EXIT MED.....STAGE LEFT
Time is marching on and it really is time to leave the Med. We depart Almerimar and head via Malaga to La Linea which is the Spanish border town next to Gibraltar.
Stocked up on duty free fuel at Gib, filled the pantry and freezer and pointed the bow of Musketelle west out into the Straits of Gibraltar and a new ocean.
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| Looking from marina berth in Spain across border to Gibraltar |
Stocked up on duty free fuel at Gib, filled the pantry and freezer and pointed the bow of Musketelle west out into the Straits of Gibraltar and a new ocean.
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| Airy dawn departure leaving Gibraltar and Mediterranean astern |
Departing Gibraltar at dawn we track close to the Spanish coast before the wind changes and we are able to tack across to the Moroccan coast. B has gone below for a bit of shut eye whilst still officially in the Med and awakes a few hours later to the unfamiliar swells of the Atlantic Ocean.
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| Cool sailing off Morrocan coast dealing to a Catana 54 Catamaran |
Frantic Atlantic
Yep we are in a completely new environment and its instantly evident. The sea has a different look about it, its cooler and the swell seems energised. Maybe its us just over emphasising but that’s how we feel……its certainly a milestone and getting across the 3000 odd mile wide pond will be something of a challenge.
We would have liked to call in at one of the Moroccan ports en-route to the Canary Islands but the weather this week is predicted to be out of the northwest and this is not favourable for entering or exiting the shallow Moroccan harbours on the edge of the Sahara Desert. So we are now committed to sailing direct to the Canary Islands with Las Palmas our destination.
We are in radio contact on some of this leg with the Swiss yacht SY Marlin and her skipper Werner who is just commencing his voyaging having purchased his yacht earlier this year in Sardinia. Werner might be a newby at cruising but he is a very successful fish killer with appropriately marlin swordfish his specialty.
We have been on the receiving end of marlin fillets from Werner and it’s stunning grilled with sea salt and a touch of lemon.
A north westerly blow propels us south toward our destination dodging dimly lit fishing nets at night that reputedly have surface wire cables so we are alert and altering course to go around the ends of these surface set nets and their flashing lights.
Stories of yachts getting mixed up in nets at sea is enough to keep us alert because going over the side to untangle sort of takes the shine off your day or night and can be pretty dangerous in a seaway.
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| Morrocan fishing boat in swell |
Watch Out I’m 6km Long
There is a surprising volume of commercial shipping on this passage plus the aforementioned fishing boats. Additionally one morning we received a radio call from a oceanographic survey vessel who had picked up our AIS signal over the horizon as we at this point could not see him. He informed us he was towing surface gear marked by a yellow buoy 6000 metres from his stern and would we mind altering course now so we would not hit his gear and ruin his days research. We naturally obliged and he called up later to thank us informing we could return to our original course. All very professional and courteous we were impressed.
The final day out from the Canaries old man weather decided to combine with the ocean and hurl some enhanced winds and energised swells at us reminding us who is in control and as the temperature dropped we reduced sail in acknowledgment. This place, this ocean commands respect.
We pull into the island of Lanzarotte for a break from the weather and little do we know it then but events will unfold that will see us on Lanzarotte for another 3 weeks !!
Almighty Bang
Almighty Bang
We depart Lanzarotte pre-dawn bound the 90 miles for Las Palmas in increasing northwest winds gusting 30knots with quite big seas and reefed down Musketelle is bouncing along at 9 knots at this point about 3 miles off the island of Fuerteventura.
The autopilot cuts out due to the big seas indicating it needs resetting for the conditions so P commences helming manually to settle things down. As he is doing this he thinks what a hell of a place to have a steering malfunction in seas like this on a leashore like this and next minute there is an almighty bang in the steering pedestal and then we lose steerage.
