We are 25 miles from Cap Finistere!! At last we have managed to get North!
Erwan and I have been joined by Gerald Veniard and his cousin Seb for this part of the journey as they are developing the use of kite-surf kites to power a sailing yacht (particularly in the case of a dismasting to enable the skipper to get to shore without requesting a tow or re-fuelling.) So far the wind has either been absent or dead upwind so their work will begin later when the Southerlys start blowing!
We have been pretty busy since we left Cascais on Sunday night (fuelled with a marvelous chocolate cake made by Aime and Clement!). On Monday we realised that our jury rig needed some work at the top where the shroud attachments were ripping out of their base. So we lowered the mast and took the opportunity to try to make it longer at the same time. By Monday night the new, tall, mast was up but unfortunately we had been a little ambitious and the stick was not supported enough for its new length so we couldn't risk to use it with big sails. Yesterday we stopped in Leixoes (Porto) to refuel. Unfortunately the diesel was not in the marina so we had to go by foot (with our six jerry-cans in the trolley). The wind was in the North and we weren't managing to make much headway so we accepted the very kind invittion by the locals to eat lunch in the Yate Club do Porto whilst we waited for the wind to drop.
So after lunch we set off, fuelled up (both Saveol and us!) Last night was pretty frustrating as we battled head winds and seas but this morning the wind has dropped and we are in sight of Cap Finistere!! Yippeeee!
Once around this famous landmark we should start to have easier (and more fun) conditions to take us back to France and our two "Mc Gyvers" will start their experiments!
