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On Valentines Day the week commencing Monday 14th February, Michael & Mary came aboard to do a Day Skipper practical course.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be the week of bad weather for the Algarve as frontal system after frontal system swept across all of Europe and Portugal along with everywhere else suffered uncharacteristic strong winds and torrential rain. Wind speeds of over 40 knots meant that it was an ideal time to brush up on all that theory. No time was wasted and nobody ever moaned about the weather.
First proper sail out in Armacao Bay saw the wind pick up to a good force 6, gusting 7 with seas to match. Michael's first turn on the wheel saw us surfing down the backs of some pretty big waves as our speed over the ground went over 9 knots. That's 13 tonnes of boat with a lot of momentum!
We finally got our passage to Portimao on the friday, having extended the course by a day to help make up for lost time and what a different world it was when we stuck our nose out of the Albufeira breakwaters - blue skies and a gentle breeze saw us motor sailing for a while until the breeze picked up at Alfanzina and then she rattled along at 6 knots under full sail.
Man over board drill (Bob again) was practised off Praia de Rocha, to the amusement of the local patrol boat, but we got "Bob & Dan" safely back onboard and sailed through the breakwaters to anchor for lunch.
After lunch it was time for some close quarter navigation up the Portimao River, buoy hopping our way along the channel with a fast flowing ebb tide. Mary spun her round at the head of navigation and Michael brought her back down the river and alongside the reception pontoon at the Praia de Rocha Marina. Very neat and tidy.
The sail back to Albufeira the next day was meant to be accompanied with heavy rain, but we had glorious sunshine and a near perfect south westerly breeze to bring us back.
Well done to both of you in what you achieved over the course, it was a shame "Mother Nature" saw fit to spoil it a tad with some very breezy weather and lots of rain. Next time we'll order more sunshine for you.
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