. Alfie is waiting for the water to become clearer; he was keen to try himself in headdipping (checking the anchor). I’m waiting for the scent in the air to change to a more Mediterranean climate. I remember when we drove through Northern Spain on the motorbike 6 years earlier the overpowering scent of the almond trees captured me in full then.

On Wednesday 26th May we made for Sark. Only a leisurely 2 hrs sail away where we picked up a mooring buoy just below the monument. We spent the next 3 days discovering the remoteness, the unspoiled beauty of this tiny Island with its single main road “The Avenue”. We hired bicycles for the next day and nothing could stop us then from exploring Sark and Lt. Sark. Time seemed to have stopped there 40 years ago. A nice but strangely eerie feeling was with us during our stay. Our last night at this anchorage was not very enjoyable with the swell pushing us hard into the rocky bay. Time to move on.

Our next stop was Jersey and St.Helier. St.Helier turned out to be just like a lot of medium sized towns in England apart from the French language you could always hear in the background. Jersey was the last of the Channel Islands we visited before moving back across to the mainland of France. Leaving St. Helier with a moderate 15-18 knots Southerly wind and fighting a strong tide we abandoned our plan to make for Ploumanac’h and went instead to St. Quay Portrieux (Port d’Amour). We arrived just in time to have a meal in a beautiful French restaurant, listening roguish to the conversation four English sailors on the next table were having. It seemed their original plan was also to head further west and St. Quay Portrieux was their port of refuge also.

June 2nd. Took us to Lezardrieux up the Trieux River. On finding the anchorage laid to moorings for the local boats, we anchored between two green poles with a rock in the middle; must have been tired when we chose that site. By 22.00h that night we had second thoughts and decided that our girl wasn’t going to be safe at this spot and a better anchorage should be found. During our manoeuvres, being careful to miss the charted rock we hit an unmarked rock and were worried she may be taking water. First we checked we were not taking water, then we decided the expense of mooring in the marina 2 mile further into the river seemed the only intelligent solution. Once again Alfie had a restless night expecting the worst. On further examination in daylight we discovered we had only grazed the gellcoat on the port side, thank god Westerlys are built so strongly.

Two Days later our sail took us along the coast to Perros Guirec we searched for the anchorage and moorings at R de Perros, but gave up and anchored by another British Yacht on the east side of Ile Tomé in 6m. The next morning 12.30h, 05/06/04, we left our anchorage and made for Primel where another dead exciting adventure was awaiting. We approached Primel and its tiny and hardly visible entrance in the thick fog. A kind Frenchman in a rib told us minutes before heading for rocks that the entrance was not were we assumed and directed us safely to the entrance. We picked up one of the 10 visitor buoys, the pilot book reads ‘There are 10 visitors moorings E of Roc’h au Trez Baz in depths that do not dry’ unfortunately only 2 stay afloat we realised as we dried out at 01.00h the following morning. Even though this was another unpleasant experience, it made it possible for Alfie to fully inspect the degree of damage to the hull from our earlier mishap at Lezardrieux. The early hours of the morning saw Alfie wading around the boat in 10inches of water and applying Epoxy-Gel to the 6” long scrape to the hull. After 4-hrs sleep (with our word at a strange angle) we found ourselves floating again. We moved to one of the 2 buoys that remained afloat and spent the next 2 days drying cushions, clothing and books. Unfortunately water spilled over from the full freshwater holding tank into the bilge’s and the cupboards on the portside, the way our boat was leaning.

On Monday morning we sailed to quaint L’Aberwrach where we stayed until Friday. L’Aberwrach is so remote that you can only buy bread from a van at 07.45h in the morning. If you’re late you had it. We planned to visit Brest by bus and waited for the bus on the wrong side of the road. Only when the bus on the other side of the road had past us we noticed our wrongdoing. Maybe we weren’t supposed to go. Brest was a disappointment and we were happy to return to our beautiful spot by the sea. We planned to leave Thursday but met a very nice couple (Nicki & Martin from the Channel Islands) who had just restored and opened a beautiful modern bar & restaurant called “L’Ecume sur Mer”. Claudia from Hamburg had a shop next door and sold us French wine from her family estate near Bordeaux. Nicki & Martin’s hospitality was so overwhelming that we slept in the next day and allowed ourselves an extra day to recover. We were anxious to proceed our journey further south and made for Camaret sur Mer; our last stop before crossing the Biscay. A walk along the harbour wall brings out mixed emotions as you’re walking down the quayside seeing all the once beautiful fishing boats deserted and slowly but surely rotting away. A gentleman we had met at a previous port and again here told us this was his second visit and that a lot of the wrecks had been removed. We would‘ve liked to stay longer at Camaret sur Mer but the anticipation of crossing the Biscay was too much.

