Winter Storm Strikes Cascais |
Around the 11th of February, 2006 a severe storm was developing in the eastern North Atlantic. The 0600Z NOAA surface analysis shows this developing hurricane force storm. The storm was slowly moving to the NE and deepening. This would not bring severe weather to the coast or Portugal and Cascais, but it would bring very large seas. At the time of this chart we were enjoying warm and calm conditions in the Cascais Marina. I used these days to check sails and do other chores on Sarah that were made easy by the pleasant weather. |
A few days later I went to the Nauticampo Expo at the Parque da Nacoes on the east side of Lisbon with Chris & Dora of Morild (my marina neighbors) and Martin (who was visiting from Sines). The Nauticampo is a boat and camping show at the large convention center in the Parque da Nacoes. At the show Dora got us an invite for a test sail of a Catana 43 catamaran that was berthed in Cascais. |
During that test sail we could see the developing seas in the mouth of the Rio Tejo. The picture on the left shows the breaking seas just outside off Cascais. It is a little difficult to see in the thumbnail image on this page, but if you click on the picture you can view it at full 1280 x 1280 resolution. |
The picture on the right shows the swell engulfing the new extension to the breakwater at the entrance to the Cascais Marina. This extension was completed over the winter to provide better protection for the Marina's mega-yacht (length > 40 meters) pontoon. |