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Published: August 7th 2013
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We left Cascais on Friday afternoon for an overnight sail down to Lagos. It was all very pleasant with good winds until I noticed at about 2am that my front port and starboard navigation lights were not working. I duly plodded down to the bow clutching my new bulb and discovered that the previous owner had broken the bulb fitting in the light housing and instead of going to the expense of replacing it had soldered the bulb directly to the wires……….I love that man, can’t wait to meet him again. We had to sail through the night without port and starboard lights so I switched the steaming mast light on just to ensure we could at least be seen from the front. Picked up some good winds in the morning and rounded Cabo sao Vicente into the Gibraltar Strait. We were then hit by 35 knot gusting winds, reefed in and ploughed down to Lagos. Lagos is a lovely place but a bit too touristy for me. I bought my new nav light and duly wired it up only to find that it still wasn’t working. Checked for a current which was there but there was clearly something wrong with
the cable for as soon as the load of the bulb went on it died. I was dreading having to replace the cable which ran the entire length of the boat behind cupboards and panelling. I, fortunately had been chatting to a local boat valet who introduced me to an electrician at the local boat yard. He found the problem where the cable had corroded in the anchor locker and stripped that part out and reconnected it with success. Bless him, worth every penny. I have also had a pleasant surprise when I finally got to sort out the spare sails. I had been told that there were a spare mainsail and Genoa on board. I discovered a spinnaker as well, so will enjoy the light downwind sailing a bit more .We leave here tomorrow for Albufeira, about 40 miles down the coast.
The trip from Cascais was very long, 28.5 hours to be precise and had just had an upset tummy for 3 days and slept for 2.5 of those so it pretty much wore both of us out. When the front lights blew we used our red and green ASDA tea
light holders with scented tea lights – this looked rather nice and when the wind was in the right direction smelt of Dewberry.
I enjoyed the 35 knots of wind until the clear up process the next day! Unless it was my turn to steer I sat under the spray hood with my eyes fixed on the floaty boat (tender) we were in danger of losing, flinching and blinking every time a wave hit the spray hood. Andy on the other hand was being hit by every third wave that hit the boat which made it impossible for him to smoke, for some reason I found this hilarious (this bit I tried to disguise). Andy’s black jeans had white salt tide marks all over them by the time we tied up in Marina reception. I didn’t feel sick once which makes me think if I keep throwing buckets of water at Andy to take my mind off my sickness the rest of the trip will be a blast! The extreme wind and wave conditions enwrapped us so quickly we both forgot the fact that the majority of the windows on the boat were open, as I said
the whole of the next day was spent cleaning and drying the boat.
Stunning Beaches
We visited some stunning beaches on our quest for culture, please look at the lovely pictures. The most notable is ‘Donna Ann’, we got there about 0930, by 1000 when we left the beach was packed with tourists.
Food
I had the nicest cup of tea ‘everrrrr’ since I moved on to the boat (1 year 1month to be precise) in an English bar run by a troop of Northern lasses.
I am feeding the local stray dogs, it is very sad to see and I wish we had an Ark and I was a millionaire because I would go round saving all the strays and the pigeons with gnarly toes.
I really made a special effort with my appearance last night, hairspray, styling balm etc etc. It was so windy by the time we got to the restaurant I looked like Andy had dragged me by the ankles there through every bush and cacti we encountered.
I SCREAM
Due to the heat we don’t seem to be as hungry so I have been waiting for 3 days to sample the homemade grape flavour ice cream from a marina café. After a lovely Indian meal and a walk to make space we trooped in unnaturally windy conditions (Meteorologically not biologically!) to sample 1 scoop of GRAPE ice cream. Andy asked me what I wanted, so I sat down in excited anticipation on the table next to the counter, he was at this time the only person in the queue, between the word ‘Grape’ meeting Andy’s ears and me sitting down it was max 5 seconds. He managed to buy me strawberry but ordered the correct flavour for himself. Andy has only 2 seconds on a Goldfish, the other day he read 20 euro instead of 25 so nearly underpaid the Chinese restaurant so I am now having to become his care worker, I will have to check that he is wearing his undies the right way round soon, I wonder if I will get away with replacing his cigarettes with candy ones?
Chinese
Food
We had a rather nice Chinese meal, which didn’t contain any Chinese vegetables, best bit was the menu, I shudder to think what Bambi Bang gang or Happy Family in the Pot are like.
Brute and Denim
The local supermarket Pingo Doodah sells Brute and Denim aftershave, it is kept in a glass case, if the 1970s adverts are to be believed these brands have a potent effect on women and should be dealt with some caution, not to mention they smell flaming awful and would clear the shop in seconds if there was a spillage.
Magelanus
We expect to hear this word on QI to discover that it is state of mind, an uncomfortable condition not spoken about in polite company or a pleasant country town somewhere in Europe that I hope to find Adelaide is twinned with. It is actually the name of a boat on our pontoon we are trying to take a photo of whilst obscuring the first two syllables with Andy’s shoulders. So
far we have been unsuccessful due to the boat opposite always being occupied and we are a bit embarrassed by our obvious fascination thus we can’t seem to take a decent photo without drawing attention to ourselves due to our laughter and camera shake.
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Lydia
non-member comment
Dear Sam and Andy, Great to see that you are both doing well, Sam, just be careful with the throwing buckets of water over Andy for the whole trip, remember he is 50% of the crew and you don't want to make him sick as you would then have to do 100% of the work lol. I am amused at the ice cream incident, at least I now know that the male selective memory is a worldwide thing and not just here, ha ha. The photo's look great. I bet that you are the only vessel on the water that burns pretty smellies as your navigation, well thought out. Take care both of you, til next time safe sailing x x x