Month: June 2015

The trip to Almerimar from Bemalmadena was good sailing. We left at about 12:00 midday and arrived at 01:00 after midnight. A constant F5 – F6 was pushing from SW and we managed 90NM in 13 hours! Then, at midnight and about 5 NM off the harbour of Almerimar in a gybing maneuver it happened. The outhaul line clamp came off and all the force was applied to the little openings for the reefing lines at the foot of the sail. The cloth is quite thin there and it teared off. The sailmaker in Almerimar is of course not available but fortunately, since this part of the sail is not exposed to strong forces, it should be possible to go on as long as the outhaul line is stretched properly. I visited Spence’s chandlery shop yesterday and they have been very professional and helpful with the Raymarine wind instrument issue. The Cable in the mast was replaced and the wind sensor is arriving today. Both parts were showing corrosion because of a leakage in the joint. I was told that this is often a problem with these wind sensors. Let’s hope that the sensor will arrive and be installed today.

Heading east at 7 to 8 knots

Dolphins in the Mediterranean are smaller

Moored in Almerimar

Tear in main sail

Gibraltar is now 50NM behind. As there was no wind today, we motored to Benalmadena. It has been a fast trip with currents pushing us to more than 8kn over ground. I was hoping to get the sensor for the wind instrument replaced in this harbour but Gekser Nautic, the company that was recommended by Shepparrds in Gibraltar does not answer emails neither is it picking up the phone… So, as it seems this warranty issue is not going to be resolved before the trip is over…

Leaving Gibraltar – Queen Elizabeth

Leaving Gibraltar – Ships waiting to be refueled

This one is fortunately at anchor

Moored in Benalmadena

Find Matilda

Gibraltar is a great stop and a significant milestone along the route and the skipper is of course more than happy

The Gibraltar crew left early this morning. I had to do a few things today and first went to the Sheppards chandlery in order to buy a garden hose and also fix the problem with the wind instrument. I had contacted Raymarine via email and they directed me to the company mentioned above for the repair under warranty. Of course, the technician was not available until Tuesday next week… I got the hose and went back to the boat where I wanted to wash the salt away from the engine room. When I turned the water on I realized that I had bought a sprinkler instead. The hose had about 7 holes. I will get it back tomorrow. I could do what I wanted though and thoroughly rinsed out the salt from the engine and the entire engine room with fresh water. I also had to remove all floor boards in the boat and wipe out the salt water underneath. The work was accomplished this afternoon and most of the salt is out. I would have to do a more thorough job when arrived in Greece where I could take everything out of the boat, wash it with fresh water and let it dry in the warm summer breeze. Good thing is, the boat is cleaner now than before.
Yesterday, we did some Gibraltar sightseeing and also went up the Rock with the “CableCar”. The old town is very nice (and British) and the view from the top is breathtaking. I have added a gallery below with some impressions:

A southeasterly F5 to F6 was forecasted for today backing to an easterly F5 after rounding Tarifa. The levanter is actually blowing from the Mediterranean through the strait into the Atlantic but veering close to the coast and following the Spanish coastline all along the way to Cadiz. We left Barbate at about 07:30 and prepared for a rough passage. Staying in Barbate and waiting for better conditions as some other sailors we spoke to decided to do, was not an option because the weather forecast was even worse for Sunday. After one hour of motoring close to the coast where the waves were smaller and the boat faster, we had to change course and go further offshore in a big loop in order to avoid a field with tuna nets which we fortunately saw early enough before running into it. The waves were quite big and steep and the water was permanently coming over spraying all along to the stern. We had calculated the passage to around 7 hours. We passed north of Bajo de Los Cabezos a dangerous shoals area (where is said that the waves break even in calm weather) and rounded Tarifa. The conditions went better and the wind dropped to an F4 to F5 but still blowing exactly from the direction we wanted to go. About 4NM before Gibraltar, when I was writing an entry in my logbook I noticed that the floor carpet was wet. We had noticed some water that came in from a leakage at the starboard chain plate but that was not enough to explain the wet carpet. I jumped to the companionway, took away the steps and opened the bilge cover. The water had reached the floor level. I opened the door to the engine room in order to check the seal at the propeller shaft and got a horizontal salt water shower. The propeller shaft was already under water and the flexible coupling was squirting the salt water all over the engine and all other installations whilst rotating. I switched on the emergency bilge pump and observed the water level dropping. At the same time I checked all through hulls but couldn’t see where the water was coming in. With a great relief I realized that there was no more water entering the boat, but how did it get in and when? I had checked the bilge before leaving Barbate. Being safe, we continued to Gibraltar and made fast in the Marina Bay. To keep the long story short, the water came in from a hole in the back locker on the aft deck which was used as a cable feed through. The locker filled up with water because of the overcoming seas and the water found its way into the boat through that hole. It is amazing how fast you can get 150LT of water into the boat through a small hole. Unfortunately, the way to the bilge was through the lockers and over the mattresses in the aft cabin. Everything was wet. Next thing to do was getting the water and salt out of the boat which was our activity for the afternoon and evening.

