Well, by now, I should have departed from La Corunna en route for Torquay. Instead I am stuck in the small and very quiet port of Sines just 40 mile south of Lisbon.

After rounding Cape San Vincente we suffered a spot of engine problem and motored into Sines on Saturday afternoon where John Andrews, the last remaining crew member, departed for his flight to Zurich on Sunday morning. I was left alone to sort out the running repairs and await my new crew members who were due on Monday.

Flight problems meant that they were delayed until Wednesday so, on Tuesday I decided to move the boat single handed the last 40 miles to a marina closer to the airport. This proved to be the start of another adventure:

Having departed Sines at 5:54am, to ensure a daylight arrival, I headed north with a forecast of northerly 3 to 4, occasionally 5. Not too bad even if the wrong direction. 12 hours into the trip and fighting an ever increasing head wind I found myself in a northerly gale 12 miles downwind of my destination. The severity of the wind (35 knots over the deck) and the increasing sea resulted in the destruction of a boom traveller which meant I was unable to reef the mainsail correctly. I was now only able to make a course of 90 degrees to windward and was effectively standing still.  Whilst attempting to reef the mainsail I managed to get it stuck in the mast slot and had to climb the lower section of the mast with a screwdriver to prise the sail leech free by hand. Loadsa fun up a mast alone in a force 8! Wearing my underpants outside my trousers didn’t seem to help. Maybe a Spiderman outfit would have been better.

Contemplating a night at sea single handed and possible further damage to the boat I reluctantly turned and ran back to Sines arriving at 1 am on Wednesday – no further forward and with a damaged boat. Still, as Gale my wife suggested, I had had a day sailing.

A phone call home as I ‘flew’ downwind back to Sines meant that Z-Spar rigging where able to DHL a replacement fitting to me in Lisbon on Wednesday and I collected it with my new crew members late Weds evening. Fantastic service – thanks chaps! My thanks also to fellow yachtsman Dave from Eire who climbed from his bunk on the adjacent yacht to take my lines at 1am. I suspect there was an element of self interest involved as berthing single handed at night in a tight spot with a gusting cross wind was a bit tricky. My thanks also to the German yacht who laid mooring lines across the only other berth effectively putting it out of action. The Portuguese navy also added to the tension by conducting a submarine search with two helicopters around my boat as dusk fell. As Jacques Cousteau once said “…seven tenths of the Earth’s surface is covered in ocean..” so, next time fellows, .. find your own bit to play in. My final thanks go to the fisherman who laid a net across the harbour entrance in the dark and marked it with a small buoy visible only from about 30 meters away.

You can probably tell from this blog entry that the sense of fun and adventure has had a severe set back along with my progress towards home!

The prevailing winds here on the Portuguese coast are strong from the north each day,  and this prevents yachts making passage northwards during the summer months. I am now considering a strategy which involves night sailing to avoid the winds and berthing up during the day whilst they blow through.

Just to add to my enjoyment the marina internet has gone down, and I am forced to use my mobile phone to communicate and upload the blog.

The latest plan is to depart Sines at midnight tonight towards Lisbon. Maybe there is a shop there that stocks a sense of humour?