First night out of Gibraltar

Well, what an interesting day. Gilly's passage plan was spot on and timings perfect. We left La Linea at 9.00am and put up sails right away. Dilek in Symina followed us out on a murky morning with wind gradually picking up. By the time we got to Tarifa it was gusting 30 knots. We started with a reefed main but after a nasty crash gybe when the preventer broke we opted for a genoa, initially full but increasingly reefed as we moved westwards. I think we saw 40 knots just very brieflyplus the 7 knots behind us made for quite a sail!



Just west of Tarifa Dilek called to say she had problems with her autopilot. We couldn't decide whether to fight back up into the wind to see if she needed assistance or not. In the end we did turn, made no headway against the still freshening breeze and then heard her say she was continuing on. We snuck along the Spanish coast for some miles before diving across to the Moroccan coast. Unfortunately the wind is still strong now at 10.30pm and we are having to handsteer as the new Aries hinge still requires some mastering. Oh yes, and after giving it a good go Marcus has been sick again.



We haven't heard from Dilek now for a good few hours. This won't be much fun on her own. We are pushing on 270 southwest now before turning south in a couple of days.



Goodnight. All on Petronella



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Off Africa Tomorrow

In a just a few hours we leave Gibraltar for The Canaries. 600 miles of ocean sailing starting with the tricky passsage through the Straits of Gibraltar, past Tarifa, across the shipping lanes and then on towards the Moroccan coast. A 9.30am start tomorrow SHOULD give us favourable winds, currents and tides though we might be met with fog when  we wake up - just what we don't want.

We met Jen and Marcus last night at the airport and today has been a combination of jobs and tourism. This morning we climbed The Rock, watched the, really cute, little baby apes and caught up with news. But we also finished the netting around the bow to stop us falling overboard, filled the water tanks, found that the repaired toilet is leaking again, prepared the sails for off, returned our marina pass cards, stowed the last few things and said our goodbyes. Finally it was back to our favourite tapas bar for Iberian ham, eggs and chips as well as 7 other tasty dishes. Goodbye La Linea - we will miss you.

Tomorrow, we leave on the start of the adventure.

Here are some pictures symbolising preparations for departure. With luck the next blog update will come to you from somewhere in the east Atlantic.

Final touches to the safety netting

Last minute stowage problems

Back in Gibraltar

Current Location: Morrison's, Gibraltar

I'm sitting in Morrison's in Gibraltar whilst Gill does even more stores shopping. Petronella is creaking at the seams and we may have to repaint the water line white stripe an inch or two higher!

Well, what a change in environment. We've just spent a month in the UK arranging care packages and Blue Badges for Mum and Dad as they struggle to continue living independently. Three hours later we are back in a world full of long-distance sailors.

We've become used to being some of the better travelled Med sailors but here we feel like newbies again. Moody Mistress across from us on the pontoon left for the Canaries yesterday. This morning Gill met a guy and his nephew who are off to Sydney, Australia. Dilek has arrived, Carpe Diem get here tomorrow, Endangered Species a few days later. Old friends and new gathering for an adventure. Everywhere preparations for long passages are being made. This really is a buzzing place at present.

On Sunday Jen and Marcus arrive and after a quick tour of The Rock we'll set off as soon as the weather is favourable. First stop La Graciosa for a couple of days. Then Lanzarote. All very exciting.

We've tried the new sail which looks fine - just need some ropes and clips for it. The repaired windlass looks like it will last for a while. The guard rails have been tightened using fittings purchased at the boat show. The paint we put on the deck in Kas is peeling off but that is only cosmetic. The self steering hinge has been fitted. We've bought an old secondhand Satellite phone for emergencies only (sorry Jen) from Wave Runner a New Zealand boat who have decided at the last minute to stop cruising. This morning we will purchase chain to secure our dinghy from thieves in the Caribbean and we are buying Dilek anchor chain here in Gib because as a Turk she has no UK visa.

