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Land Ho! We Arrive in Portugal - Sailing from Spain to Tunisia, Part 5 | DrakeParagon Sailing
June 27, 2026 · 20 min · 2K views · Portugal
What this video covers
A Westsail 42 completes the first leg of a 1,500-nautical-mile passage from Spain to Tunisia, arriving at a small anchorage on the Portuguese coast just before sunset.17:05 Drake and Monique race a daylight deadline for 50 nautical miles at the end of the leg, needing to hold above five knots to avoid anchoring in an unfamiliar, unlit cove after dark.10:20 When wind drops to three knots with 47 miles remaining, Drake starts the engine rather than risk a night arrival.11:33 The approach crosses a busy shipping lane at a diagonal rather than the textbook 90 degrees — a deliberate compromise forced by timing — with the chart plotter's closest-point-of-approach readouts used to hold course past a freighter tracked for 25 minutes.5:04 Orca attack zones off Portugal's southwest corner are plotted as red-flag waypoints on the chart; erratic depth-sounder readings during the night watch — 16 to 79 feet over water 15,000 feet deep — raise concern about orcas beneath the hull, though none appear.0:08 The chosen anchorage is exposed and rolly without strong northerly wind; Navily reviews confirm it deteriorates by 7–9 a.m. when southerlies fill in, so the plan is to leave early for a sheltered berth behind a breakwater at Portimao.7:35 Tidal range at the anchorage runs from 9 feet at high to 3.7 feet at low.18:54 When no weather update is available offshore without cellular or satellite, the last forecast from departure days earlier is the only reference.8:10
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