Wow we made Portimao

Ahoy,

after the excitement of the last passage I thought the Ol' Girl and me would be in for a relatively quiet time, this line of thought never seems to work so from now on I am always going to leave port deciding that hell and high water are to come.

An excerpt from the log book for this next passage reads "Slight sea mist, slight wind, engine on and motor sailing, mainsail tucked, I don't trust this coast"

The next excerpt reads "engine off just been battered by 37 knot winds"

What the book does not mention is the fun I had, as the Ol' Girl and myself headed on down the Portuguese coast.
We eventually came to the corner, the point where the sea's combine, where the Med meets the Atlantic, in simple terms.
The headland is called Cape Sagres and as we rounded it all hell broke loose, luckily I had the Main fully reefed, if I had not have done this I have no idea what would have happened, I do know that it would not have been for the best.

The wind rocketed to 28 knots, this was not comfortably or expected, the novice that I am, however the Ol' Girl handled it well and led me on.
Less than half an hour later the winds had increased again, the Tri light on the top of the mast, the one you use whilst sailing had given up on holding on and was now dangling like a hanged Pirate. I switched it off and used the Navigation lights.
The wind increased again and was now between 32 and 37 knots for the best part of an hour.

The log book reads " arrived battered and bruised, learnt a little about evening winds off headlands and what it feels like"

When I arrived at Portimao the wind had all but disappeared, the Marina was quiet with no staff and the full length of the reception pontoon was available, I moored up and fell quickly into a deep sleep.