A sad and sorry tale
Lera(hen3ry)
Malcolm Cann
Tue 21 Aug 2007 10:46
One thing nobody mentions about the marina, it has mosquitos.I solved the problem by having a fan blowing over me all night, and by getting sunburnt. The marina itself is quite well organised with the usual array of eating places plus a small shop which supplies mostly sweets and papers but does have a few essentials.
There is a Volvo Penta dealer and two quite good chandlers, nobody speaks english! but if you are trying to buy something they can always sell it to you. Camping Gaz is available in Algorta, which was the cause of my downfall.
I had intended to spend one week at Getxo, but failed. On the Thursday before I was due to leave I ran out of Gaz, no problem, get a new one within two weeks, I enquired around and found I could get one in Algorta, at the top of the hill. further enquiries revealed that there is a lift which will take you and your bike up to Algorta. I went up in the lift for 20cents with my bike and Gaz bottle on Saturday morning so I would be ready to go. The new full bottle was the cheapest I've ever bought at 6euro about. I dumped it in the basket on the bike and started back to the marina. Going downhill is quite fast, I remember seeing the Gaz bottle jump out of the basket and then thinking I wish this tarmac scraping across my face would stop, it did finally and before I knew it I was being dragged to the side of the road. The local police appeared, an ambulance appeared, I went to Las Arenas hospital where I was patched and examined, the doctor was very relieved when I told her my left eye didn't work because it had an implant. Finally I was freed and went back to Algorta to retrieve bike and Gaz cylinder, which I then rode down the hill back to the marina. The only permanent loss is my top set of teeth which got broken in my mouth giving me a few cuts. By the time I got back to the boat everything was stiffening up and I started hobbling about. I booked my self into the marina for another week. I spent the week doing as little as possible, getting sunburnt, and turning all my food into baby food.After a week I could bend my leg a little and becoming more active. I booked another week and started riding the bike about to get some movement back. At the end of the second week I considered myself fit enough again, and even though I still have patches on me I tried to leave,after all I would soon need more Gaz, and we didn't want that again.
I prepared everything to leave on Monday 20th and the weather was good again. The weather said the sea would be "Slight" with a NNW wind strength 4 to 5.
So I packed everything and prepared to leave on Monday. Monday at 11:32 I motored out of the Marina and headed out to sea, the sea was a little lumpy but I put that down to it being wind against tide and it would ease once I cleared the harbour. I cleared the harbour and the sea was a little lumpier, no problem, this is because we're in a bay which is acting like a funnel,press on. I pressed on with the sea getting lumpier and the wind strength increasing and the wind was blowing straight into my face.I cleared the bay at a bout 10 miles, nothing was getting better, in fact it was still getting worse.It had taken me three hours to do this 10 miles, the sky ahead looked incredibly threatening, so I finally gave up and opted to go back to the marina, at about 15:30 I turned back, as soon as I turned my speed shot up to 6kts instead of 2.5 to 3 I had been doing before. I got back to the marina at about 17.42,parked the boat and went and booked in for another week. As I came in there was a group of boats just going out,I don't fancy there luck unless they are going East.
About an hour after I parked the storm really hit, I think the wind must have exceeded F8 because my generator was producing 6amps. Glad I was tied up.
The local Gurus tell me I won't be going anywhere before Thursday so perhaps we get to try again next Monday!!