8th Oct 2008 - End of the trip
Bali Hai
Neal Stow
Wed 8 Oct 2008 23:57
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We left for Barcelona just before nine in the
evening. There was very little wind in the harbour and so it was easy
leaving the mooring and bringing all lines and fenders on board.
However, once we were out of the harbour there was a pleasant South West breeze
that enabled us to sail along under genoa alone. Because storms were
forecast for the trip and the crew were not that familiar with the boat I
decided against raising the mainsail and having to deal with reefing or bringing
it down again in the middle of the night.
At about two in the morning the wind died and
shifted round so we furled the genoa and started the engine. Up until then
nothing much had happened, we were just sailing along under stars. I came
back on watch at four in the morning and having not seen any other vessels all
night we then had to avoid a cruise ship and a fishing boat in quick
succession. With the change in wind came the clouds. The weather
became progressively worse and we were surrounded by fork lightening hitting the
sea. I put the spare GPS in the microwave as apparently this will protect
it if we were to be hit by lightening and all the electrics knocked out.
Then the heavens opened and we had some of the most torrential rain I have ever
seen and there was still the constant thunder and lightening. It was quite
an exciting and nerve-racking time for most of us, it was only Emma who,
when she came back on watch at four, discovered that she had slept though it
all.
Fortunately as we approached Barcelona the storm
moved away and it was sunny with light winds as we came into Port Vell
marina. With the crew now pretty experienced the docking went without a
hitch and afterwards there was just time to have lunch in the cockpit before the
rain returned.
It was a shame that the whole trip to the Balearics
had been so disrupted by the weather. We had not made it to Ibiza or seen
as much of Majorca as originally planned. However, when we got back we
found that gale warnings had just been issued for all sea areas around the
islands for the next three days and so it was certainly the right decision to
return early.
So that is the end of the sailing for 2008.
Richard pointed out that he features in the first and last entry in the 2008
log. I hope that everyone who appeared this year enjoyed there time on
Bali Hai and would like to come back again in 2009.
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