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
Hallo Evan, wie ich sehe bist Du gut und bei schönem Wetter in Gibraltar angekommen. Hoffe Ihr hattet
eine gute Tour bis dahin. Viel Spaß noch für die nächsten Etappen.
Gruß Klaus
Hallo Klaus! Ja, de Abschnitt Lissabon – Gibraltar war sehr interessant. Nördlich bzw. südlich von Cabo da Sao Vincente sind ganz andere Welten. Von F7 bis Flaute war alles dabei. Ganz besonders verblüfft hat mich die Wassertemperatur an der Algarve 24C! Ein paar Meilen Nördlicher waren es nur 18C. Scönen Gruß aus dem Mittelmeer.
Hi Angelos,
zum Glück hast du den Wassereinbruch noch rechtzeitig bemerkt – das hätte ja auch noch böser enden können… Hauptsache die Klamotten sind jetzt wieder trocken.
Weiterhin gute Reise
Christiane
Wie sang Trio? Schnell gesehen, schnell geschossen gute Aktion. Go Evan go!
Haha Ja! Gehört wohl alles zum Segeln. Nix Süsswassersegeln, Nur der Motorraum sollte nicht „gesalzen“ sein. Habe alles abgeduscht mit süsswasser. Sieht schon wieder relativ gut aus.
Hallo Christiane und Lothar, Das Wasser kam zum Glück ubers Deck und nicht von unten, war also in den vergangenen stunden eingedrungen. Mann hab ich einen Schrecken bekommen als ich das Wasser sah… Ich wusste ja nicht ob es plötzlich eindrang oder nicht. Habe schon überlegt ob ich die Strecke bis nach Gibraltar schwimmen könnte :-D
Dear Evan,
You have had a hard time in which severe weather upwind!
I read about the leakage, not very nice. Friends of ours who own a HR352 from 1985, had a similar experience during bad weather : leakage in the stern. It turned out, that the water of the waves against the stern penetrated via the underside of the wooden gunwale through the clamp boltholes in the locker under the aft deck. There too wet mattresses. He renewed the gunwale locally and sealed the underside adequately. Perhaps a reason to investigate this as well.
We had this weekend during a sailing trip also a F6- F7, but fortunately on a sailing course. Therefore we enjoyed wonderfull sailing and we hope the same for you during the coming trips.
Kind regards, Guus and Corry.
Dear Guus and Corry, thanks for the information regarding the gunwale leakage. It really makes sense to check that too. I flooded the aft locker backskiste until the level reached the hole for the cable though for checking and then the water started flowing into the boat through the aft cabin lockers. As you know there is only a little hole in the aft locker for drainage backskiste and the water from the coming over seas couldn’t flow out quickly enough. I sealed the hole now and hope for the best. Juno must have been quite fast at F6-F7. The maximum I saw with Matilda was 8kn (!) when rounded Cabo de Sao Vincente in F7 – F8 (…but that was with a bit too much sail area) and an amazing 6.5kn sailing close holed at F6. Both were GPS readings, so maybe 0.5kn less because of the tidal current but still impressive speeds. Always faire winds! Evan
Gut gemacht, mein Freund!
Hoffentlich wirst du auf den kommenden Mittelmeer-Trips ein paar sehr schöne Tage haben.
Freuen uns auf deine Posts.
Deine Straelener
Hallo liebe Straelener! Klar wird sicher ein paar schöne Tage geben. Danke! Die Atlantikwellen vermisse ich jedoch schon ;-)