Sines - Sagres

Nick W.

We had planned to sail directly to Barbate but decided to break and seek shelter off Sagres from an unpredicted 23 kt NW wind and choppy seas about 4 nmi E of C St Vincent. We left the anchorage just by the Sines fishing port at noon and set the spinnaker in NW 8 kts outside the main breakwater. The sea had only a slight swell and sky was clear. We had a nice downwind sail until the wind dropped around 1900 CET and we motored for 4 hours until it picked up again NNW 13. By 0040 we had rounded Cape St Vincent in some seas and had put a precautionary 3 reefs in the main in NNW 20 kts and rising. By 0130 the seas were quite confused and short and we had 23 kts and rising so decided to take down sail and return to Sagres to sit out the wind. We anchored in 7 m off Sagres beach in relative tranquility!