Light wind? Light wind? You must be mad. The forecast for the overnight trip from Gibraltar to Almerimar was F2-3 mainly from the west and dying overnight. I had visions of motoring all the way! The wind Gods had other ideas and by the time we had motored out of the marina we were faced with 15knts on the nose as we headed out south with the rock on our left. Up went the main (with one reef in just in case) and we were then hit with 25knts from the west. Luckily we were turning the right way but still 25knts up the chuff with only one reef was more like racing mode - and Pam tells me we can't do that. It was a great sail for about an hour until SWMBO forced the 2nd reef. After that it was less exciting but certainly more stable.
This was an interesting shot of Gibraltar. Notice the ship "parked" against the lighthouse. I wonder if it has shore power?
The wind then kept up until almost dark with the sea a bit lumpy but not as bad as the first overnighter. Heading west though would have been pretty tough. Maybe we will stay in the Med.
Bogey was still feeling green and spent the whole voyage in his bunk
The sky had been clear all day so when the sun set, the stars came out in a moonless sky. The moon was the last of the waning moon and didn't rise until after 6am. The wind dropped to nothing and it was a case of motor on and head straight for Almerimar. By sunrise we could see the mist descending and by 8am we were in thick fog. On with the radar which performed flawlessly apart from turning itself on and off a couple of times at the most inopportune moments! We motored into Almerimar around 11ish after a 135 mile sail in 20 metres visibility. Thank god for GPS and radar. That is the first sail we have had to use the foghorn and it was good to hear the other boats that the radar was telling us we were going to crash into were hearing the horn and replying.
The AIS also proved it worth by letting us know the course and speed of the hundreds of ships plying up and down the straits. It gave us the advance warning an hour ahead so we could gybe out of their way and keep well clear.
No problem with the boat other than the tactick wind instrument ceasing to function after the sun went down. This had happened the previous night sail. I suspect it is a battery or charging problem in the wind vane at the top of the mast. Murray went up the mast today to clean the solar panel in the vane so maybe that will solve it. Failing that I think an email to Tacktick is in order!
Almerimar is a cheap marina. Around 10 Euro /day including the lecky. Med mooring again but this time there was not a lot of space between the other two boats so we went in forwards to create the space we needed. We didn't need the ladder this way! The ladder had worked well in Gibraltar apart from needing a better way to attach it to the back of the boat. We now have another cunning plan to complete this. Although the berthing fees are cheap, the restaurants around are fairly expensive with 50 Euros for two the most expensive we have had for a long time. Lagos was much cheaper. We can't complain though. With the sun shining and the temperature in the 20's, it is really nice.
The ssb radio is not earning it's keep at the moment with zero luck in contacting Kishorn, Balchis or Calaloo on 8101Mhz. I will keep trying each evening, now at 6,7 and 8pm local time. If you are listening guys, give me a shout - or anyone else that might be on.
Today then is a quite day apart from various jobs on the boat. Our plan is to leave tomorrow (Friday) and head up to Cartegana in another overnight sail ahead of some stronger winds forecast for Saturday night. We will stop there for a few days before the trip over to the Balerics. Trevor and Lesley sent a text to say they may also be there Saturday and Chica (one of the Dutch boats ex Lagos) were due in here today. Rick and Connie on Calaloo are in Alicante so we may catch up with them early next week. I think we are leaving China Blue behind and with the bad weather forecast for the weekend - they will have problems catching us up.
More to follow.
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