Meeting the Queen

17 to 19.5.2017

The biggest surprise on the start of our journey this year is that the ride down the Iberian Peninsula can be as rough as crossing the Bay of Biscay! Somehow in our phantasy we thought that once across the dreaded bay, the seas would become more clement. This has not been the case for us.

First we had to wait for strong southerly winds accompanied with rough seas to subside, but then after a short lull of around 24 hours the northerly wind started to blow almost as hard as the southerlies. Very good when you want to sail southwards with F5-6 as we did. We didn’t think that the seas would be so uncomfortable. 

We left Muros at around 10.00am having decided to go as far as Leixoēs (pronounced ‘layshoinsh’), just outside Porto (110NM away). This is an industrial harbour centred around the oil industry, the container terminal and fishing. We were planning to sail overnight and arrive at dawn.

There was very little wind at first and we were surrounded by fog. Very light wind and a big long swell were not comfortable at all. We were motor sailing and the boom and mainsail kept slamming from one side to the other. Everything, the bottles of wine in the bilge, the bottles of oil, vinegar and spices sounded as if we had put them through a washing machine! I wished that we hadn’t left the harbour. 

Around 18.00, the wind started to increase progressively to 20-26kn. By 19.30 we switched off the engine and set a more comfortable course running with our main sail only (about 30º to the wind) with our preventer all rigged for the occasion. That meant that we were venturing out towards the continental shelf, which is only some 15 - 20NM off the coast of Portugal. We planned to gybe just within the continental shelf to avoid an even bigger swell. I was very worried about Stephan having to go on the foredeck to release the preventer for the gybe in the dark. But it all went really smoothly and by doing the gybe slowly, we managed to set course for Leixoēs/ 32NM without any problems.

QE and ER at close encounter...

and what we saw...

While we were trying to avoid ‘ghost’ vessels in fog, with visibility reduced to less than 0.5NM with the help of the AIS, we suddenly realised that we were heading towards another vessel close-by. To our amazement it turned out that we were going to cross ways with the Queen Elizabeth, the well known British luxury cruiser! We finally passed without seeing each each other at a distance of about 1NM. We thought while most English people are looking forward to meeting the Queen, we were actually quite happy to avoid her at close quarters.

Leixoēs marina

We arrived at the harbour breakwater at 4.30am and not at dawn as intended. As always when entering a foreign harbour at night, specially an industrial one, it is quite confusing because of all the lights on the shore. It was such a relief to find ourselves finally in the marina and to have found the visitor’s pontoon!

Leixoēs turned out to be a very friendly and pleasant marina.

As the wind had no intention of easing, we took advantage of the following day to take the bus to Porto. We spent a wonderful day in this gorgeous city, strolling aimlessly up and down steep steps through the narrow streets, having a delicious meal on the waterfront. 

enjoying a windy day in Porto

oldest house in Porto XIII century