Questions. Questions. Can we get US gas bottles filled in Lanzarote? How far west to go before turning south? Is it our HF radio or Carpe Diem's that mean we can't talk (or both). Will we catch fish on the way to the Canaries? Whole else be leaving at the same time as us? Is it worth changing the oil again or should I wait till Lanzarote? What about that slipping fanbelt and slight leak from the seawater side of the cooling system? What if? What if.......?

UK Progress Update

Current Location: Petronella in La Linea. Us in Southampton, UK.

Amazingly quite a few of you want to know how we are getting on!

Are we still in the UK? Yes

When do we return to La Linea? 21st September

How are we progressing with those many tasks? See below...

Well, we are now the proud owners of a large, secondhand downwind sail for our spare forestay. For £165 we hope we have bought ourselves an extra knot or two. It's about twice the size of our mainsail so we should have some fun taming all that canvas in the middle of (or preferably before) the first Atlantic squall.

The broken windlass is more of a problem. I had no reply from the lady in America who had one for sale back in February. Our Turkish friend Ozkan has one he would give us except it is in worse condition than ours. An advert in the sailing press has had no replies and the main Simpson Lawrence spare parts supplier said we would not get one. However, the one hopeful contact is a marine welder who will take on most jobs who works just outside Southampton. I took it in to him earlier in the week and he is hopeful he can mend it. Let's hope so. It is a sorry sight at present.

However my usual oil and fuel filters have arrived. So too have various computer bits.

Wanda, our self steering gear could also do with some spare parts but the daughter of the now dead inventor is looking after her husband's poorly sister and not answering emails. So I have ordered the critical part  (a special hinge to lift it up out of the water) from a Danish guy who has taken over the company. Parts are pricey but I guess that is reasonable because the market is small. But charging 65 euros to ship something the size of a large camera is just taking the piss.

It's the Southampton Boat Show this week (craftily timed to coincide with our visit) so we'll be off to see what goodies they may have. We need two more pair of foul weather gear for Jen and Marcus and a load more ropes now we've got a new sail. Also so fittings for the guard rails. Oh yes, and Gilly would like a new boat [ha! ha!].

Other than that is has been family things. Financial stuff and things to make Mum and Dad's life easier have taking a lot of time (and energy!). We've also seen Jenny, Marcus and Emma for Gilly's birthday, her sisters (Ali, Swaz and Caz) for yet another birthday party and also long lost friends from Oz. Tomorrow I'm off to see my beloved Southampton football team demolish Newcastle United along with another firm friend from Reading. Yes, it's all go, go, go here.

I've also got involved with the Atlantic Crossing Group, cruisers from across the world who are planning to cross the Atlantic from east to west this year. Most of them are gathering in Gibraltar at present so we are looking forward to meeting up with them all when we get back. We are coordinating radio nets for those crossing and putting people who are headed off in touch with others that are leaving around the same time.

Plenty going on but what we really want is to get back on Petronella...only just over a week to go now.

Gibraltar and La Linea (posted from the UK)

Current Location: Boat in La Linea marina, Spain. Us in Southampton, UK.

We are back in the UK now for a few weeks but I wrote this before we flew back.....

Made it to Gibraltar - the first stage complete

Whilst not strictly the meeting point of two oceans it does feel that way here in Gibraltar. Well we aren't actually in Gibraltar but in a new marina in La Linea, Spain immediately north of Gib. In fact we are so close to Gib that we can see both the border and the airport from the marina. It will only take us 10 minutes to walk to the terminal building on Sunday when we fly. Although the border can be problematical when relations sour between Spain and the UK we understand that that is only for cars rather than foot passengers. Car queues were certainly long and vociferous yesterday.

Crossing the airport runway

La Linea is a poor town hard hit by the recent recession (see http://m.spiegel.de/international/europe/a-840854.html for the whole sorry story although things have improved somewhat since then) but the new marina is excellent, well protected and cheap with friendly staff. We've checked in for 7 weeks and have been impressed by the town too - no pretensions, but friendly and welcoming.

