Trials and Tribulations

Ah well, sometimes we have to remind ourselves that we’re living the dream! The past few days haven’t been too great: I mean, lets keep it in context, nobody’s been hurt or anything but things generally haven’t been going too well.

Lets start from our last quick update from Cartagena. We left there on 25 September, heading for Torrevieja, which was about 40 miles away. We didn’t get much sailing done, as what little wind there was was straight on our nose. We motored most of the way, managing to sail for the last couple of hours when the wind finally decided to play.

Torreveija is a large harbour, originally built to accommodate the salt trade from the big salt pans just inland. Today, the salt bit of the port is limited to a single quay just inside the entrance. The remainder of the area enclosed by the breakwaters is given over to a small fishing port and 3 large marinas. We stopped at the newest one, Salina Torrevieja, which has only been finished for a year or so.

Amazing service, including finding us to return our dropped keys and a good price. The place was reminiscent of Corunna in as much as is was only about ½ full but clearly hoping to improve occupancy rates.

It was here that the first of our minor disasters happened. In a fit of generosity towards the computer, J decided it needed a drink and poured a glass of red wine all over the keyboard….. Not too much of a panic one would of thought but the hangover the machine developed over the next couple of days was amazing.

The following morning we did a quick shop at a local supermarket and left for about 11am. We were headed to a place called Villajoyosa, about another 40 miles up the coast. Initially we had little wind and that from the wrong direction but we’d put our faith in the augury of the wind gods (otherwise known as GRIB files) which predicted nice steady easterlies for the afternoon. Sure enough, we rounded the headland and turned north just as the promised winds arrived. We sailed under full mainsail and genoa all the way to Villajoyosa, putting in just one tack to bring us into the port for about 8pm.

After a minor telling off from the marinero (berthing master) for not contacting him by radio before we arrived, we settled in for a quiet night.

The computer was by this sage beginning to sulk and the administration of healing help didn’t seem to offer a solution. Letters were stopping working, the touch pad had become a touch erratic and it was clearly suffering from a serious dose of alcohol poisoning. Hence no update before this one; trying to write anything on the machine had become more than a little difficult.

On 27 September we consulted the oracle and decided to give our next destination a go. We were aiming for Denia, round the final major cape before Barcelona. We would also move on to the last chart of our trip.

Ah we must have misinterpreted the oracle, as the wind gods were against us. The port itself was calm and there was little wind in evidence but once we cleared the harbour wall, there was an appreciable swell from the east and the wind started to build.

Seeing as we were heading east for the first few miles then on a more northerly heading, we decided to tack south and make ground so that we could then come on to a northerly tack and get up towards the cape. We progressively put one, then two and finally all three reefs in the mainsail before deciding to drop it altogether and continue on just the genoa (and we reduced the size of the genoa to about 2/3 of normal). We were still doing in excess of 6 knots with just this small sail up and seemed to be making good progress on our southerly tack.

Once we’d gone about 6 miles out from the land, we decided to tack to the north and see what course we could hold against the wind. It rapidly become obvious that we would not be able to make any realistic progress to the east that day. We couldn’t get close enough to the wind to hold on to the ground we’d made on the other tack, so reluctantly we decided to head back to our starting point. We arrived back about 3 hours after we’d left having covered in excess of 15 miles through the water, although only 13 miles over the ground. It was fun whilst it lasted but quite tiring!

We’ve decided to listen the wind gods before setting off again and think we’ll be leaving here on Wednesday. Keep you fingers crossed for us, as we really do need to push on and make the last bit up to Barcelona before the Ruins descend on us.

Having updated you all on our sailing, J thinks that I should let her loose now so that she can fill in the bits round the edges and tell you what we’ve been doing ashore and alongside…

… We were thankful to have returned to the marina yesterday before the most almighty thunderstorm broke. D spent most of the afternoon unsuccessfully trying to coax the laptop to behave and J went to sleep! We felt frustrated, both about the computer and not being able to continue our journey. It is fair to say that we had not appreciated, before we left home, just how vital the computer would prove to be. Not only do we use it for compiling this blog but also, pretty well daily, for emails, banking, Skype phone calls, weather forecasts and other on-line facilities plus games, dvds, letters, downloading photos etc.

