Gibraltar to Rota
Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Sat 10 Sep 2011 12:08
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36:36.92N 06:21.17W
Friday 9 and Saturday 10 September
2011
Distance Run 69 Miles
There is only a short window of about 3 hours to
catch some favourable current when sailing west out of the Gibraltar
Straits. In most places you can expect roughly 6 hours of flow in each
direction but the predominance of water flowing into the Med through the Straits
makes it more like 9 hours eastgoing and 3 westgoing. We were up at
4am to catch our tide but by 4.30 the morning mist had started and we had a full
'pea souper' by 5am. We didn't want to sail in the dark and fog through
busy shipping lanes so we went back to bed!
The fog didn't lift until 1pm so we were glad we
didn't go. We saw Phil and Monica on their catamaran 'Miss Molly' in the
anchorage. We last saw them in Carloforte (off Sardinia) before they left
for a few weeks sailing around the Balearic islands. We overtook them when
we by-passed the Balearics and sailed directly to Cartagena in Spain.
We were trying to press on in the knowledge that we had new equipment to collect
in Gibraltar and then fit. But we lost our time advantage during our 3 to
4 weeks delay doing repairs in Torrevieja. Phil and Monica were
very well and had enjoyed the islands and were looking forward to family
visiting to help them for their forthcoming Atlantic crossing.
We decided to catch the next tidal gate which
would be 6pm this evening so left the anchorage about 5pm. There wasn't
enough wind to sail quickly at first so we motored west through the Straits to
maximise the tide advantage. By 7.30pm, roughly off Tarifa, we were able
to switch off the engine and sail properly. The Straits are their
narrowest at this point and this funnels the wind which increases in strength
significantly.
It gives us quite a buzz sailing close to the
European mainland whilst being able to see clearly the African continent a
few miles to the south It was a very pleasant sail and we held enough wind
as we turned northwest and sailed through the night towards Rota.
We arrived at Rota Marina at 6am in the dark.
Naturally the offices were closed so we tied up at the fuel dock and slept for a
couple of hours before being allocated a berth.
Here is a Gibraltar viewed from a different angle
as we left. You can see a lot of development and the place is
thriving. There are tax breaks for companies and individuals based there
and building work continues apace. Often this is just to provide an
address so many properties are unoccupied:-
 Gibraltar beyond the ships in the distance just
peeping above the cloud as we motor west:-
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