We burst into action to slow the boat down by releasing the main sail so that is de-powered but not flapping, drop the headsail, in this case the small staysail completely and Musketelle backs off to 2 knots still holding a satisfactory course and showing no signs of wanting to self tack. Next we both charge down below to get the emergency tiller to regain steerage and 5minutes later we are underway again hand steering and on course for Las Palmas having only run a hundred metres closer to Fuerteventura which was a pleasant surprise. Only negative was we disagreed on where the emergency tiller was stowed and that wasted a minute and the stainless steel deckplate covering the emergency steering knuckle required the help of the hammer and a screwdriver to access wasting another minute so we could easily have reduced the getgo time to 3 minutes rather than 5. All in all a good outcome mitigating a potentially major problem. We rigged up some snatch blocks and ran ropes to help hand steer and initially continued on course the 80 miles to Las Palmas but a mile on decided it smarter to return the 10 miles to Rubicon Marina on Lanzarotte.
Hand steering back to Lanzarotte with rope lines
(about 3 hours after calamity, sea has calmed down)
Emergency Tiller setup showing ropes through snatch blocks
We had only replaced the steering wire cable in Almerimar in October and our initial thought was dud Chinese, wire but we soon discovered it was the hefty motorcycle size chain that rings the sprocket at the steering wheel end that has failed with a clean snap. Subsequent analysis reveals the chain has other cracks and requires replacing with a new chain. We also upgrade the emergency steering gear to future proof everything. Steering failure is not that common thankfully and we are sort of thankful it happened here adjacent to a safe haven port rather than mid ocean.
Getting new stainless steel chain takes over a week to source, repairing the emergency tiller requires engineering work and before we know it 10 days has passed. We hire a car to do the touristic things and are thankful we do because this barren rocky volcanic island has some stunning vistas.
The architecture is unique as are the successful wine growing techniques of letting the vines not grow on vines but let them run over the scoria rock in shallow hollows to minimise wind damage. The heat of the sun off the red and black scoria clearly provides perfect conditions as do the nutrients in the volcanic soil.
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| Driving on Lanzarotte |
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| Moonscape Lanzarotte |
The architecture is unique as are the successful wine growing techniques of letting the vines not grow on vines but let them run over the scoria rock in shallow hollows to minimise wind damage. The heat of the sun off the red and black scoria clearly provides perfect conditions as do the nutrients in the volcanic soil.
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| Wine Growing - vines in hollows on ground |
Cat Stuff
Rubicon Marina was a neat facility and we warmed to the place but for the cold showers. Only real problem was it was not cat friendly and WiFi got into all sorts of trouble with marina officialdom here not to mention lots of little dogs being walked that owners were concerned WiFi was going to attack.
One night she went awol and did not return which was most unusual. B walked the docks but could not find her until she thought of checking WiFi's collar email address wifinz@gmail.com and sure enough a French family had WiFi so we picked her up next morning. Of course she would not leave them when they were giving her foiegras and we are only providing Whiskas.
She adopted another boat on our dock this time Irish and she spent more time there which had B miffed. Fact of the matter is this Turkish cat is very social and she likes experiencing other boats for sleepovers.
Forestay Blues
A forestay is fundamental to holding the tree of a yacht up along with the sidestays and backstay. So it was with major concern P noticed the base our forestay was bent when we had docked in Rubicon Marina. Turns out the anchor had glanced the threaded rigging screw of the tensioner connecting the forestay to the stemhead on the bow and this had happened pre dawn on the morning we lost the sterring but not noticed in the dark.
This fitting was brand new and had only been installed in Almerimar. As only a component part of the tensioner needed replacing we went back to the manufacturer Furlex Selden telling them what had happened requesting a replacement threaded rigging eye. But surprisingly they insisted they could not and would not supply and we would have to purchase another complete unit at about $800.
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| Damaged threaded rigging screw with bend |
P spat the dummy and was furious so we ordered a threaded eye from a rigging company in Plymouth in the UK for $50 and luckily another yacht on the dock in Rubicon by the name of 'Toots' was having a crew member coming out from the UK the following week so he was able to carry it for us, saving us $750.
We have crossed Furlex Selden off our Xmas Card list and will think twice about purchasing their products in the future based on that performance.
The end of another month, all at sea in a marina.
