Hi everyone, hope you are all well?

We have made it safely to Gibraltar. We decided to head out and here as soon as possible. We arrived on Sunday (23rd June) Lilli Mae will be in Queensway Quay marina for a month or so. The trip from Lagos took us about 28 hours.

There were lots of pictures taken when we were all racing across the start line in Punta Delgada, Sao Miguel. We think these ones of Lilli Mae are great.

 

In Lagos we cleaned and polished Lilli Mae and she looked really great when we left on Saturday PM (22nd). Of course we were sailing with our head sails only. Whilst in Lagos we had taken the mainsail down and packed it away below deck. As soon as we left the port we had a great sail for the rest of the evening. 

Later in the night we lost the wind but we did get some great pictures of a full moon

 

And then as we approached Gibraltar it got windy and bumpy. There was lots of VHF radio chatter about Orcas in the area and patrol vessels came alongside Lilli Mae and other boats in the Straights of Gibraltar to advise a more inshore route to avoid an Orca encounter. 

As planned we started work dismantling the boom on Monday morning. However all of our attempts over the last 2 days to remove the pins that connect the boom to the gooseneck have so far failed. 

Yesterday we decided that we will need to get to Barcelona without fixing the furler. The next steps we need to take to dismantle the boom requires some drastic cutting action and so we decided to do this when we lift out for winter. So our sail to Barcelona will be with head sails only.

The Lilli Mae crew are now preparing for their travel home. Tonight will be our last evening together. Rick, Alan and Mike all head home from Gibraltar tomorrow. Joan and Howard will be around for a couple more days. A last night together to celebrate our achievement with a few beers and some wine is on the cards.

This crew has been together with Lilli Mae for 47 days and travelled 4,250 nm. A trip of ups and downs, triumphs and frustrations but a great experience for all. Thanks Rick and Alan.

Lilli Mae will set sail again in August and we will restart our updates on progress to Barcelona but we will be quiet for a few weeks until then.

That’s it for now. Thanks to everyone for your engagement and support.

All the best from the crew aboard Lilli Mae.