We worked out our tides for the crossing of the Raz de Seine and left the next morning to be at the Raz 4 hrs before high tide. We negotiated the Raz on June 12th and headed out to sea. With the reputation of the Biscay we tried hard to time our crossing and obviously we may not have chosen the best day. The seas strengthened continuously to a 4–5 with gusts of 25 knots and we found ourselves running before the wind and surfing down in front of huge waves. During daylight hours we found ourselves alone but as night came the horizon was dotted with lights from trawlers and fishing boats. Sometimes moving and sometimes looking as though stationary. After 15 hrs we had a close encounter with a fishing boat. We read the lights wrongly and thought it was a container ship when in-fact it was a trawler. In the confusion and tiredness we managed to cut straight across his bow so closely he blocked out everything else. The sunset around 22.00hrs and complete darkness was by 23.30hrs. The Millions of stars, the moon and the sound of the heaving seas was then our only companion. After approx. 30 hrs during a log entry I said to Alfie: “Do you want to go on or back? It is only 160 miles to the North and 160 miles to the South and 90 miles to the West or 2000 miles to the East.” The realisation of the remoteness was quite overpowering.

Two dolphins greeted us the next morning and soon a whole pod was racing us and amused us greatly watching them riding the waves and crossing very near the bow. Two more pods accompanied us during the daylight hours. We were ready for a bit easier sailing and I prayed to God to not have winds the following night exceeding 15 knots and our prayers were answered. I will always remember when I was in the total darkness on deck and looked passed Waveney’s bow and realised that our baby with no uncertainty new the way and the immense comfort that that gave me. I almost felt like a passenger rather as a sailor. During the weeks and month’s of preparing this trip a strong sense of respect and deep uneasiness of crossing the Bay of Biscay had mounted and the feeling of complete safety was very important for us. Our boat lifted the weight of uncertainty of my chest there and then. I now knew she would not let us down. We have a few sayings that help us in situations like this. When we learned to scuba-dive it was: Whatever you do, don’t stop breathing and don’t panic.” Whilst sailing it was: “The crew gives in long before the boat” and “Always step up into a life-raft”. After 60 hrs sailing we arrived at our first stop in Spain, Gijon. Fortunately it was an easy port to get into.

During the two weeks of our stay we started to get accustomed to the Spanish way of life. Gijon was also the first place where the camaraderie of yachting we expected to find from beginning took place. Two lovely couples (Tony & Wendy on Mama Quilla and “B” & Reg on Packet Island) and later we were invited for drinks on board Pegasus of Arne where Ian & Roina were our hosts. The day came when we made for our next stop, a beautiful small fishing village (Puerto de Luarca) with only little concern for yachts: we didn’t even have to pay! On arrival at 23.30h on the 27thJune we discovered that we had to blow up our dinghy to take our lines to the quay wall. Pleasantly surprised on entering the harbour we noticed that Tony & Wendy with Mama Quillla were already moored and their dinghy was already inflated. We only had to shout Tony 6 or 8 times and he happily took our line ashore. At first we thought that Luarca is a tiny village with only one main street. On further exploration it turned out to be a pretty reasonable sized town and we decided that it was worth spending a little more time there.

On June 29th we left Puerto de Luarca for Ribadeo were we heard there was now pontoons as opposed to rafting up against the harbour wall. We had a very enjoyable 4.5 hour sail with NE / E 12kn winds. Ribadeo was a very nice small town with a friendly clubhouse / bar. This was also were we discovered, when you meet up with other yachts it is very likely that you will meet up with them again, as “Mama Quilla”, “Flirtie”, Skyeboat II and “Freya of Lerwick” were either there when we arrived, or arrived during our stay. But one rather annoying boat with clanking lines within the mast and continuous noise from drills (still building the marina) as well as a heavy swell helped us decide to move on.

