Tag Archives: Aveiro

Leixoes to Figueira da Foz via Aveiro

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Edwardo processing Eileen's paperwork

I am traveling through a part of Portugal I now know relatively well. Most of the ports I’ve visited once before so I’m very relaxed while passage making. It’s always easier when you know what to expect. Especially when dealing with your paperwork in port.

I’m still sailing without company, but a yacht called ‘Summer Song’ with a young British crew heading for the ARC rally are not far behind. They tailed me from Leixoes and we shared the anchorage by the military base in Aveiro last night.

Nice to see some younger sailors for a change. They apparently quit their jobs to make an Atlantic circuit and are sailing a boat that cost no more than the average new car (they didn’t tell me how much exactly). Perhaps I will see them again tonight in Figueira da Foz and we can share a glass of Port together. For the curious, I’ll try and slip in the how much did it all cost question at some point. 🙂

Summer Song at anchor in Aveiro

The weather is fine but not hot. Sunny days with slight winds for the most part. We do seem to get quite an easterly breeze in the mornings (Force 4), but it dies down after a few hours and I’m left motoring for much of the day. By late afternoon it returns with a vengeance as a northerly Force 4 or greater, but this too is short lived. All local phenomenon and is the Portuguese equivalent of the land-sea breeze I’m used to elsewhere.

Catching birds instead of fish

Well, I’d better get back to my puttering along the coast at 4.5kts just a mile offshore, admiring the beaches and trolling for my next meal. I do wish those seagulls would leave my fishing lure alone…

So, what are you all up to?

PS I did have that glass of port in port, and the answer to my question was about 40,000 pounds! OK so it’s the cost of a more than average car. 😉

More amazing sailors!

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Viana do Castelo

I am blog writing while sailing! A real novelty for me because reading or writing below deck is usually a recipe for instant nausea. But today the sea is calm and I am motoring toward Aveiro at a brisk 5kts. So if you were ever wondering why my posts are delayed by several days, it is either because I need to be on steady ground before I find the incentive to write, or I’m having difficulty finding Internet access (which happens rather frequently).

It has been an interesting couple of days as I travel south from Bayona via Viana do Castelo and on to Leixoes (near Porto). I’ve seen some beautiful boats and some rather scruffy but functional ones all migrating south with Madeira or the Canaries in their sights.

Just to highlight this, what follows are a couple of photos taken on route:

Swiss tall ship in Bayona

I didn’t expect to see the Swiss out and about sailing in this fine vessel.  Pictured here anchored off Bayona, it made quite an impressive sight.

The not so glorious Gloria

Not so fine but certainly impressive, is Gloria, an English registered ferro-concrete yacht (you don’t see many of them these days), that perhaps has seen better days. Never mind, it hasn’t stopped the crew from patching her up and setting sail from the UK for warmer climes. Having paid just 1500 pounds to buy her, it goes to show that even on a boat budget considerably smaller than mine it’s possible to go cruising. I wish them well.

Cavok 5 and her Japanese crew

Even the Japanese have made an appearance in this years southerly yacht migration! I am pleased to say that I have made friends with the crew of Cavok 5, sailing their French built yacht to the Mediterranean, but returning each winter to Japan.. We had a short but enjoyable stay as marina neighbors in Viana do Castelo, conversing over espresso coffee and a glass of fine port. I do hope to see them again in the future… who knows, perhaps it will be in Japan!

The control center of Voya

I finally had a chance to look inside Rowland’s yacht ‘Voya’. Very nice! Though I think he has enough instruments to control the next space shuttle mission. Makes me think of the David Bowie song with the lyrics “Ground control to Major Tom….”

Saying goodbye 🙁

In Viana do Castelo I said goodbye to my “3-week friends”, and set sail alone for Leixoes. Frederic and Vivien on Avel Vat will stay near Porto for a week and the crew of Voya and Cavok 5 have decided to take a short break.

I hope to make the most of a patch of fair weather to reach Lisbon within a week.

Attempted repair of jammer handle

While I’m making good progress since leaving Spain, I have had the occasional hiccup. I now need to source a replacement part for a rope clutch that broke on route, and this is proving difficult. I’ve put the word out with the Yarmouth23 user group and perhaps they will be able to assist me with tracking down and sending me a replacement.

Fingers crossed!

More weather by SMS

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Despite writing software for my own SMS weather service covering the East Atlantic, I still found myself checking sites such as windfinder and windguru whenever I was in port.