By this morning we had both come to the conclusion that life without a computer was just too difficult so we decided to bite the bullet, claim on the insurance & replace it. D had spotted signs for a Carrefour hypermarket so, accordingly, this morning we pedalled to Benidorm in search of a new laptop. Those of you who have been to this part of Spain will possibly be aware that it is quite hilly as soon as you get away from the shoreline. I was extremely pink in the face by the time we found Carrefour and prepared to buy almost anything rather than come back empty-handed. We could ill-afford the expense but harmony has, this evening, been restored as we are now the proud if impoverished possessors of a new laptop. Returning to Villajoyosa, the heavens opened & we were completely soaked cycling back to the marina. Thankfully it is not cold – just Very Wet! We will try to have the other laptop repaired over the winter to act as a backup but have no idea whether this will be possible. We shall certainly have to be very frugal and are more thankful than ever that we finally have tenants in the Chapel.

Our erstwhile companion, David, as mentioned before on this blog, was an extremely easy man to please. Aside from any other considerations, he was prepared to eat just about anything that we put in front of him, though he was not wild about potatoes, and confessed to me once that he didn’t terribly like very spicy food. It is just as well therefore that he has not been with us over the past couple of days: yesterday after returning to the marina, having no fresh food on board and it being Sunday evening so all the shops were shut, we dug out a tin of M&S Bolognese. D decided to “liven it up” & turn it into a chilli but adding kidney beans and chilli powder. He was however a little heavy-handed with the chilli and we both had streaming eyes & noses by the end of the meal. This evening I decided to make a Chinese stir-fry and quite unintentionally succeeded in making it if anything, even spicier. We sat moping our brows and D, in a moment of mild hysteria, picked up the wine bottle rather than his glass, and took a large slug! It reminded us of a happy day in Aviero when the aforementioned David, in a moment of absent-mindedness, went to drink straight from the carafe rather than his glass. It should be pointed out however, David, that Duncan did at least commit his gaff in private and not whilst dining in a restaurant!

Our apologies if our blog entries are rather long; we have different ideas about what may interest our readers and therefore some of you may skim through some sections and others through different parts. Do let us have your feedback & comments & we will do our best to keep this entertaining.

Apologies for there being no pictures for this post but the photos are all on the other computer.  More next time I hope.

A map to keep Lizzie happy (and everyone else as well…)

The chart (nautical term) shows our progress since leaving the Spanish Rias.  We’ll post another one in due course, when we’ve escaped from Cartagena and these wretched northerly winds.

Second bit – eastern half!

Eastern bit

Cartagena update

This is just a quick update to let you know where we are and what we’ve been doing.

We’re currently in Cartagena Marina for a couple of days.  The wind is set from the north and we’re waiting for it to slack off a bit or move round before we set off round the corner towards Denia. 

We sailed from Marina del Este to Almerimar, a large marina/holiday development with a big liveaboard community.  We were quite tempted by the place, especially as it was reasonably priced.  We stayed a couple of nights before moving on to Cartagena via Puerto Genoves and Aguilas, both of which were anchorages rather than marinas.  This has the bonus that they’re free but no wifi, hence no updates until today.

We spent this morning buying folding push bikes.  Frankly, we should have done that before leaving UK but didn’t; we had an attack of misplaced frugality and have regretted it ever since.  Our new bikes are very smart, one red, one orange and will making shopping trips much faster and easier and also enable us to do far more exploring than hereto.

We will do some work offline on a map or two (to keep Lizzie happy) and include some pictures in our next post.

Looks like we’ll be here for a couple of days, due to the wind but still hoping to make Barcelona by mid October (don’t worry Ruins, we’ll be there!).    

We left

Into the Mediterranean.

OK, make yourself a cuppa (or alternatively pour yourself a stiff a drink!) switch off the phone & relax – we have much to tell you about our adventures since our last blog entry:

We finally managed to leave Barbate on Sunday afternoon.  After having been plagued by gale force easterly winds for the preceding week, it rapidly became clear that it had now disappeared altogether so we wound up motoring virtually all the way to Gibraltar.

I went for a sleep at about 10pm and was woken by Duncan at 12.30am to say that we were in Gibraltar Bay & all pairs of eyes were needed on deck.  What a sight it was when I came up the companion way steps – a blaze of lights all round.  There were lots of very big ship, mostly at anchor, including two big cruise liners and a ULCC (Ultra Large Crude Carrier.)  There was also quite a lot of traffic moving about on the water – hence the need for several look-outs.

