Baiona - Povoa de Vazim
We left Baiona at a leisurely 10:30 for the cruise to Povoa. As we undocked our bow thruster went. No thrush and a sound that would frighten the horses let alone old ladies! there was nothing we could do about that so it would need to be examined when we arrive.
As we set off there was no wind and all the boats switched on their engines but as is often the case you need to keep an eye out when the wind fills in from behind as it is sometimes difficult to detect when motoring down wind. Needless to say I spotted it and we were the first up with our pink sail. We are "very distinctive"!
We sailed for about 4 hours with the wind being very fickle which it seems is the way along this coast line. The wind went sightly behind up so we had to head out, but the increased speed meant it was well worth the extra distance of having to gybe at a later stage. Skipping along at 7.2knts on flat water was a real blessing, this coast line is notorious for strong onshore winds so it was an unexpected surprise. Suddenly I heard a knock and thought we had hit something only to look back and see a white object in the water… it was our life-raft case.
The sheet from the spinnaker had caught the release mechanism and somehow opened it and released our life raft. What a nightmare. We dropped the sail and turned around but there was no obvious way to lift the raft out even with a halyard and winch so we decided to tow it slowly to Povoa trying not to damage it. 4.5knts was our new speed which was rather sad.
Tomorrow I have to try to find a supplier of a replacement life raft or a repair and re-pack and someone to fix the bow thruster.
As we set off there was no wind and all the boats switched on their engines but as is often the case you need to keep an eye out when the wind fills in from behind as it is sometimes difficult to detect when motoring down wind. Needless to say I spotted it and we were the first up with our pink sail. We are "very distinctive"!
We sailed for about 4 hours with the wind being very fickle which it seems is the way along this coast line. The wind went sightly behind up so we had to head out, but the increased speed meant it was well worth the extra distance of having to gybe at a later stage. Skipping along at 7.2knts on flat water was a real blessing, this coast line is notorious for strong onshore winds so it was an unexpected surprise. Suddenly I heard a knock and thought we had hit something only to look back and see a white object in the water… it was our life-raft case.
The sheet from the spinnaker had caught the release mechanism and somehow opened it and released our life raft. What a nightmare. We dropped the sail and turned around but there was no obvious way to lift the raft out even with a halyard and winch so we decided to tow it slowly to Povoa trying not to damage it. 4.5knts was our new speed which was rather sad.
Tomorrow I have to try to find a supplier of a replacement life raft or a repair and re-pack and someone to fix the bow thruster.