The 6 hour sail to Vivero (31kn) was taken up in discussion as were to moor; I wanted to anchor of the beach. Alfie wanted to go into the new marina; so we anchored outside the harbour just off a sandy beach. Alfie and I were hoping for a refreshing swim off the boat. Unfortunately the water was freezing, even though it was the end of June. After a rather bumpy night, we left the next morning and started to sail to Cedeira.

At 12h the weather turned moderate head on winds, fog and rain and we decided to make for our port of refuge, Puerto de Cariño. Fishing boats and large vessels loading coal from near the breakwater mainly used the port. The port was infrequently used by yachts, which moored alongside one long pontoon. To get to the pontoon at the far end of the harbour you had to slalom through what seemed like 100 fishing vessels and their mooring buoys. “Flirtie” with Richard on the helm and Judy manning the lines followed us in, they moored behind us on the pontoon. Our first night was very enjoyable, nice and calm and we where invited for drinks aboard “Flirtie”. The wind changed soon, veering north and heavy seas in Iroise, Yeu, Rochebonne & Cantabrico made our stay less comfortable. All yachts were snatching at the lines and bouncing against the pontoon. We were quite happy to prolong our stay, as the alternative would have been to face heavy seas and strong winds. There was no electricity, and water had to be fetched from the quay. We had a week of bad weather with forecasts of more bad weather to come. Since there was no mooring charges and the village and surrounding area had a lot to offer we enjoyed our stay after all. We used the opportunity to go for walks in the eucalyptus woods or climbed to the highest point of the village with magnificent views over Cariño and the coastline. On Thursday night the port was visited by another boat from Ipswich, the “Chardonnay” which had just arrived from La Coruna, approx. 60 N.M. west. They encountered 2-3 m swell further west. Even cheap beer and no mooring charges didn’t stop the crew from setting of the next day.

We left on the Friday even though the wind was coming due west and motored all the way to Cedeira only 17km. We had more settled weather conditions and despite 14kn of wind we were very comfortable on our anchorage not far to the village promenade or most beautiful bars. We spent the morning pondering over the market, which was erected along the river. The afternoon Alfie spent scrubbing the hull and clearing weeds, having lunch with the appropriate beverages, siesta, and in the evening we socialised with Ian & Roina on board Pegasus of Arne along with Richard & Judy from “Flirtie”; very civilised indeed.

Monday 12th July 10.45 saw Alfie up anchor under sail and sail out of the harbour, but with less than 10 kn. of wind it was soon on with the donkey again. With a fair tide pushing and motor-sailing we made it to Sada Marina 28km in 6hours. Typical as soon as you get into the marina the wind comes up, coming off the reception pontoon was quite something, fitting a 31 ft yacht into a 28 ft space on the diesel pontoon between two boats, was something else. Our main memories of Sada was trying to get into our pontoon with wind blowing us off, and the whole world trying squeeze out past us.

We left Sada on Thursday 15th July at 09.15 and headed for Camariñas. Right from the start we had rough seas with a big swell, the good thing is it was a following sea and we were surfing at up to 7.5kn. As soon as we passed La Coruna we had the company of dolphins, most of the way. By afternoon the sea had moderated, and we enjoyed a nice sale into Camariñas arriving at 19.00h. After mooring on a finger berth we were told by the crew of ‘Trio’ we had timed our arrival perfect for the celebration of the Virgin Carmen. We didn’t know celebration meant lots of loud bangs every hour of the day and night. The thunderclap rockets were deafening but the firework displays were breathtaking. The local fishermen put on a free Sardine BBQ with lots of free local wine. Good time had by all!! The next day ‘Trooper’ arrived, father Ian, son Ben and daughter Rachel, wow Alfie found someone who could drink as much as him. We left Camariñas on July 21st. Looking forward to some peace and quiet; we had enough of celebrating.

We motored all-day and anchored in the Ensada de Muros at 16.00hrs. There were only two other boats there at the time but we soon discovered that this place was in-fact very popular amongst sailors and at night we seldom had less than 14 boats in the anchorage. Muros is a small Spanish town aiming to accommodate the Spanish tourist. Communicating with locals was very difficult. That evening we asked friends to join us on board for a drink (Bob & Lesley of Springfever) when we noticed dolphins nearby. The dolphins seemed to be feeding near the Viveros (Musselbeds) only 300 yards away from us, as we watched them play. We enjoyed the Spanish hospitality and exploring the town for nice bars. We often sat in a bar in the square until well past midnight.