David did a 14 week Yacht Master course based out of Marina Bay in Gibraltar at the beginning of this year so it was all fairly familiar to him and we found our way into the marina without any real difficulty.  We found a berth and were in the process of tying up with a little man appeared to tell us that if we had not booked we could not stay.  Apparently they were expecting lots of boats in for a rally.  Duncan argued that there were lots of spare berths and as it was 01.30 in the morning, could we not just stay put until morning?  At first it seemed that he was going to dig in his heels but then David suggested that there might be spare berths belonging to the school he had trained with.  The guy suddenly changed his mind and rather reluctantly said we could stay put until morning but must then find somewhere else.

In the morning we decided to do the shopping before visiting the marina office.  David showed us the route through town to Morrison’s and then went off to find his chums at the sailing school.  Duncan & I loaded our trolley with such delicacies as muesli (v expensive in Spain,) baked beans and Patak’s curry paste & then staggered back to the marina with it all. While I found homes for everything, Duncan went off to the chandlers’ to buy charts for the Mediterranean coast of Spain before facing up to the marina office.

Whether the guy the previous night had been over-officious or whether David’s connections with the sailing school helped, who knows, but suddenly it was fine for us to stay another night in the same berth if we wished.  Gibraltar was the first place where we had to berth bow-to as opposed to alongside a finger berth.  It meant climbing over the pulpit and anchor to get on and off & I was a bit nervous at first, not being the most nimble of souls, but it wasn’t actually too bad.  Duncan reckons I’m just a weed, a wet and a girlie.

We had discovered that morning, that Rose and Brian, our friends from Barbate, were berthed on the other side of the pontoon.  When Rose learned that Duncan and I were planning to visit the Rock that afternoon, she asked to join us as Brian had no desire or interest in going. 

Our departure was fairly delayed by a latish lunch so by the time we’d walked the 1½ miles or so to the cable car, it was about 4pm. While we stood queuing for 45 minutes or so, we discussed the type of ticket to buy.  In the end we splashed out £16 per head which entitled us to a return trip on the cable car and entrance to various attractions. 

The marina from the top of the Rock

Only Rose was able to obtain an audio guide because neither Duncan nor I had any form of ID on us.  However it turned out to be fairly useless and kept stopping and refusing to respond to the control buttons.  The second one we were given was equally hopeless because the volume kept fading away so in the end we handed it back and managed without.  It wasn’t particularly easy; there were no guide books or maps available and signage was unclear.  We coped with a town plan that Rose had picked up in the marina office.

Barbary apes doing the cute thing for the tourists

It cannot be denied that the view from the top was spectacular: Gibraltar Bay and the Atlantic to the west, the Mediterranean to the east and the mountains of Morocco to the south across the Straits.  We could easily see the marina and Duncan was able to zoom in and photograph Rampage, far, far below.  There were plenty of apes everywhere hustling the tourists for food and posing for photos.  The babies were particularly appealing.  While trying to find our way out of the cable car station, (not as easy as it sounds,) we were suddenly accosted by the Danish couple who had been berthed next to us in Barbate marina! 

Looking north towards Spain

And west to the Atlantic

We then set off south along the Rock to visit the first of the attractions.  St Michael’s Cave turned out to be magnificent – caverns in the limestone with breathtaking stalactites and stalagmites.  We wandered along the various paths and passageways until we reached the main cavern which had been set up with seats and lighting for stage productions and concerts.  It would be a most impressive (if rather damp) backdrop for something like Lord of the Rings.

St Michaels Cave

After leaving the cave we set off to the opposite end of the Rock to see the tunnels where people took refuge during the Great Siege during the 18^th century.  Rose particularly wanted to visit the Siege Tunnels.  We walked the 3½ miles or so fairly briskly, only to be told on arrival that they, (and all the other attractions,) had just closed for the day.  We had been making our way downhill from St Michael’s Cave and we were told that it was easier to carry on making our way down the hill than to try to make our way to the middle station on the cable car.  So, with resignation, we carried on down the zigzagging road past the Great Siege exhibition, the World War 2 tunnels and the Moorish castle, all firmly closed.  We reached the marina at about 7.45pm, fairly weary and footsore having walked somewhere around 7+ miles.