Approaching Gibraltar

The Rock with the levanter cloud on top

Ships in the Gibraltar harbour

Drying mattresses and other stuff

Today the weather forecast was promising a nice sailing day. The target for today was Barbate which is the only safe harbour between Cadiz and Gibraltar. We spent about one hour washing the dirt off the boat which was blown into the marina from a close by construction site. Everything was full of dirt and sand. We finally left Cadiz at about 10:00 local time. It was blowing more than forecasted outside and the provisionally taken in second reef proved to be a good idea. We tacked for 8 hours in a SE F6 and decided to turn on the engine at 18:00 in order to arrive at the harbour before the night. The last 3 hours we spent motoring against a SE F6 levanter and big seas and carefully looking for tuna fish nets. We safely arrived in Barbate Marina at 21:20.

Tomorrow’s target is Gibraltar which is also the end of the third leg of the voyage.

Another day without wind. The initial plan to sail to Mazagon was dropped. It makes little sense to motor to Mazagon first and then to Cadiz. It would have been 5 more hours on the engine and Mazagon is not known for its attraction. The decision was taken to head directly to Cadiz. This way we would arrive at about 23:00 and could spend the whole next day exploring the town.

The calculation was wrong. At about 18:00 the Levanter (an easterly wind known to blow through the Gibraltar strait with up to 40kn and more and extending up to this area) became apparent. After about one hour it had reached F5 to F6 and was blowing from ESE which was exactly where we wanted to go. Soon steep waves built up, and the speed dropped to sometimes below 3kn. That was motoring against the waves. Sailing to Cadiz would have meant tacking which would have reduced progress to below 2kn. It was still more than 30NM to go. I secured the dinghy on the foredeck and prepared for the long night. We arrived finally at 04:00 in the morning with the Levanter still blowing unchanged.

Cadiz Marina

Faro is located at the NW end of a tidal lagoon system which runs along the coast for some 30NM between the mainland and the sea. After approximately 8 hours of motoring, we arrived at about 18:30 and had the tidal current against us when entering between the breakwaters. There were heavy eddies because of the spring tide and the current was setting with up to 4kn. It took a while to reach the anchorage off Ponte Cais located 2.5NM further north where we dropped the anchor in between 10 to 15 other “long distance sailors”. We inflated the dinghy and visited the little fishing village on the island. Lying here at anchor between so many other sailing boats from almost any country in northern Europe was very satisfying. I had arrived; I am now part of the cruising sailor’s community.

Leaving Lagos

Sunshade

At Anchor

Arrived

We left Sines Marina at about 8:30 local time and headed for Cabo de Sao Vincente. There was not enough wind in the morning, so we motored for a little while. At about 12:00 we hoisted the main and rolled out the genoa. I was blowing with a comfortable NNW F4.

We had been warned that the wind would increase significantly when rounding Cabo de Sao Vincente. I took in the second reef in the main sail in order to be prepared. Whilst rounding the cape, the wind was constantly picking up and reached finally F7-F8. It remained like this until Lagos harbour entry. We could retain speeds above 7kn and arrived finally approximately 45min after sunset at 21:30 local time in the darkness.

Cabo de Sao Vincente is an impressive landmark

Lisbon and Cascais lie behind. We managed more than 50 NM today in a northwesterly F5-F6. There were some massive waves on the way to Sines but Matilda did an excellent work again providing a good feeling of safety. Of course, the wind freshed up to an F7 (min) again at the arrival. I am getting used to maneuvering at these wind forces and I think anything below F6 is going to be boring in the future :-) We managed a super-duper spot-on berthing maneuver and went for some great grilled fish dinner at the Restinguinha restaurant which can really be recommended!