22/09/2019
After rain, rain and more rain yesterday we left Cascais at 09:15 this morning. There is no wind at all and a big swell which is perhaps a left over from Saturday's weather front. We hoisted the mainsail to give a bit of stability but the swell is on the beam and the motion unpleasantly pronounced. Neither of us get sea sick as a rule but Chris said he felt a bit queasy. It passed. We're hoping to catch wind as we get further out.

About 5 miles out Chris spotted a whale just off our port side and going in the opposite direction. It was big and black but we couldn't identify it, great to be able to say that as there are more whales to see these days. It appeared again cutting round our stern and blew a spume into the air before diving away. It's always great to see when they blow but we don't like it too close to the boat, we've had that a few times and there is a real reek from the spray that can linger on the sails as they pick up the droplets. Once we got the full blast and it caused me a chest infection that lasted a couple of weeks so we like them to be a bit of a way off when they let off steam. This one was very polite and kept a good distance before it let rip!

We might not have the wind but at last we don't have to continually avoid fishing floats because we are off the continental shelf now.

Battle Ships and Cruisers

At about 14.15 we saw a vessel ahead which was fairly obviously a warship. We looked on the AIS, its name was Figuera da Foz like the place, and it was given as a search and rescue vessel but was definitely a warship. We made sure the VHF was on in case it was about to start shooting things and wanted to let us know.

Sure enough 10 minutes later when about 3 miles away we were called up , "This is Portuguese warship," they stated our position to identify us. The story was that they were on exercises with a submarine and would we mind going east for a bit. As the warship was going east at about our speed it seemed a bit strange so I duly called them up and pointed out that I was never going to get around them and back on my southerly course. They then said could I go 4 miles east. This was effectively the best part of an hour going back toward the Portuguese coast but we duly obliged then returned onto our southerly course by which time the warship had turned and started going back westward.

They then called up again to say that there was a submarine 3 miles away and I needed to avoid it. I spotted the submarine eventually ...it was just 3 black sprods sticking out of the water, however, I had no idea which way it was going. We were called yet again and could I turn onto a course of 220º as I was on a collision course with the sub! This I duly did and we passed by safely at a distance of about a mile with the 3 sprods going on their way presumably eyeballing us through their periscope and happy they had not had to 'dive, dive, dive'!

Why they had originally asked me to turn toward the position of the sub I have no idea but it was a bit of a nuisance to have to waste so much time and distance playing cat and mouse with something invisible. Maybe the point of the exercise was for the warship to find the submarine and it was only when the sub called them up to say, "please help there is an English yacht trying to run us down," that they revealed their true position! Ha!

Anyway, it stopped Lorraine and I getting bored for the afternoon whilst the sea continued to slop us about and the sails flapped uselessly.

First Night Watch, 23/09/2019
The wind seems to have permanently abandoned us, we're getting less than 6 knots of it and often less than 5. We've had the genoa out and tried the cruising chute earlier but the thwacking is not good for either so we are reduced to continued motoring and have the main up still for some stability because the short steep cross swell persists, it's quite unpleasant.

Whilst Chris is trying to sleep things have been busy on watch as shipping has been copious. There are no charted shipping lanes but this area is definitely a favoured passage for shipping giving a seaway into the Mediterranean, north into Europe and beyond and passage down the coast of Africa. Being uncharted there are no formal separation zones so it is a bit of a free for all with ships going in both directions in the same unofficial lanes, As this is all in the dark keeping a good eye on their port and starboard lights feels important, even though they are visible on AIS it feels and looks different from the cockpit. Our course takes us across all this at a fairly acute angle so there is a lot of dodging needed. At one point whilst trying to keep away from several tankers and cross the route of a cargo ship with plenty of leeway, Jobiska appears lightly sandwiched between a tanker and said cargo ship as can be seen in a screen shot of the AIS record. They were about a mile and a mile and a quarter off either side, three vessels all in a row. See the gallery for a screen-shot of this.

We passed behind the tanker as we all parted company and went on our different ways. It was more tricky when negotiating through 5 ships, all tankers, but it was too busy to take screen shots at that point. Trouble is that continually trying to avoid these whoppers can play havoc with our course so we try to accommodate our position rather than theirs. This is much easier because of AIS and its facility to show the closest point of approach for each vessel to ensure safety, such an excellent addition to the navigation toolbox. Most of the ships that have passed us have been tankers and fewer cargo ships, some have been very identifiable like Hyundai Bangkok. Several were en route to the Mediterranean for Turkey, Barcelona and other ports and some to or from far flung places like Port Said. Needless to say there was no time for boredom to set in.

By daylight we were through the most busy area and the traffic eased off. Unfortunately the wind was still eased off too so the iron sail continued until we were so fed up of it we turned it off and trickled along at 2.5 knots. The swell is still high and across us but has lengthened making it less jerky which is a blessing. Not much traffic at all now but we just had a rather smart looking fishing boat pass half a mile away. It was only twice our length, registered in Indonesia and gleaming white in the sun. We wondered where it was off to pootling along at 8.5 knots

This afternoon the wind was 6.5-7 knots and creeping up so that we were sailing along at 4 knots and with a longer swell things were starting to feel much more comfortable. By supper time we seemed to have the Portuguese trade winds with us with a lovely 12 knots of wind giving us 6 knots of boat speed to take us on to Porto Santo and Madeira. Hooray the engine can lie quietly whilst we sail on.

Second Night Watch, 24/09/2019
My watch started at midnight under a very black sky, even the stars seemed subdued. At 02:30 the moon rose like an orange scimitar highlighting the clouds. We are sailing now at 5-6 knots in these good old Portuguese trades which are keeping us steady for the night. Preceding the shipping forecast at 00:45 was the British weather forecast which sounded rather like the weather we had last Saturday - wet, cold and dreadful, so we hope things have cheered up by now. Yesterday was warm and sunny here, it is so good to be sailing in the warmth again as in Portugal's coastal waters it was often cold.

So different to last night, only one ship so far: 195 metre cargo ship, the Safmarine Cameroun, registered in Singapore and en route to Montreal. I wonder what it is carrying half way around the world? So much oil and freight being shipped about.

Speed remains steady on our course of 225º, we have another 321 miles to go and our route master shows 2 days 15 hours or so at this speed, just hoping it lasts. Shame the winds came so late and we had all the messing about with the warship and submarine that held us up.

Well it's now 15:30 and that lovely wind has slackened so that we are not quite making 4 knots but don't want the engine thrumming so are just gliding along. It is times like this that we start tweaking or playing with the boat. The sails are well tweaked already so time to get the boat sailing itself, something Chris enjoys doing. Getting the course just right within the tweaking of sails to get perfect balance then locking off the wheel he gets her right on target and leaves her to do the rest. It's so good to be able to do this and Jobiska handles it very well. The boat feels very calm and the motion is kindly.

There has been no traffic to see at all today. We know that 6 ships have passed us by as they have shown up on AIS but all far off so that we haven't seen them within our horizon, that great big empty blue dinner plate of an ocean in which we are sailing.

25 & 26/09/2019
Two more nights, watches were uneventful but later:

13:00 Land ahoy! Porto Santo sighted in the distance just before lunch, 36 miles to go.