Portugal to UK - always upwind ?

B

BlueSkyNick

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 Apr 2003
Messages
11,766
Location
Near a marina, sailing club and pub
Visit site
I am planning to bring our new boat back from Spain next summer. Happy to get to Lagos - as long we get easterlies through the Gib straits.

then it seems to get 'interesting' My understanding is that the prevailing wind is in the north down the west coast of Portugal and Spain, but not really sure about Biscay across to Brittany.

have also been told that there is an adverse current, more often than not, so expect only 4 kts SOG.

I recall Becky had a wet and windy time last year, with a significant amount of green stuff over the decks.

so is it a case of batten down the hatches and beat through it all the way?

Or is there a better plan, going off shore say 100 miles?

What is the conventional wisdom on this passage?
 
Feb and march look as if there is a better chance of wind from astern (especially feb) However likelihood of storm is a tad higher than in the summer!

more detail available from here
 
I think that you have to plan each trip as you find it.

Certainly we had N winds all the way up the Portuguese coast; 1000 miles to windward is daunting, believe me. But it does change sometimes. The main problem we had is that the Azores high moves N in summer, and there is a Low over Spain, which concentrates winds along the Atlantic coast of Portugal, which gets intensified around Cape Finisterre where it can blow at F7+ for weeks on end.

We were told to stick to the 10 deg longitude line, but when we came north a friend in another boat came north at the same time and he went well out to sea but was still beset with strong winds. But the seas may be easier. Actually Bayona is quite a good stopping-off point if you need to wait for better weather for rounding the Cape.

Richard (HWMBO) has motored all the way from Lagos to Plymouth bringing a Moody 376 back, (admittedly earlier in the year) so you never really know what will ensue.

Still it should be a good test of a new boat, and a good addition to your experience. So if it is bad weather, you will have plenty of horror stories to dine out on. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I have done it a couple of times.. Not so bad.. Get to Cape St Vincent and anchor up in one of the two bays and wait for a drop in the northerly winds.. then go for it - motor sail up the coast - the wind always gets up PM - the land breeze but keep going for as long as you can... You can find a anchorage every night if you want but it the wind stays light try to make as much northing as you can.. Once it's up to 18-20 on the nose just give it up! Find a anchorage - port.

Once you have got to Vigo/Bayonne - Cape finisterre its all over bar the shouting... Just takes a while and you will burn some diesel... Nothing too terrible but not great sailing..
If you have time the North Spanish coast is probably the best cruising in Europe..

Michael
 
On our trip the other way in August, we had favourable winds all the way, generally F4+. I wouldnt have wanted to have been going the other way, and you could count on 2 hands the number of yachts we saw trying it.

We met a delivery skipper with a Beneteau 50 in Cascais... he had been there for 2 weeks, waiting for a window. He said they had set off twice, but turned around as soon as the got to the corner.

Not sure how much further it is, but a trip via the Azores would be something to add to your experiences.

having said that... in may 2004, we "sailed" from Kinsale to Madeira, and if the engine was off for a couple of hours, that was all. Flat calm all the way.

The return trip was a beat to Cascais, a weather window from Cascais to bayona, then I fell out with the skipper, (my dad), and flew home. He had a very windy trip home, and arrived 2 days ahead of schedule having broken one of the doors off its' hinges in the aft cabin.

I think we will be seeing you in Lagos <g>
 
We tended to leave at first light, or a bit before (though dodging lobster pots in even very deep water can be interesting!) and motorsailed much of the way. You will find lobster pots a real hazard coastal cruising and entering/leaving ports though they are mostly in some sort of pattern. I didn't encounter much of an adverse current at all but then we didn't have that much wind most of the time either. We had pretty much nothing at first light and then increasing in strength to about F6, which on the nose isn't delightful so we took things gently and went to harbour at about 17:00ish most days. From Lagos, we stopped at Sines, Cascais, and Nazaré. There's then a longish haul, if weather is boisterous, to Povoa de Varzim or Viana do Castelo. Allthis assumes you plan on day sailing and staying coastal of course. One place to prepare for wind is the cape just north of Cascais where it can blow hard (from the North) and comes at you somewhat unexpectedly. We went from about 10 kts wind to 40 in about 20 mins. Further North, fog becomes an issue so you need to be sure whether you are staying well offshore outside most big shipping or (as we did) further in. I found Camarinas a good final stopping off point before crossing Biscay. For the Biscay bit, unless you get a decent wind direction and strength, it's best to stay out in deep water but if it's on the nose but not too strong with biggish seas, you can always head a bit right and make for La Rochelle. provided the weather is fine, rather than go straight across but avoid the dramatic depth contours if you do.
 