Advice to any of you readers, should you plan to visit the Rock of Gibraltar at any time:

• Think long & hard about what sort of ticket to buy.  We wasted most of ours.
• Arrive early in the day if you wish to see more than just the view.
• Wear sensible shoes.
• Seriously consider taking one of the many minibuses to the top rather than the cable car if you are remotely idle.

On Monday we bid farewell to Rose and Brian again and set off for Fuengirola.  The marina only charged us £30 and we had understood that the cost was £20 per night for our size of yacht.  It seems they only charged for half the first night, possible because we arrived after midnight.  We did not complain.

David at the helm as we pass the Queen Victoria off Gibraltar

We had a cracking sail to Fuengirola, mostly just using the headsail with and westerly 5 – 6 pushing us along.  On arrival we were met by a friend of David’s and went for a delicious meal at a restaurant John knows well.  The mussels au gratin were to die for. It was very sad to say goodbye to David as he has been our constant companion now for just on two months – a great source of help and advice to us both and very easy-going to be around.  He tolerated manfully our need for 18 hours sleep in every 24 and our bickering.  He ate everything we put in front of him (even potatoes occasionally) & insisted on finishing up stale bread and some disgusting cheese we’d bought.  He scrubbed decks and mended sails and generally made himself part of the family.  Life without him seems strange and a bit daunting.  

Farewell to Gibraltar.... hello the Med

Our first day’s sailing without him to advise us went smoothly.  We had good winds again and reached our planned destination of Marina del Este at about 5pm.  We then spent the next two hours trying to find a suitable sheltered anchorage before surrendering to the inevitable and going into the marina itself and paying the reputedly exorbitant fees.  In fact they were not too outrageous and they softened the blow by presenting us with a very pleasant bottle of red wine.  The marina is probably the smallest and prettiest we have stayed in to date, and not the most expensive.

Marina del Este - pretty little place with everything laid on

Zen and the art of coarse sailing

You may remember a book called ‘Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance’ (J’s stunning comment of the day – always useful when playing charades).  It told the story of a bloke exploring life, interpolated with bits about Zen Buddhism and how to keep an ancient motorbike on the road.

Over the past few days, I’ve started to feel that perhaps I should emulate the chap, especially in view of our need to summon patience as we wait for the wind to stop/move round/abate to a reasonable level.  There’s a limit to the number of times one can visit the local café for a coffee, walk to town to do the shopping or simply loll about on the boat watch videos or reading.

The internet offers some relief but it can be a frustrating business.  At present, we rely on picking up wifi networks in the marina.  In Coruna, for example, it was pretty good with a nice strong signal and it functioned most of the time and it was FREE.  Other places, there was a cracking signal but the marina was trying to charge 5 euro an hour for access – hence a break in communications. 

Anchorages are the most problematic, as there is rarely an insecure network we can get into.  Most places, you just live with the fact that you can’t get online but occasionally we did find a wifi site in a café or bar in the town near where we’d dropped anchor.  But, you know, for the most part we’re really not too fussed about being on line, as it doesn’t matter too much if we don’t update the blog for a few days.

Here in Barbate, we have the state of the tide to thank for our access or not.  There’s a pleasant little café in one of the buildings in the port which has a wifi net up and running.  We’ve been there quite a lot and have the log in details for the net.  However, we’re tucked away about 150 metres away from the café with a quay wall in front of us.  At low tide, we can’t get the wifi antenna high enough up the rigging so no internet but at high tide the antenna is able to ‘see’ the café and get access onto the wifi net.  I suppose I could add another USB extension lead into the system and get it a bit higher but the signal loss along yet another lump of wire would probably defeat the object.

Last night we were having a glass of wine after supper when Rose and Brian came round to return a bit of chart plotting software we’d lent them.  One thing led to another and we enjoyed a convivial evening putting the world to rights.

Today we aim to leave at about 4pm, as the wind has moved a bit to the north and has dropped to manageable levels.  No point in going earlier, as the tide will be against us in the straits, so we’ll be arriving at Gibraltar about 10pm.

J & I had some good news yesterday.  James Aiston from Strutt and Parker, our letting agents, has found us a tenant for Chapel Cottage.  James has had a struggle to find someone to rent the place but has now come up trumps.  We’re delighted, not just because it will give us a bit of income but also just to get the place occupied again.

