Harriette - Gibraltar

Hello friends,

Well, we got here. Not exactly by the route we planned but safely and on time.

Andy Winter, Diana Gray's nephew, flew in to Arrecife (Lanzarote) on Thursday 17 May to crew for us. We set sail from Puerto Calero the next morning at 0830.

We mostly had NNW force 3 to start with, slowly veering and increasing to ENE force 4 to 5 over the trip to Madeira. We did a combination of sailing and motor-sailing. The first day we saw 3 dolphins and on the second afternoon a racing pigeon (number 2552) cheated by landing and staying the night, only leaving after we had tied up in Funchal the following afternoon! We called her Lolita because Jo said she had to have a female name, being a bird. We took a picture of Andy in bed with this bird!

We did watches of 4 hours on and 4 off during the nights, which was OK for 2 nights but I wouldn't like to do that for much longer, or in bad weather.

Frank Kormos arrived in Madeira on Monday evening and we hired a car and did a tour of the island on the Tuesday.

The island is very lush with vegetation and crops, unlike the barren landscape of most of the Canaries. Also, the island has a feeling of being complete, instead of the ever-present construction works and yellow cranes that characterise Tenerife.

Instead of blocks of flats, detached houses surrounded by lush gardens seem to be the norm. The island is very mountainous, in this way like the Canaries. However, streams and surface water running down the gutters are common here but almost completely absent in the Canaries.

It was dissapointingly cloudy when we arrived in Madeira but it became hot and sunny before we left.

John Enston arrived on Wednesday afternoon (23 May) and we left for Gibraltar as soon as he had learned enough about the yacht.

Winds were light and against us because of a high pressure ridge extending across us and up to the UK. We motored on a course about 25 degrees north of the rhumb line (direct route) in the hope that we would meet more favourable winds in 2 or 3 days, the more north we went. However, the forecast was for continuing light winds from the NE for the next 6 days at least, so we expected to have to motor for about 3 days, then sail rather slowly east in light winds.

As it turned out the winds remained from the NNE but gradually increased to force 4 by Thursday afternoon, force 5 most of Friday and touching force 7 on Saturday. At that wind strength we could not sail close enough to the wind to make sensible progress towards Gibraltar. Besides which storm force 8 was forcast for Gibraltar. So we decided to take the safer option and continue north-eastwards under engine to Lagos, on the Algarve coast, to refuel. We arrived in Lagos before dawn on Monday 28th, after having motor-sailed most of the 533 miles from Madeira.

After 30 hours recovering in Lagos Marina we continued by pleasant day hops via Vilamoura, Vila Real, Chipiona and Barbate to Gibraltar, where we arrived yesterday, Saturday, at 3 pm. Most days the sun was hot enough to sunbathe and we have a few red parts to prove it. Unfortunately the wind continued to veer. It became lighter but was on the nose all the way, so we continued to motor most of the time. It was nice to sample the local food (and beer and wine) each evening, although we did appreciate the crew's culinary expertise during the day, especially Frank's tasty presentations.

Fog in the Strait - down to a quarter of a mile visibility - was an interesting variation on the weather for the last few hours before the rock came into view. Studying the radar and staring into the mist, listening to the fog horns from large ships a mile away (hopefully) in the Traffic Separation Scheme made it necessary to concentrate hard.

We logged 765 nautical miles since Madeira, to add to the 290 from Lanzarote to Madeira.

Here in the Marina Bay Marina the weather is hot and sunny - the way it's going to be for the next few months!

Andy returns to UK tonight and Frank and John have booked flights for tomorrow.

Our plans are to leave Gibraltar mid week and cruise slowly up the Costa del Sol, past Sotogrande, Marbella and Fuengirola towards Malaga (only 60 miles away). 

After Malaga we'll cruise on up the Spanish coast via Almeria to arrive near Cartagena by the end of June, where we may stay a week to see local friends.

After that we'll hop from Alicante to Formentera, Ibiza, Mallorca and possibly Menorca. Hopefully there will be opportunities here to get away from marinas and anchor some nights and lunchtimes off idyllic sandy coves!

At the end of July we'll hop up to Barcelona. This will involve a 24 hour crossing, for which we could do with some help to share the night watches. Then along the Costa Dorada to France. Then from early August till end August we'll be seeing the S. coast of France, with a land diversion back to Barcelona for a hash with Bill and others from England from 9th to 13th August.

On On