Ilha Cotia to Lago Azul
24/11/08 22:54 Filed in: Brazil | Ilha Grande
At Ilha Cotia it was a lovely morning, fine and clear with no wind.
I weighed anchor at 10:00 bound for Lago Azul some 26 miles to the north east and made good progress until around 14:30.
About 6-7 miles from Lago Azul the wind having died then started to blow from the NE. 10kn, 12kn, 15kn, 20kn, at which point I starting to motor tack and divert to the nearest bay which was Sitio Forte and which the pilot book says is safe in all weathers. Uh, huh! 22kn, 25kn 28kn. It started getting a bit interesting. It wasn't cold but wind over tide made the seas short and steep, but not very big. The dinghy started to look a bit unstable. The barometer was down one point to 1015.
30kn, 32kn, 34kn. On the seventh tack I got into Sitio Forte, cutting the corner a bit fine, and headed for a bay in the SE corner. It took me over 2 hours to do less than 4 miles. I looked back at the dinghy which was now upside down. When I got there it was a gale 32-34 knots and three yachts already there were looking distinctly uncomfortable with 2 skippers on deck not looking very happy.
I didn't like the look of it at all. The wind seemed to be coming over the top and belting down into the bay. The gusts could be followed by watching the trees. The net effect was that this and other bays on the SW corner of and island with huge hills in between offered little shelter from a NE wind apart from a small fetch. The sea was just choppy but the wind was pushing boats all over the place.
I went a few bays up to Praia Maguaraquissaba and found a place where a lot of local boats had moorings and anchored outside them in 9m with 35m of cable. It was still blowing 30kn at 18:45 when I got there. Two of the three yachts in the first bay upped anchor and shifted as well. The wind faded away overnight.
Plotter image showing straight line made good until the wind sprang up and then my erratic course to Praia Maguaraquissaba.
I weighed anchor at 10:00 bound for Lago Azul some 26 miles to the north east and made good progress until around 14:30.
About 6-7 miles from Lago Azul the wind having died then started to blow from the NE. 10kn, 12kn, 15kn, 20kn, at which point I starting to motor tack and divert to the nearest bay which was Sitio Forte and which the pilot book says is safe in all weathers. Uh, huh! 22kn, 25kn 28kn. It started getting a bit interesting. It wasn't cold but wind over tide made the seas short and steep, but not very big. The dinghy started to look a bit unstable. The barometer was down one point to 1015.
30kn, 32kn, 34kn. On the seventh tack I got into Sitio Forte, cutting the corner a bit fine, and headed for a bay in the SE corner. It took me over 2 hours to do less than 4 miles. I looked back at the dinghy which was now upside down. When I got there it was a gale 32-34 knots and three yachts already there were looking distinctly uncomfortable with 2 skippers on deck not looking very happy.
I didn't like the look of it at all. The wind seemed to be coming over the top and belting down into the bay. The gusts could be followed by watching the trees. The net effect was that this and other bays on the SW corner of and island with huge hills in between offered little shelter from a NE wind apart from a small fetch. The sea was just choppy but the wind was pushing boats all over the place.
I went a few bays up to Praia Maguaraquissaba and found a place where a lot of local boats had moorings and anchored outside them in 9m with 35m of cable. It was still blowing 30kn at 18:45 when I got there. Two of the three yachts in the first bay upped anchor and shifted as well. The wind faded away overnight.
Plotter image showing straight line made good until the wind sprang up and then my erratic course to Praia Maguaraquissaba.