Sailing Suriavideo
Winter sailing, storms and Sven's orca attack
16 May 2026 · 24 min · 1K views · Portimão
Crashing waves pound Praia de Castellejo’s dramatic cliffs
What this video covers
Dirk and Rigi aboard Suria, a Lagoon 410 S2, spend several weeks storm-bound at anchor in the Rio Arade near Portimão, Portugal, riding out five successive low-pressure systems with gusts to nearly 40 knots and persistent heavy rain.▶ 0:02 A leaking hatch over their bunk is patched with a garbage-bag cover.▶ 7:45 Their diesel heater fails — a 22-year-old Webasto — and they replace it with a Chinese unit sourced for €90.▶ 6:15 The dinghy dock breaks and is removed for repair, forcing them to use a tidal ladder at the boatyard wall.▶ 8:17 When weather briefly clears, they motor-sail out of the river to run the watermaker, since river water is too silty for the filters.▶ 12:40 In Lagos they visit Saskia, who singlehanded a Contessa from the Netherlands to the Mediterranean offshore, and meet Sven from the boat Äppelpeil, whose rudder and steering column were severely damaged by orcas the previous autumn off the Iberian coast.▶ 20:51 Sven describes the encounter firsthand: it unfolded so fast that he had no meaningful options.▶ 22:02 The replacement parts were manufactured in Denmark and shipped to Portugal; the Äppelpeil later sailed home to Greifswald.▶ 21:44 Sven's account confirms that orca encounters off Iberia leave skippers with almost no time to react.
Boats in this video
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