Yachting

60 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com MAY 2016

Ups and

downs on

the Rio

Guadiana

The pleasant Rio Guadiana was

an unwelcoming host for Roy

Burnham’s special guest

Joyce’s visit started out well

enough. She had come to stay

aboard Adhara with me on the

Rio Guadiana, which forms the

border between southern Spain

and Portugal, and she would meet

the Guadiana cruising, or rather

anchoring, community.

In Alcoutim on her first evening,

she was warmly welcomed in the

pub and over the next couple of

days we enjoyed a relaxing stroll

around town and a visit to the

market followed by a long walk on

the Portuguese side

of the river amongst

the spring flowers

with lovely views

back into Spain.

The only alarming

moment was when

we saw a snake.

On her fourth

day we ventured

about five miles north to where

the tributary Rio Vascao joins the

Guadiana, intending to explore in

the tender. We passed a peaceful

night at anchor there but as we

ate breakfast the next morning,

we watched the river rise and

rise with more and more debris

hurtling past us. Over a few hours

the river rose more than three

metres and the flow doubled to

nearly four knots.

The Guadiana

forms the border

between Spain

and Portugal

and in 1997 both

countries opened

their dams with

no consultation

and caused a

catastrophic flood, which claimed

several lives and washed away

pontoons, destroying many boats.

There was little flow in the

Vascao, so I concluded that this

was a ‘controlled release’ from the

dams upstream.

We decided to head back to

Alcoutim, but found the pontoons

on both sides of the river had

been evacuated by order of the

authorities. It was pandemonium

as all the former occupants of the

pontoons were trying to anchor.

Most of the visiting yachts were

within a few kilometres of each

other, monitoring the VHF radio

throughout the night. The water

rose a further 2.5m in our position

and there were reports that we

should expect more as the dams

were opened further.

Things had calmed down a

bit by morning, however, and

Joyce and I even managed to get

ashore. We had a lovely walk on

the Spanish side over the hills and

beautiful flowers. We called in to

see a friend who gave us oranges

and lemons from his trees and

chard from his garden. We carried

our portable VHF radio to keep in

touch with everyone on the river.

The next day the waters rose

again, so we decided to retreat

all the way to Ayamonte on the

coast where Joyce and I could get

ashore safely from a marina berth.

While a few boats dragged their

anchors, it was the moored boats

that really suffered. One skipper,

who can’t swim, was lucky to have

been spotted as he fell over the

side in a six-knot current.

The events during Joyce’s visit

reminded me that a skipper must

always know and trust his ground

tackle, and that being part of a

network of fellow boaters is not

only a great way to pass the time,

but it could also save your life!

Roy Burnham, 69, is a retired commercial

interior designer now living aboard

Adhara, his 11m steel ketch. He enjoys the

life stuck in the ‘Guadiana glue’ but plans

to venture further when his partner,

Joyce Moon, joins him aboard full time.

Roy Burnham Roy has been

cruising

aboard

Adhara

for a

number

of years

All photos: Courtesy roy BurnhAm

‘We watched the

river rise and

rise with more

and more debris

hurtling past us’

A more peaceful, more typical view of boats at anchor on the river,

from a friend’s home looking down river toward Alcoutim and Sanlucar

Adhara anchored on the Guadiana. Anchoring gets much harder when the stream picks up

Joyce wasn’t put off sailing on

the Guadiana, despite the flood

The sizeable debris flowing down the river was a hazard all of its own