We left on July 29th for Portosin just across the Ria. Our water tanks were nearly empty and the laundry was mounting up. We had a domestic day. Portosin has a beautiful marina and marina restaurant but in the whole the place felt soulless and therefore we left the following day to go back on anchor in the Ensada de San Francisco near Muros. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset and prepared for our forthcoming journey. We didn’t visit the Ria de Arosa as there were far too many rocks. Instead we made for the Ria de Pontevedra with its beautiful restored old town of Combarro nesting in the very corner. We anchored over mud in 4.2m. We could watch from the boat the busy tiny town filling with tourists (mainly Spanish). Beer-gardens and outside Restaurants had a steady stream of customers. Combarro was spotless and the old town was beautifully integrated in the new square and living quarters.

Our next stop, the beautiful Illas de Cies, a nature-reserve, was definitely one of our highlights. The anchorage was over sand in approx. 7m depth. The water was so clear we could see the anchor. We explored the island by foot, as there is no other transport allowed. The island is mostly frequented by Spanish people crossing over from Bayona or Vigo by ferry, spending a day or booking into the campsite. We were joined by ‘Flirty’ but unfortunately they had to move on because of Bing (Richards Dog). At night, when the last ferry had left and all the day visitors had returned home birds inhabited the whole beach and we felt especially blessed to be there in that remoteness. Unfortunately the nights weren’t particularly comfortable in the bay. All in all a Must.

On August the 7th we sailed the 8 mile across the bay into Bayona and once more met up with ‘Flirty’. Exploring the Ria’s was behind us and the coast of Portugal was only a stone throw away. We would have liked to explore the Rio Minho, which constitutes the border between Spain and Portugal. Unfortunately the river has numerous sandbanks and according to our Pilot book is not easy to navigate. We therefore decided to make Viana do Castelo our next stop with a journey of 34 miles. With a gentle breeze, less than 10 knots of wind we motorsailed and arrived at Viana at 16.30h on Aug 14th. Viana is the capital of folklore, which still lives on through the tradition of its romarias or popular festivals. Preparations for the “Romaria da Nossa Senhora a Agonia” the following weekend were undergoing and the whole town was decorated overwhelmingly with lampions and lights. For us it seemed Christmas has arrived prematurely. The following day we climbed the 700 steps to the basilica Monte de Santa Luzia, which overlooks the town and coastline and engraved the beautiful views on our memory.

Our next daysail took us to Povoa de Varzim. On approach Povoa appears like a miniture Manhattan, quite spectacular. We arrived in Povoa on Monday 16th August. A new weather forecast was announcing heavy storms for this week and we prepared for a longer stay. A very heavy storm passed through and only a breakwater protected our boats from the incoming surge and heavy waves. The waves were crashing over the breakwater only a few metres away from the marina pontoons. A great day for hobby photographers as myself but less fortunate for others. Our boats were secured on the pontoons with the usual springs and additional springs across the empty space next to us.

On Tuesday afternoon we watched the marina RIB leaving the harbour with great speed. It was obvious to us that somebody out there must be in great distress. Half an hour later we noticed a sailing yacht with the rescue service nearby approaching the harbour. We watched the boat negotiating the harbour entrance. Its main sail appeared to be wrapped round the mast. The Spanish yacht was surfing into the safety of the harbour with what seemed 10 – 12 knots. We awaited news of the reason for the distress of the fellow sailors with great anticipation. We naturally assumed that the yacht was merely asking for assistance to enter the harbour safely. Anyhow, the true reasons were disastrous. It appeared that the skipper might have been trying to untangle the sail when he went overboard into the heavy seas. The crew didn't see him go forward nor see him go overboard, and the skipper ended up being tangled in sheets being dragged by the boat. Unfortunatly he didn't survive. None of the crew wore lifejackets or any safety harnesses. The crew also had little or no knowledge of sailing and couldn’t even use the VHF Radio. What a very sad day not only for the surviving crew but for us sailors too. The weather had turned bad on Monday afternoon. Since our stay was prolonged by the bad weather on Thursday we decided to visit Porto along with Tony, Wendy and theire friends of Mama Quilla, by public transport.

