Cascais and relax...

We made it to Lisbon on the evening of Tuesday 1st Nov having covered 206 nm in 32hrs 50 mins bring our voyage total to 1013 nm. Well, when I say Lisbon, I mean to Cascais at the entrance to the bay leading to Lisbon. We sailed the majority of the second day ending up persevering against the headwind and putting in a few tacks... The first of the voyage really, and resisting the rather too easy option of starting the engine just because it's there and we are going at less that 5knts... We progressed, tacking against the wind, up past the massif of Sintra and Cabo Roca which is the most westerly part of mainland Europe (I always thought that accolade went to Cape Finisterre!?). 
 
 Paul was still feeling 'tied to the toilet' for want of a better description, and retired below to rest and read while I stayed up to enjoy the last of the day's sunshine. As the sun faded so did the wind and I put the engine on, set a direct course for Cacais, put the sails to bed, and got Tin Tin ready for arrival by getting fenders ready on both sides, got the mooring lines out and in position and read up on the Cascais Marina details. As we approached I noticed  a low sleek vessel with an enormously tall mast heading into the marina ahead of us. It turns out to be the J class yacht Endeavor which spends 3-4 months based here each year. With 400m to go before turning into the marina I roused Paul and we made a gentle landing on the visitor pontoon where formalities were undertaken and a berth allocated on Pontoon L.

During the day we started to record details of boat speed under different wind speeds and directions so that we can put together a more accurate Polar for the boat. The Polar is a table which describes the performance of the boat under different scenarios of wind direction and speed and is used in PredictWind, the weather and planning programme we use. At the moment it is overestimating our speed so shortening the predicted passage times quite considerably. The Polar is now updates and we will see if it more accurately models Tin Tin's performance on the next leg to Madeira.We have also recorded the speed achieved at different engine rpm both into and with the wind (did anyone notice our 180 about turn?). Of course there are really no surprises there, as rpm goes above 1800, the response in terms of speed flattens off, just as the manufacturer's curves suggest!

Having found a slot on pontoon L and tidied up we ventured ashore in search of food, found a restaurant in the marina 'village', and I succumbed to the desire for meat and had the most succulent, tender and tasty steak au poivre with creamed spinach, rice and sautéed potatoes. Paul stuck sensibly to plainer fare in the form of 4 cheese tagliatelle. Back aboard we put up all the bimini  in anticipation of rain and five mins later had heavy rain falling.

Wednesday morning and we had a breakfast date with Tamsin and Alex who had arrived in Lisbon the day before. Tamsin had discovered a great vegetarian place in Cascais with an eclectic roof garden and great, tasty, interesting dishes.  
 H 
Greek yoghurt, mango, and granola yum yum.  Tamsin, Alex and 1st mate aboard Tin Tin

After Tamsin and Alex left Paul and I had to finish off the port formalities (which involved receiving a bottle of Tinto... ). 
Then the afternoon was spent wandering round the picturesque tiled lighthouse and having a wind down.
 
 

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