Hi Martin,

I hope you are keeping well and life is treating you kindly. Our plans are well advanced for our sail to Portugal and we are hoping to take our boat over to France in mid April and then leave it there until it gets a bit warmer and continue in mid May. I wonder if you could advise us on the type of weather we could expect coming down the coast of Portugal in mid to late September. Is there a time when the weather changes or is that later in October.

Many thanks,  Ronnie.

Hello Ronnie and Glenis,

Thanks for your email, I am pleased to read that your plans for your sail to Portugal are in the final stages.  In mid to late September you should be fine for coming down the coast of Portugal, the weather should be hot with a north north westerly wind around force 3 which may back towards the west in the afternoon and increase a little as a result of the on shore breeze effect.

I think that the only important thing is to be south of Finistere before the end of August when the equinoctial gales often start. If you remember there is a Bank holiday at the end of August when we often have a gale, which will give bad weather throughout Biscay. But to the south of Finistere you should still be enjoying the beneficial effects of the Azores high pressure.

The weather in Portugal is usually very nice in September and just a little cooler than August, I have the roof off my jeep from May until September and it usually doesn’t rain until the end of September.

I’m look forward to receiving the story of your trip down to put on the ‘Sailing with ex students’ page of my web site.

Best wishes, Martin.