The wait of the past week has been interesting in that it has given us the opportunity to just sit and do not a great deal.  We’ve cleaned the boat, had the genoa repaired, gone for walks and read a fair amount.  The limitations of living on board a yacht have begun to emerge and be dealt with.  J and I have started to do things on our own, rather than living constantly in one another’s pocket.  You will be aware that there isn’t a lot of space on the boat but most of the time that’s not a problem.  Once we’re stopped somewhere it can, however, be a little irritating not to be able to establish a little bit of your own space.

To counter that, J has been for a long walk round the nature reserve, as has David.  I’ve avoided any such hasty actions but have done the shopping on a couple of occasions and spent time contemplating the whichness of why in the saloon whilst the others were doing their own thing in the cockpit.  No doubt, if I hadn’t had to remain on board yesterday waiting for the sailmaker to bring the genoa back I might have felt obliged to toddle off somewhere on my own.

Instead, I’ve been able to write this sort of drivel for the blog.  Perhaps one could call it the maunderings of a lonely skipper but I prefer to dignify it by calling it philosophical reflections on the art of waiting for the wind. 

Saturday 12 September

Ah well, it’s as well to be philosophical about things, as plans seldom come to fruition as we hope.  We left yesterday afternoon at about 4pm, aiming to catch the tide through the straits.  The wind was still from the east but had dropped in the area of the harbour to about a force 4, which we could reasonably expect to make ground into by tacking.

Our first tack took us down to the area marked on the chart as having a flow to the east from 3 hours before high water Gibraltar to 3 hours after it.  This 6 hours of flow would let us reach Gibraltar……

In the event, we made our first turn on to a northerly tack and managed to get the boat heading north east, making ground towards our goal.  Our next tack saw us running back down to the south, holding our ground but not making any headway to the east. However, the wind was increasing and we didn’t seem to be picking up any help from the tide; looking at our positions plotted on the chart, we were not really gaining any ground at all.

Our next tack to the north should have seen us gaining a good deal of ground but the wind was such that we couldn’t hold a course with much east in it at all.  All in all, we decided that whilst we could happily spend the night beating back and forth, we probably wouldn’t make enough ground to be worthwhile, so at about 7pm we set course for Barbate again, coming back on to our old berth at about 8pm – having covered the ground we’d taken 3 hours to make in just over an hour.

Now that we’re back alongside again, we think that we’ll wait until Sunday morning at about 7am before setting off again, as the wind is forecast to drop to nothing or slightly westerly.  We shall wait and see if the forecasters have got it right, as they haven’t been spot on so far, at least as far as the Straits are concerned. 

I use a website called UGRIB which provides wind forecasts in the format of GRIB files.  These files are based on ‘cells’ which are 20 – 30 km squares and the wind inside each square is predicted in both direction and speed every 3 hours.  Put together on a map overlay, you can see what the wind will be at any position at any time up to about 5 days ahead.  On our trip across the Bay of Biscay and down the Atlantic coast, the files were pretty accurate, both in terms of direction and strength.  However, the local winds through the Straits are proving to be more than the software can cope with (same as our sails).  The direction is correct but the speeds are all to pot; the forecast yesterday was for 10 – 15 mph, but the actual speeds were in the region of 25 – 35 mph, just too strong to make much headway against.

Today, the frustration of not being able to get on the internet when and where I choose has become too much.  I’m going into town this afternoon to visit the Vodafone shop, where I understand I can get a pay-as-you-go mobile broadband dongle for a reasonable price.  Hopefully, this will mean even more of this level of stuff on the blog in the future.  I’ll let you all know how things pan out by putting a post up on the blog once I’ve got the new bit of kit.

Waiting for the wind.

As you are no doubt aware (and you should be after reading this blog), a sailing boat such as Rampage is dependent on the wind for her motive power.  What you may not be quite so aware of is just how dependent we are.  Our account so far has often talked of motoring to make progress southwards, so you may have formed the opinion that when the wind isn’t going our way, we can just turn on the motor and away we go.

Nothing, I repeat nothing, could be further from the truth.  Since leaving Cadiz last week, we have faced winds blowing from where we want to go to.  Now, some wise people amongst you will say ‘well that’s OK, you can tack into the wind and still get there, just takes a bit longer’.  Take my word for it, this is not always an option.

