Biscay and Portuguese coast in the off season

I left La Coruna on 25th October last year on my way to Gibraltar and was north and some 25M out of Figueira da Foz when I received a storm warning due to hit within 6 hours. I changed course for Figueira da Foz and arrived at 1900hrs. By 2100hrs the wind had picked up with a full blown storm by the next morning and 9 m waves repoted offshore - we had 2.5m breaing waves in front of the inner breakwater! Afer 5 days it was all over and I sailed on to Lagos in light winds.

Watch your weather at this time of the year closely, bunny hopping is well feasible. Also remember that Portuguese ports can be closed due to weather aspects.

Enjoy the Portuguese coast!
 
You need to check which harbours can take you down the Portugese coast. There are quite long distances between safe havens, and some ports close in severe swells. You need to check the weather quite carefully, be prepared to wait if necessary and beware of the tail end of any US/Caribbean hurricanes.
 
Have a look at a thread entitled "To stay or to go" started by Arigatou a few days ago. 'Pretty much the same question with lots of responses...... It's currently on page 2
 
My first time across we got a window in early November sailing from La Rochelle, but we had to duck in east of Estaca Da Bares(sp?) fleeing a building SWterly, and without a Coastal chart, but with the excellent descriptive Admiralty Pilot.
These days of realtime satellite updating, I would think
the weather windows are a tad longer and more accurate.

Once round Finisterre note the swell heights as well as the forecasts.
 
Blueboatman said:
These days of realtime satellite updating, I would think the weather windows are a tad longer and more accurate.

Once round Finisterre note the swell heights as well as the forecasts.
Click to expand...

The weather windows are the same as always, just you get to know about the coming pasting a bit sooner, and have more time to bight your nails to pieces before the s**t hits you.

From mid September onwards, the weather changes quite fast along the north coast of Spain, sometimes with little warning, so it is wise to be extra cautious, more so as the months go by. The long spells of settled weather are gone by Autumn, so be careful.

Good advice about swell -- especially dangerous down the Portuguese coast, with closure of ports quite frequent as a consequence.
 
w coast iberia

.......I come from the med. to the UK once or twice...coasthopping ..singlehanded...between oct. and may each winter...usually in a 36-40 ft yacht..and................***watch the weather windows,dont have a schedule,and..... try and use the 10-11 hours of daylight when coasthopping...............there are LOTS of pot and net floats !!!Within 3 or 4 nm of some port entrances they are very concentrated....with tennis ball size floats!!!
Take care............
 
I've gone south across the bay in November and north across in December(Christmas dinner in the middle of Biscay anyone? I did a nice roast chicken).

Going south was a bit lumpy, but no probs until the Cape, when it blew up to F8 for 24hrs and we spent a while getting nowhere, then chickened out and hid in Laxe for a day or 2; on the second attempt it blew up again and we spent a while under bare poles and trailing warps, but we made it round eventually.

Going north Biscay was flat calm until we got to Ushant, whereupon it blew F8 for 12 hrs then went flat and we had to motor all the way to Soton, via St Peter Port for a fuel stop. Bloody freezing it was; I was wearing 3 layers inside my sleeping bag and was still chilly.

As noted, some wind directions close a lot of harbours in Portugal in gales, so be ready to stay out there and finish the job.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top