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Hugh, Anne and Hector's Sailing Adventures
This is your Captain Speaking 22nd July
I have been strangely silent over the past couple of weeks but we have been pressing on to make the distanced between Faro and Palma so that Alex and Ruby can make their flight on Monday 25th. As I write , we are settling down for a night sail from Ibiza to Majorca. Today was eventful as with a wild screaming noise which was reminiscent of the last time I shut the cat's tail in the door, the engine water pump seized solid and the drive belt produced impressive amounts of smoke. I have been criticized for having too much junk on the boat but when I produced a brand new spare pump from the bowels of the fore cabin and with Alex's help had it fitted in an hour, my critics or rather my critic was silently impressed.
That was today but let me backtrack a bit. After we dropped Fergus and Julie we settle in with Alex and Ruby and set off for Cadiz. We sort of motor sailed (85miles) and arrived at 2000 had a swift G&T and headed into town had a meal and went to the main square in the old town. Cadiz looks interesting we must return. Next day was off on a shorter leg to Barbate where the tunny nets run out from the harbour to three miles offshore. They leave a small gap at the harbour wall which we squeezed through and moored up in time for a firework display to celebrate the Feast of the Golden Tunny (I just made that up). Hector still hasn't learned to appreciate fireworks yet so I'll have to run some more intensive training sessions when we get back.
Next day was Barbate to Gibraltar. Quite an interesting leg with strong winds and strong tides and masses of commercial shipping. Down past Tarifa, the windiest place in Europe and there was the Rock, just like the pictures! We berthed in Queensway marina (£15) where they are constructing an artificial island to build luxury houses with sea views , spiral staircases high prices and no storage space.
We didn't explore the Rock as we were keen to press on to Palma. The nearest thing to the famous apes we saw were off duty personnel in the local pub. The whole place is just too English!
We departed at lunchtime and did an overnighter to Almeria (135m). We had a good sail in rough conditions with a following wind, saw terrific dolphins and got pooped! In fact Anne got pooped and it's not as bad as you dog owners think.. She was sitting in the cockpit and this large wave curled up out of nowhere and dropped directly on top of her. Unfortunately Hector was sleeping directly below an open hatch and he was pooped too. Some people find this sort of thing really funny or is it just Alex and me?
Next day was more of the same lumpy seas and headwinds so we diverted to Garrucha (yes I had never heard of it), which is a sand exporting port. That was yesterday and we decided just to go for it and set out for Palma (260 miles) with two days and two nights on the trot.
This brings me back to the top of the page as it is now 2100hr on Friday22nd and we have 55 miles to go which should get us into Palma in the early hours of the morning.
Pretty boring to read but it has been a good sailing week in which we will have covered about 500miles. The record for the fastest 24hours in a monohull stands at 530 miles so we are not challenging that at the moment.
Regards to all,
Hugh
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