Porto is well worth a visit. The beautiful old town is packed with history starting from the remarkable S. Bento Railway Station representing decorative tiles from the 20th century to a abundance of museums, churches and past or contemporary art. We spent the afternoon walking along the bank of the river Douro and took part in a port tasting at the Croft Port Cellars. Porto is well prepared for visitors. Public transport is incredibly cheap and information material was freely available from the tourist information. Sunday 22.08.04, 07.00h: The seas have calmed and we motorsail with very little wind in the main and genoa towards Figuera de Foz. Flirtie overtook us hugging the coast closely. Visibility was good, wind only 10 knots or less; not sufficient wind to sail for our 77 mile trip.

Wind and tide was in our favour and we averaged 7.7 knots per hour. 3 ½ hours into our trip a family of dolphins surprised us. Looked like mum, dad and 2 Babies. They were surfing the bow waves and we cheered them on, while Donald our autopilot was keeping our girl Waveney on the right course. We arrived at Figuera de Foz at 20.00hrs. We only stayed one night before heading for our next port Nazaré. Nazaré was tucked away into the Ensada de Nazaré over a deep trench of upto 5000m depth that runs close offshore. We caught the bus for the short journey into Nazaré town and took the tram to climb the steep cliff to the top and the castle with its spectacular church-square and magnificent views over the steep cliffs and the surrounding coastline. Some would probably regard Nazaré harbour as not the prettiest due to the reason that the commercial fishing port is directly adjacent to the yacht harbour. We thought it was fascinating to be so close and somewhat part of the busy fishing atmosphere during our stay. Big fishing vessels announced their arrival with their catch by blasting a siren; not necessarily when you are prepared for it. Still, great place. “Captain” Mike made sure, you knew where to go from there or not. Peniche was not recommended.

Unfortunately we didn’t follow his recommendation and navigated round the Cabo Carvoeiro on August 25th around lunchtime. The swell was exhilarating and we surfed round the cape with Flirtie in front and several yachts in fair distances following us. Peniche is very exposed to wind and the open seas. We were instructed to raft alongside a Portuguese yacht. A customs officer boarded our boat. It was nearly impossible for him to fill in the registration documents with our boat bobbing up and down when a speeding fishing boat caused all moored boats to perform some sort of marriage ritual. Our boats, some being rafted up to 4 deep, tried to climb on top of each other. Because of the heavy swell outside the mole we decided to stay and secured our boat from being damaged by the boat alongside. Fellow sailors of “Spring Fever”, Bob & Lesley from Carlisle recommended us to visit the walled town of Obidos, which was only a short bus ride away.

By 17.00h we were sitting on the bus heading to Obidos. Obidos was an enchanting place and our visit was far too short. The surrounding town wall is accessible through stairs and from there the views of the surrounding hills and wide countryside and Obidos itself are inviting you to slow down, sit somewhere in the shade and just take it all in. Musicians were performing in the streets and we had excellent views from above. Since the last bus was leaving at 19.00h and never showed until 19.40h we spent the last hour and a half wondering whether we are at the right bus stop or if the bus was just late. We were quite relieved to see the bus approaching the stop and the commotion on the bus we thought might be because of the delay; unfortunately we didn’t understand any Portuguese at all. Arriving back at Peniche we realised, that we may have a very uncomfortable night ahead.

We left Peniche harbour at 7.30h the following morning. We zigzagged through the masses of lobster pot flags and when we thought it was safe to steer to our planned route we left our autopilot Donald in charge. Alfie went down below to programme the Yeoman chart plotter. I was neglecting to keep watch and the impossible happened, we collided with a fishing vessel, which drifted, in our path. Nobody was hurt but both vessels showed evidence of the collision. We wanted to resolve the matter swiftly as we did not fancy spending another uncomfortable night in Peniche and we offered the fishermen compensation for the damage to their boat. When we inspected our damage closer at the next port in Lisbon we found the head of a screw off the fishingboat embedded in our bow. Not very good. Again, we are just glad to have a solid build boat that will even look out for us in situation like this.