This was because I was sailing along the coast and the GRIB data used for my system produces data points for the high seas. Along the coast of Portugal and the Rias of Spain the data started at about 10 degrees longitude west. Good enough, but not perfect.

My solution was to make windguru coastal data available via sms.

Here is how to obtain it. Send a text message in the format:

wg:coruna

to the usual Belgian number +32498327494

This will return approximately two days worth of wind and wave data as two separate text messages for the city of La Coruna. Due to the limits of text messaging, precipitation and cloud cover are not included.

The list of data points that can be used is currently as follows (I’ll add more soon):

  • gibraltar
  • tarifa
  • meca
  • rota
  • mazagon
  • canela
  • faro
  • vilamoura
  • praia
  • sagres
  • sines
  • cascais
  • peniche
  • nazare
  • figueira
  • aveiro
  • espinho
  • viana
  • patos
  • rostro
  • laxe
  • coruna
  • cedeira
  • navia
  • salinas
  • gijon
  • moris
  • vicente
  • santander
  • orinon
  • laida
  • sebastian
  • hondarribia
  • mimizan
  • soulac
  • diamond
  • houat
  • glenan
  • trepasses
  • brittany
  • sablons
  • vierge
  • dossen
  • rose
  • malo
  • jersey
  • guernsey
  • becquet
  • salcombe
  • exmouth
  • lyme
  • weymouth
  • swanage
  • compton

Obviously you replace coruna (in the example given above) with the data point from this list that interests you. Note that only lower case letters are used.

The data returned looks like this (but with many lines):

Su20 11.6 15 2.3 13

  • The first two letters are the day of the week
  • The next two digits are the time for the forecast (in 24hr format)
  • Wind speed in knots to 1 decimal point
  • Wind direction compass rose. 0 is north 4 is East 8 is South and 12 West
  • Wave height in meters to 1 decimal point
  • Wave direction compass rose

So for Sunday at 20:00 hours the wind will be 11.6kts from the NNW. Wave height will be 2.3m and the swell will be from the WNW.

Hope it helps!

If it does and you care to help me pay for the SMS bills, be sure to press the donate button on my homepage at www.ifno.info

Aveiro to the port of Leixoes

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The northern breakwater at Aveiro, Portugal

Weighing anchor at 8:00, I motored with the ebb past Aveiro’s breakwater with its dangerous (in heavy seas) and turbulent washing machine like entrance, heading for the 20m depth contour in search of calmer conditions.

As I ambled north in peaceful contemplation, a loud buzzing interrupted my daydreaming. I just had time to sit up and look about when a red rigid inflatable whizzed past (withing a few meters) Eileen’s stern, at what can only be described as tremendous speed.

It was the rescue RIB from Aveiro.

I waved to it’s two helmeted crew as they bounced along like rag dolls. They waved back (quite a feat when you think about it), and then sped off to continue their bone jarring ride elsewhere. It all happened so fast, I didn’t even have time to take out my camera for a blog snapshot. 🙁

Metro, Porto

Oh, and despite my best efforts (getting up at 7am for starters), to beat my new 3-day-friend’s boat to the next port (Leixoes), I was overtaken with just five miles to go. Drat! I must be the slowest yacht in Portugal.

The port of Leixoes was a convenient stopover for my whirlwind tour of Porto. I caught the fancy new metro to town, took the compulsory tourist photos of random buildings, bought a bottle of Porto and an amusing souvenir, then raced back to get some sleep.

What more should I have done in Porto?

North along the Portuguese coast to Aveiro

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Eileen of Avoca under sail in Portugal

My next leg to the anchorage at Aveiro was uneventful, except perhaps for the occasional downpour, forcing me to shelter below decks. I’d occasionally pop my head out to make sure I wasn’t about to run into anything but other than that there was little to keep me occupied. I wasn’t even going to try to fish. With yesterdays catch under ice (purchased in Figueira da Foz), I would not need to use my lucky lure for quite a while.

Forced below, I did a little cooking to pass the time and make a new batch of fish pate.

The recipe?

Preparing fish (Bonito) pate

Fry your bonito or tuna steaks in olive oil with some rosemary. Take off the skin and bone when it cools so that it looks like what’s in the photo. Take one chopped onion, several chopped capers (the large type with the stem), mash your catch of the day, and add lots of mayonnaise. Voila! For variety add a little chili powder, fresh avocado, or tomato sauce to the concoction. Serve with fresh bread or crackers and you have a great sailing snack.