We did the trip at the start of June and stayed near the coast. We waited until there was a period of relatively light wind forecast before setting off. We found that the north wind (and sea) would increase in strength from about midday, the wind would ease back in the evening and a few hours later the sea would also settle down, so we eventually learned that it was much easier to leave port in the late evening, travel through the night and make the next port by midday.
There were many pot markers and we scraped past several during the night but, fortunately, they seemed to be well weighted and caused us no problems.
Many of the ports are dangerous to enter when there is a lot of swell which can exist even when there is no local wind, so plan your passage carefully. Some useful information here -
http://www.manorhouses.com/ports/index.htm

It gets much easier once you get to Spain because the Rias have plenty of safe and attractive anchorages.

Good luck,
 
[ QUOTE ]
The main problem we had is that the Azores high moves N in summer, and there is a Low over Spain, which concentrates winds along the Atlantic coast of Portugal, which gets intensified around Cape Finisterre where it can blow at F7+ for weeks on end

[/ QUOTE ]

When IanGrant and Zef did the ARC I was dooing weather routing for Asterie and confirm that there were gale force winds around Finisterre for weeks on end, with a persistent low over Spain pinching the isobars around the Cape. Had little choice but to send them through for a brief dusting, the alternative was a long detour out into the Atlantic

Coming North I'd be inclined to get well to the West if similar conditions prevailed- maybe as far as 14 deg W before turning for home
 
Much good advice above.

The Portuguese trades (the northerlies you refer to) prevail from June to September, and from mid-day onwards they're re-inforced by the thermal low which develops over Spain in the hot afternoons.

Your only critical stretch for the northerly trip is from Cabo San Vicente to Vigo - suitable ports in this stretch are widely spaced, so when the trades are blowing, you'll have some very uncomfortable (occasionally impossible, depending on your boat and your stomach) sailing for long periods of time to make this coastal route.

From Vigo onwards you can hop from ria to ria northwards in a series of day trips (see my website for lots of detail). From A Coruna to Ushant in the summer months is straightforward; there's no prevalent wind or current to hinder you. Calm weather is quite common, but you do need to keep a watch for the (rare) possibility of a summer depression visitng the bay.

There are three answers to the Portugal problem.

1 Go north early in the season (May).

2 Wait for a lull (they happen, if rarely in August) if you're stuck with going north when the trades are prevalent.

3 Take a long leg to the Azores, then return from there.

A reasonable source of information is at
http://www.rccpf.org.uk/Passage/Route%207.pdf

Enjoy the sail! Don't do it too quickly. Lisbon and Porto are lovely towns to visit, you can always safely leave the boat somewhere en route for a week or six, and the North coast of Spain is a wonderful cruising area in its own right, which could occupy you for four weeks or more if you're an inveterate potterer.
 
The prevaling winds for that trip are from a Northerly direction. BUT they do not always blow from that direction.

As a delivery skipper I used to make a tidy living picking boats up in Gib/Algarve for the trip north where the owners did not fancy beating to windward for days on end. Neither did I but then I was getting paid.... Don't do that anymore cause I needed to get a proper job to go voyaging again. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

If you have pleaty of time you could wait for the right weather window(s) or try a trip out to the Azores then back in to the UK. Whichecer way you do it unless you wait around for weeks you will almost certainly have a lot of upwind miles to cover. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
Mid July 2005 we had to motor nearly all the way south down the coast of Potugal, we saw nothing of the reputed Northerlies people were sailing happily North. B***dy statistics again
 
[ QUOTE ]

Enjoy the sail! Don't do it too quickly. Lisbon and Porto are lovely towns to visit, you can always safely leave the boat somewhere en route for a week or six, and the North coast of Spain is a wonderful cruising area in its own right, which could occupy you for four weeks or more if you're an inveterate potterer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agree with that but I'd be inclined to use Cascais for Lisbon and Viana do Castelo for Porto and take the very good (and incredibly cheap) train to the cities. Leixoes marina was a bit of a dump when I was there (there has since been a fire but I assume it's been rebuilt since?) and choice in Lisbon is limited although sailing into the city is quite a sight.
 
[ QUOTE ]
......We met a delivery skipper with a Beneteau 50 in Cascais... he had been there for 2 weeks, waiting for a window. He said they had set off twice, but turned around as soon as the got to the corner......

[/ QUOTE ]

This is often the case that CABO has an average windstrenght of F7 I've been unable to get round in 70 and 90 footers onmpore than one occasion in the past.

The mountains funnel the wind around this cape and the seas pile up as it sticks out from the coast quite a bit. You can reach well offshore (30 or 40 miles or more)then fetch back in to get around the worst of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top