By 15.00h that day we found ourselves being spectators of the Cascais regatta. It was fascinating to watch the large number of yachts fighting for every boat length. Sitting at the stern, leaned against the backstay I was able to shoot excellent pictures. We passed the regatta leaving a safe distance and approached the river Tejo into Lisbon. By 17.00h we passed the Tôrre de Belém and the Padrao dos Descobrientos (Monument to the Discoveries) and the entrance to the Doca de Belém. We struggled to make way against the strong tide. We contacted Tony and Wendy with Mama Quilla who had visited Lisbon and were thought to have moved on to see if they could recommend any particular marina. We received a text message from Tony to say the Doca de Alcântara was excellent and that in fact they were still there. Lisbon was a great experience. From where we moored it was only a short distance by Tram or Bus into the City of Lisbon. The staff at the Marina was very welcoming and squeezed us in even though space was limited due to the Regatta at Cascais. Lisbon is definately a place we would like to return to and discover the city with it's many delights. After having stayed 3 days in Lisbon we sailed on to Sines, a 60 Mile-Sail. We left Sines after only a brief stop on 31.8. 03.20h am with a full moon lighting the still dark surroundings. After only a short distance out at see a scoal of dolphins joined our trip and all was forgotten about making such an early start, when seemingly everybody in the Marina was still asleep. We never got tyred of watching this beautiful creatures riding our surf or crossing underneath Waveney in a playful manner. At 07.00h Day broke. Unfortunately we had no wind until we were getting closer to São Vicente avering a speed through the water of approximately 6 knots. By 15h we had enough wind to sail and with great relief the engine was turned off. Visibility was good with winds of 18-24 knots. Rounding the Cape of São Vicente and closing in on the coast line passing Sagres, Lagos and the Mile-long beach of the Meia Praia we headed for Portimão Marina. I soon realised that Alfie had already made up his mind that this would be our winter stop. The summer season was ebbing out and it would be difficult to find work now but the outlook of heading for Gibraltar which was our initial plan, didn't seem better with the outlook of the only cheap Marina Shepherd's being closed for new arrivals and a major developing project of a new flashy Marina in the process. An earee feeling of relieve and disappointment struck me. When our baby was secured savely in the Marina and the first 6 Month winter mooring were paid. This is it now, until we earned more money. Our trip from Ipswich to Portimao took us exactly 4 month having visited 45 Ports on route. To todays date (2 yrs later) we have not been to Gibraltar with "Waveney."

The Algarve:
We had a multitude of options to earn money with ranging from carrying out boat repairs, photography, website design, making of personalized cards for fellow sailors, to doing Karaoke in Bars or private Parties and last but not least in the Hospitality Trade. A little bit of each kept us afloat. The Algarve, as we found out much later, seems to be divided into large groups (the ex-pats community didn't seem to mix a lot with the Portuguese). The Algarve is a relatively small community and big business is usually undertaken in the whole of the Algarve between a few. I picked up a little Portuguese and soon got motivated into learning more about this old culture deriving from the Moors and Arab cultures of the 12th century. We are planning to stay in the Algarve for 3-4 years as we found it difficult to establish ourselves enough to make a living and we assume starting new somewhere else would probably be of a similar fashion. We now enjoy being part of the community and take great pride to have made it. Though it may sound easier than it was but lounging on deck (covered by a sun awning!), moored in the beautiful fishing harbout of Alvor overlooking the close banks of the Ria watching Portuguese fisher harvesting "Berbigão" and Mexilhoheiras (Cockles & Mussels) is not a bad lifestyle. Our nights are busy as we are running karaoke's in Portuguese and English Bars. We both enjoy immensely living on our Westerly Longbow sailing yacht and have no desire in renting a property on land.

One of the most heartwarming experiences we made was making new friends amongst sailors and holiday makers with whome we are still in contact even though they moved on, sharing many a happy night with us or being a leaning shoulder when things got tough. Returning from work to Waveney one night anchored off Ferragudo in June 2005 we discovered the following morning that our dinghy and outboard was stolen. Not a very good start of the day at 06.30h in the morning attempting to get to work. However, plans were suited to the changed conditions and we spent the summer on the hard in the boat yard until we could afford to invest in a new dinghy. We are still feeling quite wheepy to remind ourselves of the following. Ond day we returned to our boat in the marina when we found an envelope with 6 x 20 Euro Notes and no name to it. There are certainly many good people outweighing the ones that are out for a quick profit. It's there loss! The generosity and warming feeling of friendship is overwhelming and trust is something a thief will never experience. © all rights reserved by "Jutta Codona". would you like more pictures and FREE screensavers?