It's got to be Spain

At last it really feels as though we are on holiday. At last we can relax. Even though we are in Spain it feels pretty British in the marina with as much English as Spanish spoken. At last we've got to a place where you can put your toilet paper down the pan rather than in a little tub of dubious cleanliness.

Washing Day.......

....under the shadow of the Rock

As for Gibraltar it's a bit like Marmite - you either love it or hate it. I love them both. Walk across the runway of the airport from La Linea and you are in little England. More English than Essex with tattoos, large red and white bodies and cigarettes everywhere. There's basically a rock, a shopping street (Main Street) and an airport. Main Street has Marks and Spencer, Mothercare, pubs serving English breakfasts, an Anglican cathedral for Linda (though most Gibraltarians are Catholic apparently), the Rock fish and chips shop and red telephone boxes.

Britain's only Mediterranean enclave and so proud of it it is. The Rock sits up there with its Union Jack flying, mocking poor Spain sitting below. Gibraltar is heaving with affluent people making the most of duty free goods whilst across the border you have the down at heel but very real community of La Linea. Apparently most of its wealth though comes from offshore banking and offshore, online gaming companies. Everywhere is evidence of our former colonial glory - sculptures, monuments, tunnels, RAF offices, government buildings. It really is a wierd place.

But for us, underlying all this, is the underlying frisson of adventure. We are not the only boat here preparing for an Atlantic crossing. Almost every day we learn of new arrivals, either already in Gib or just a few days away. Talk is of provisioning, of weather forecasts, of mechanical problems discovered and mechanical problems solved. In all the marinas boats are being filled with stores for the crossing. The atmosphere is hard to explain but it's there, just under the surface, bubbling with expectation and excitement.

A great choice of emergency tucker at Marks and Spencer, Gibraltar

Welcome to Gibraltar

The Rock!

Closing on Gibraltar

Current Location: 70 miles east of Europa Point which is at the entrance to Gibraltar.

We spent last night in Adra Marina on the southern Spanish coast. This is the first marina we have stayed in since leaving Kas in Turkey. Easterly winds were forecast and all the poor anchorages along this coast are exposed to the south and east. We motored in at around 12 noon after a cracking latter half to the passage in flat seas and no wind. We were a few hours ahead of plan as we had picked up strong west going currents taking our speed up to almost 8 knots. This was especially good as the current here is normally east going - that is against us.

Entry to marinas is always stressful for us and this one had a really tight little entrance with some shallows reported. We nudged in and there in front of us was a marina with just one boat in it. We were able to tie up easily alongside. A few minutes later a security guy arrived and I filled in a form for the police - usual stuff including boat details and passport info. He told us that as it was Saturday someone would come round later for payment.

The girls then went off for a coffee and to explore the town (nothing special) while I washed the boat down with free water. Then we did some passage planning trying to tie in the best of the remaining easterlies with the complex currents around Gibraltar. The outcome was we needed to leave this morning to get to Gibraltar tomorrow afternoon.

This morning the wind was as predicted and we rolled out of Adra at around 10.30 after trying unsuccessfully to find someone to pay. Before we could get fenders and warps away we were being bounced about and we wished we had put our harnesses on. Still, no problem, we finally got everything stowed and set off in a rapidly freshening breeze. Before long we were in big seas and the wind was constantly around 30 knots (max spotted was 40 knots but that was as we rolled to one side). Combine that with our downwind speed of 6 knots and we were in gale conditions for three or four hours. Petronella loved it as we watched big rolling 3m+ waves come bowling along to us from almost behind and lift us up to wait for the next one. It was pretty hard to do much but watch it all unfold and try to keep our feet dry as water popped up to join us in the cockpit. We zoomed along the coast which is covered in greenhouses and not very attractive before the wind gradually died to 6 or 7 knots leaving a nasty sloppy swell. We tried everything to sail but in the end the engine came back on. So now we are closing on Gib and I'll post this as soon as we are back in range of the coast again.

Nearly there!