Logbook – Peniche to Cascais 24 Aug 19
With Cascais our next port of call, we pressed early to get ahead of the stronger winds that were expected later in the day. Cascais is extremely well protected from the North and so we rose early and headed to sea by 0730.
The forecast never really came true. Little wind and most of our day on the engine.
Shortly after lunch the wind picked up as usual and with a rapidly rising glass we expected the gusts to come early afternoon.
We rounded Cabo Rasa and joined with a ketch that seemed to have full sail up.
Surprising as the Cabo is notorious for having strong winds.
As we rounded the cape the winds increased to 30kts and the swell grew to 2-3m. It was difficult to hold a steady heading on the engine but it was clear the ketch was having a much harder time. With a full main sail out, the ketch broached wildly several times so we gave him plenty of sea room and he overtook us looking desperate for shelter.
We arrived in Cascais a little after 1500 and dropped anchor in a busy anchorage. The marina is notoriously expensive and so the anchorage very popular.
But we’d only been there for an hour when the marine police advised us that the anchorage needed to be empty on the following day. The festival of the sea included a fireworks display and there was a risk to shipping on the anchorage.
We also heard that our rendezvous at the end of the month was going to be delayed and so the pressure to push South was significantly reduced. That gave us the opportunity to rest up for a few days and have a look around Cascais.
So the following day we relocated to Oeiras Marina and booked in for 3 days to recover.