Cascais

Winter in Cascais, 2005-2006 Cascais is a small village on the north shore of the mouth of the Rio Tejo, about 20nm from Lisboa. The village combines a mixture of fishermen, wealthy Europeans, tourists and yachtsmen. This is where I decided to spend the winter of 2005/2006 after crossing the Atlantic Ocean on Sarah. Shown on the right and below is Sarah in her berth at the Cascais Marina. While wintering in Cascais I was joined by friends Jack & Nikki Goodman and together we did a lot of land cruising around Portugal. Some of the land cruises are documented through the menu links on the right under "Winter in Cascais" Beyond the massive breakwater in the Cascais Marina is the North Atlantic Ocean. When off-shore storms are kicking up wind ands sea the spray from the waves striking the seawall can go more than 10' above wall. Still we are well protected from the seas in the marina, There is a little surge in the marina, primarily from the tides. The yacht basins are very large and the 5' tides have to go in and out through the narrow marina entrance. The tidal current can swirl in this basin causing boats to move back and forth causing lines to creak and groan. I have already (December, 2005) had to replace two mooring lines because of chafe. Another will have to be replaced before the end of the month. My neighbors, Chris and Dora on Morild (Bavarian 43 to right of Sarah in the middle picture) told me that one night while I was back in the states they had winds in excess of 60 knots and the seas were actually breaking over the top of the seawall. No boats were damaged, but it was not a very comfortable night for those living on their boats. Dora now checks herself into a hotel when high winds are forecast. We have experienced nothing close to those conditions since I returned in Nov, 2005. Top two pictures by Jack & Nikki Goodman

On the right are a few pictures of the seas spray above the seawall. These are fairly mild examples. When a big sea is running the spray is much higher and covers more of the seawall. These seas were from a storm off Trafalgar, several hundred miles to the south. For pictures of when a big sea is running against this seawall go to the 2066 Winter Storm page.

The Cascais Marina is a first class facility, as it should be for the price they are charging. However it is clearly oriented toward the local Portuguese boat owners, much more so than transient cruising sailors such as myself. Therefore the amenities are oriented toward weekend sailors not live-a-boards and cruisers. There are many restaurants and shops, but only a single washer and dryer at the marina office about 1 km from Sarah's berth. It also costs 5€ per load each in the washer and dryer (10€ total). There is no TV or Internet access at the docks, something most marinas of this class that cater to cruising sailors provide either at an extra charge or included in the basic slip fee. The fact that the transient area of the marina is about half full this winter is at least partially due to the less than tropical weather during winter (average high temp around 15º C or 59º F), but I believe it also due to the high fees and low amenities for cruisers. On the right you can see that Internet Access at the Marina is an outdoor sport. I have signed up with a local WIFI provider, but the closest hotspot is at an outdoor coffee shop on the Marina grounds. Here Nikki and I are downloaded her and Jack's boarding passes for their return flight to the US the next day. Still the marina and the village of Cascais are a pleasant place to be and I don't regret my choice of a winter home. I just wish the marina would go the extra step and make it the obvious choice for most cruisers (and make themselves a little more money at the same time). Both pictures by Jack & Nikki Goodman.

Before the wealthy, the yachtsmen, and the tourists arrived Cascais was primarily a fishing village. It still is, as the fishing fleet fills up most of the protected part of the anchorage off the town. Fisherman store and maintain their pots and nets on the quay that runs from the main beach to the Club Naval de Cascais. Both pictures by Jack & Nikki Goodman.

Now for the truly different. Just before the gale force winds hit today (Jan 25, 2006) this German sailboat put into the dock. The strange thing about this boat (in addition to the color choice) is the mast. I haven't had a chance to talk the owners (the name is "2 Capitans"), but I assume they get lots of questions about the rig. I don't know how to describe it except as an Erector Set Mast. It's hard to see in the pictures on the right, but the mast is constructed our of welded metal plates. Looks like something I might have constructed as a kid with my Erector Set.

Before I took off for the Med I wanted to have Sarah hauled and the bottom prepped and re-painted. This would also be an opportunity for me to go over the underwater parts and insure there were no problems. Cascais is probably the most expensive place to haul a boat I have yet found. There are less expensive places in Portugal. I could have gone up the Rio Tejo to Seixal, where Whoosh is currently hauled. It would have been considerably cheaper. It would also have been cheaper in Lagos in the Algarve. However I was anxious to get the job done and I didn't want to take off on a 100 nm journey to Lagos without at least inspecting the bottom. So I bit the bullet and contracted for the work to be done in Cascais. Here things work different than at any other marina I have encountered. The marina owns the yard and operates the travel lift, but they do not do any of the work in the yard. There are four or five boat service shops in what is called the Technical Building on the marina grounds. To have a boat hauled and worked on you must contract with one of these businesses. Ideally that should provide for some competition and reduce prices, but that does not appear to be the case. I requested estimates from two of the businesses and they were within €100.00 of each other. I went with Tutamania as they were the first ones I contacted and they were providing my gas tank refills.
The boat was hauled on Monday, March 6. The marina did a professional job of hauling the boat with the Travel-lift and blocking it up in the yard. I was impressed that they did not use portable stands to block up Sarah but a very substantial cradle. This appears to be very common in Europe or at least in the Portuguese yards. Every yard in the U.S. that I have done business with uses portable stands. I much prefer to have Sarah blocked in a cradle rather than the stands. Once Sarah had been blocked up we discovered that there was a prominent gouge in the hull on the forward starboard quarter. The gouge had penetrated the gel coat into the laminate. We must have stuck something hard on the sail across the Atlantic, although I don't remember such an incident. The gouge was ground out, filled with epoxy, and faired before the bottom paint was applied.
In the picture on the right Sarah has been lifted off the cradle in preparation for re-launching. The cradle is in front of Sarah. Sarah was re-launched on Friday, March 12 and returned to her berth on K-Pontoon. The total bill for the haul out and bottom work was €2.200,00. About twice what I normally paid in the U.S. I'll probably consider this reasonable after I've been in the Med for awhile.