1. Povoa de Varzim 2013  

In August 2012 Martin, Manne and I arrived to Povoa de Varzim in Portugal. Manne returned to Sweden a few days later and Martin soon after. I stayed until October when I lifted the boat and left it on the dry for the winter. This was a nice time when I learned to know Brian and all the other sailors who had been there for a while.

I returned to Sweden in October to work but Tove and I came back in late December and spent three weeks over Christmas and New Year in the boat. During these weeks we made one trip to Porto and the Douro valley and another to Santiago de Compostella in Spain. Very interesting.

Tove and I returned to Sweden in January but in late March I came back by car together with my friend Kaj who is also a boat builder. Together we worked on Bird of Passage for three weeks to rebuild the keel. Kaj returned to Sweden and I finished the keel job and launched the Bird. In June Tove and Lena arrived and we sailed to Madeira. A day later, Martin came down to drive the car back to Sweden. Lena left on Madeira and Tove and I continued to Tenerife. Tove then left and I continued to Las Palmas. Sailing is all about logistics, isn't it ?

This log book starts with my and Tove's visit around Christmas and New Year, then continues with my and Kaj's keel job and finishes when Tove, Lena and I leave to sail to Madeira and Gran Canaria.

Porto is only 20 kilometers south of Povoa de Varzim. We rented car and drove around a little. Here is the old harbour in Porto where the wine that was harvested further up in the river was delivered to the big storehouses. The right picture shows one of the streets in the old harbour area. There are many colours.

The Port Wine came down the river on boats like this.

Tove in the old harbour quarters in Porto. Many narrow streets. Porto has one of the worlds most beautiful bookshops, Lello & Irmao. Of course we hade to see it. The interior is stunning.

There are many beautiful bridges over the Duoro River. The left one was designed by Gustave Eiffel, same man who designed the famous tower in Paris.

The river valley is very beautiful. We followed it about 30 kilometers inland before we turned north to go back to Povoa de Varzim.

There was no wine by the end of December but lots of flowers in the gardens. A strange feeling, coming from Sweden which was covered in snow.

Next day we drove 250 kilometers north into Spain to visit the cathedral of Santiago de Compostella. Pilgrims from all over the world come here to see the shrine of one of Jesus twelve apostles, Saint Jacob the Greater, who is said to be buried here.

The cathedral is huge and surrounded by many other beautiful buildings.

The inside is even more impressive. The remains of Saint Jacob are kept in a silver coffin.

Bird of Passage (the white one) needs a little service. After last years problem with water leakage and corrosion, the swing keel will now be permanently locked in its upper position.

To compensate for this I add 20 cm's to the bottom of the keel. Fixed draft will now be approx. 1.8 meters instead of 1.6. I also move 450 kilos of trim lead that was previously positioned in the aft cabin down to the new keel.

The aft part of the deeper keel in position. The fore part also deepened 20 centimetre.

The middle part. And now the entire keel (8 meters long) is 20 centimetres deeper.

The car is a perfect storage for keel job stuff.

My old friend Kaj helped me with the keel job. Many thanks !

After some days I ran out of micro balloons. Erik on the yacht SuLo from Savonlinna in Finland gave me a bag of microballoons that had been damaged by water. For several days I dried wet microballoons on the stove.

Fe em Deus, Believe in God. Povoa de Varzim is a fishing village on the Atlantic coast. Lots of fog and tough swell for small fishing boats. They sure need all help they can get.

Today many boats are from foreign countries. This is Gordon from UK with his beautiful 40 feet Scanmar, soon to be off to the Azores.

Some boats need some work before they can leave. Some need even more work.

Some may never leave. The right one was wrecked in the big swell just outside the pier last year and one person was killed.

John on his Spray to the left, talking to Jacques who has a beautiful cat with blue eyes on his boat, an Evasion 32.

A nice distant view of the marina.

One day a horse trailer stopped by the parking. Two riders mounted.

Beautiful horses. Andalusian. Training just 50 meters from the boat.

With the keel fixed, a new main sail an many other improvements it was time to continue our voyage. Tove and Lena arrived by the end of June. On this picture Bird of Passage is leaving Povoa de Varzim for good. Photo taken by Jacques standing on the pier.