Gibraltar departure
Kirofbrixham
Sun 5 Oct 2008 12:40
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Atlantic Adventure Part 1
Position 1430 5th October 31:51.4N 7:42.25W having
completed 140nm in first 24hrs.
Following Richard's arrival on 27th September and
Graeme's on 3rd October the crew of Kir for the penultimate leg of the Atlantic
adventure was complete. Ian drove Lynn to Malaga so she could return home
to the UK on the 4th, her contribution to this trip is enormous setting us up
with a menu and sorting out the shopping list and going to Morrisons four
times. By the time Ian had arrived back from the airport, Richard had
downloaded the Meteo France forecast for the next couple of days which was a
benign F3 from the north once clear of the Straits of Gibraltar. So with
so some excitement mixed with apprehension we decided to bring forward our
departure to Saturday afternoon.
And so it was that we slipped our mooring in
Queensway at 13.40 local time (11.40 GMT) and motored out of the haven -
straight into a catabatic wind falling off the rock. At least it was
an easterly. Navigating our way through all of the anchored ships into
clear water it became clear that the wind was higher than expected. After
listening to the Tarifa forecast we knew we were in for a quick passage through
the Straits with an easterly F7.
Ian and Richard set about rigging the jib for what
we hope will be the only time this side of Gran Canaria. Despite all of
the preparations over the last week the lines for the pole were not running
free. With a few choice seaman like phrases and a lot of flicking of
lines, winching releasing and the like, Ian and Richard eventually pronounced
themselves satisfied with the poled out jib arrangements.
We had set off when we did for two reasons: to
maximise the west going tide and, more importantly, to avoid paying another days
marina fees. This meant that for the first few hours we were pushing a
foul tide but later it turned in our favour and spat us out into the
Atlantic.
Like most weather forecasts today they err on the
conservative side and we skirted the west bound shipping lane on the Spanish
side until Tarifa, running in only (!) a F6. Just after Tarifa we eased
our way across the shipping towards the African coast. By nightfall we
were clear of most of the shipping, starting the long slide down the west coast
of Morocco.
For most of the night the F6 easterly persisted and
we made good time, running at between 7 and 8 kts through the water.Wind stayed
with us till early morning and then nothing, back to
motoring.
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