Gibraltar
IDEA Sailing
Idea Yacht Racing Ltd
Tue 9 Jul 2013 17:13
Welcome once again to Gibraltar. IDEA has now been resting up against the dock for the better part of 24 hours, and is quite spic and span. Upon our arrival yesterday we hit the dock and immediately went into a frenzy of activity. All the sails got folded, bits and pieces moved around. Not necessarily put away, just moved from "convenient for sailing" places to "better for dockside" places. Showers were had, and it's a wonder the drainage system is still intact considering the weeks worth of filth that came off our bodies.
Very shortly thereafter we ran off to the nearest pub with wifi access. Family/friends were contacted, several drinks, and general relaxation were had. A pause. Even before the drinks were served several crew members were having trouble walking in a straight line due to the land not moving. After having become accustomed to moving around the boat for so long it takes a little bit to remember that the land doesn't move and you don't need to wobble your steps.
After the short down time we went up the hill for Pizza and Calzone. Awesometastic it was. We savored the notion of sitting in proper chairs, and eating at a proper table. There is only one chair on board IDEA. The chart table chair, which becomes prime real-estate. All other eaters must find random places around the galley area to scotch and feed. The top of the fridge is usually a popular spot, but has a major drawback - every time someone wants a drink or some such you have to get up to get it.
Not surprisingly it was a very early night for us. What you may find cute is that at some point during the night everyone woke up. Why? Because our bodies are so used to sleeping for only a couple of hours at time no one could actually sleep for more than a couple of hours.
This morning we rose at a reasonable hour, say 7ish, had coffee, then immediately launched into tearing the boat apart. most of the floor boards were lifted up and the bilges pumped out and cleaned. All the sails we used were washed and set out to dry. All the salt encrusted foul weather gear was hosed off and hung out. The Fridge was emptied out, cleaned and repacked. Things were hardware was either fix, serviced or replaced.
From the outside looking in you would have seen 5 people running around in a hundred different directions at the same time accomplishing nothing. In reality it was organized chaos. Each of us picked a task and set to. When help was needed it was always just a question away, and over the course of the morning IDEA was put back together. The crew was then treated to a nice lunch. The afternoon has been very slow with only small details being seen to and seen to at a very leisurely pace.
Now that we are safely at the dock, the crew and IDEA would like to give a HUGE thank you to Mark Farfan of Dynamite Marine for work he did on the Saildrive leg(basically the piece of equipment that turns our propeller. It's not a basic shaft and prop like you would find on other boats.). Mark sat in a great big hole under the boat while it was on the hard in Trinidad and completely rebuilt the gears and bearings. Without that work having been done we would not be in Gibraltar right now. So Mark, from all of us, Thank you. Job well done! In truth Mark and the Dynamite crew did a tremendous amount of work on this boat and they all deserve to be patted on the back for it. So boys, consider your backs patted.
We are over the next few hours going to be planning the schedule for our next move which will be Tarragona, Spain. Tarragona will basically be our home base while in the Med, so we will let you know when that leg of the journey will begin very soon. Stay tuned.
TTFN - Ta Ta For Now
IDEA