At the moment, we have winds of about gale force 8 blowing down the Gibraltar Straits, straight on to our nose as we try to go east.  You will know that we’ve been here in Barbate for about 3 days now, waiting for the wind to abate enough to make progress.  Today, (Tues 8^th) we thought the wind had dropped enough for us to give it a try and our 3 day old wind forecast files seemed to back up our opinion.

We set off at about midday, aiming to catch the rising tide into Gibraltar.  I think we all knew that it wasn’t going to work as we left the harbour, which faces east, with the engine at full throttle and only giving us 3 knots through the water (normally, we’d get about 6 – 6.5).  Anyhow, we hoisted the mainsail and moved on to a northerly tack to clear the harbour breakwater.  Once we’d gained a bit of ground, we tacked on to a southerly course and let the genoa out a bit.  Instantly, we were off a fair old lick – about 6.5 – 7 knots.

The boat however was very overpowered and wouldn’t hold her course, as the mainsail was pushing her back end round.  We tried letting the sheets out but it was still too much and she was starting to refuse to answer the wheel.  Result; we dropped the main and sailed on under just the headsail.  Much more controllable and still doing about 6 knots.  Our course, however, if we were to make Gibraltar needed to be about 160^o but we were only making about 180 – 190^o in other words we were being blown westwards as we tried to move east.

Having made enough ground south to be safe, we then tried the opposite tack, heading northwards.  This was better and we made a bit of ground to the east but nowhere near enough to be said to be making real progress.  It was at this point that a short soviet was held and we decided to head back into Barbate and wait until the winds had really either dropped to the extent we could motor into them or until they swing round to west – even the north or south would be good, just not easterly!

Rampage on her new berth in Barbate - headsail removed for repairs

We came back into Barbate and chose a different pontoon to moor to, one facing the wind and with a bit of shelter from the wind.  We were greeted by another liveaboard crew, who had been considering making the same move as us but had decided not to move.  We’ve decided to go out to supper tonight and compare notes.

Weds 9^th.  We had a pleasant meal with Rose Smith & Brian Varley of Alixora from Glossop who turned out to be doing very much what we are: heading for the Mediterranean with no very fixed plans in mind.  They bought their yacht in March & spent the next couple of months preparing her & clearing their home ready for letting to tenants.  We had a lot in common to compare notes about.

Today the forecast is even more gloomy – strong winds until at least Sunday so we shall be stuck here in Barbate for over a week.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a horrid place – there is a lovely nature reserve all along the coast, west of the marina – it’s just not really where we planned to be at this point so it’s frustrating.  The beaches here are beautiful too – great sweeping curves of white sand with very few people on them but there’s a reason for that.  The wind is such that a trip to the beach would be more of a personal sand blast than a relaxation and pleasure.   

We’ve had to take the headsail down and hand it over to the local sailmaker for repairs after our fun yesterday.  He appeared on time to collect the sail, so we’re hopeful of a quick turn round, although the weather seems set against us.  Still, life is not too bad really.  The sun is hot and the beer is cheap so we relax, take the odd walk and wait for the weather to sort itself out.

View back to the port from the Nature Reserve

And then back into Spain …

We left Vilamoura about 9am and had a good trip to Cadiz arriving early Friday morning.  J promptly fell asleep at the chart table & then, when woken, explained that she’d not slept much during the night & promptly disappeared to sleep the morning away! 

J catching upon her beauty sleep during berthing operations at Cadiz

After lunch we walked along the city walls & into the city.  We liked Cadiz.  The buildings were attractive and in a reasonable state of repair.  The tall buildings and narrow streets meant that for most part it was possible to stay in the shade to avoid the intense heat.  Sadly the glory of the cathedral was marred by hordings celebrating the 125^th anniversary of some bank or other & made it impossible to capture a photograph for your benefit.  However we hope those photos we have included help to give an idea of the place to those who have never visited the city.  J got bolshie when asked to purchase a ticket to see inside the cathedral so we did not bother to venture in.  The view from the tower would probably have been impressive but none of us could face climbing lots of stairs in the heat of the day in order to see it. 

A nice old building in Cadiz

Another attractive old building in Cadiz

 

We had a fairly awful paella (choosing a restaurant is so luck of the draw,) before retiring early to bed in readiness for an early start to Gibraltar in the morning…

Cabo Trafalgar - no sign of Nelson

The best laid plans etc.  Wind and current conspired against us as we proceeded south and shortly after rounding the Cape of Trafalgar, the decision was taken that we should retreat to a safe harbour. 

 

We had taken longer than predicted to reach this point and were getting nowhere fast against a Force 6 easterly wind and strong current.  There was no way to cover enough ground in time make the tide to take us through the Straits of Gibraltar and so we turned into the marina at Barbate, about 30 Nm west of Gibraltar, to wait for more favourable conditions…

And so to the Algarve….

Let me start by thanking a young man by the name of Rafael, who mends boats for a living.  He was the man contacted by the marina staff to help fix our recalcitrant water pump.  He appeared on board about 6pm, looked at the pump, agreed it was terminally ill and that he could probably get a replacement to us that evening.  He was as good as his word, departing into Lisbon to pick up a new pump and returning to us at about 10pm, apologising profusely for his lateness, which had been caused by bad traffic as Lisbon came back to life after a holiday weekend.  He had the new pump fitted in about 10 minutes and was gone, having presented what was a very reasonable bill considering how much trouble he’d been to for us.  A credit to Portugal!

We left the following morning (yesterday) having topped off the water tanks; the new pump has a higher capacity than the old one and can empty one of our 2 tanks in about 10 minutes if a tap is left on! 

Our aim was to sail for about 24 hours to reach a place called Portimao, just round Cape St Vincent on the Algarve.  In the event, the wind was working with us to such an extent that we changed our minds about middle day and decided to run on to Vilamoura, which is about 30 miles further on.  This then makes our next leg to Cadiz that much shorter and easier.

The only real excitement of the day was mid afternoon, when it became necessary to put the third reef into the mainsail.  The third reef is the only one which requires you to leave the cockpit; the first 2 reefs work off single lines from the cockpit.

David was on watch and brought the boat into the wind whilst I went up to the mast to fix the reefing point at the mast.  This meant that we were heading into the wind for the first time that day and the movement of the boat was quite exciting.  Anyhow, all was going well and I’d just attached the reefing point and was preparing to move back to the cockpit when a large wave broke over the bow of the boat.  Result; soaked Duncan and David, cockpit full of water and much giggling.  However, J then appeared from below and gave us the news that one of the hatches in the saloon and those in David’s cabin had not been shut.  Result: loads of water on David’s bed and quite a bit in the saloon.  Nothing too disastrous but it meant David had to sleep in the other cabin for the night whilst things dried out.

We continued to make good time and rounded Cape St Vincent in the small hours of the morning.  Julia brought the boat on to the new course for Vilamoura and then had to start the motor and put the sails away when the wind went on strike.  We got the wind back again after an hour and cracked on at about 6 – 7 knots for the remainder of the trip, arriving in Vilamoura about middle day.

Having said the Oieras was a posh place,  it’s as nothing compared to this marina.  It’s at the heart of a tourist development, with bars, cafes and little shops surrounding it.  The facilities are quite good and it’s nice to be in the centre of town.  Have to see how noisy it is tonight!

J has conducted a recce of the laundromat and has left to wash a load of things that got soaked in our excitements yesterday.  I’m writing this offline as David has left on a mission to find cheap/free internet access.  If the marina doesn’t provide, we’re usually forced to drink beer in a bar which offers a wifi zone – it’s terrible the things you’re forced to do just to keep your reader’s curiosity satisfied.

Our plan is to leave for Cadiz tomorrow, arriving the following day.  We’ll then spend a night there before leaving to move on to Gibraltar, where we’ll refuel and replen with things British before heading onwards to Barcelona.  It is great to be approaching the next of our goals; entering the Med.  In many ways it still doesn’t seem quite real.  It isn’t until you sit and read through the log book or look at the charts with the hourly positions marked on them that you realise just how far we’ve come.  Equally, there’s still quite a bit still left; it’s just over 700 miles to Barcelona.  If we really wanted to we could do that in under a week (we can do 120 miles a day if we’re lucky).  Realistically, we’re aiming to get there late September, taking our time and mainly day sailing once we drop David in Malaga.

Anyhow, that’s all from us for now.  We’ll try and post again when we get to Cadiz and of course from Gibraltar.