38:50.912N 000:08.647E
SV Eleonora
Michael A. Andronov
Thu 4 Oct 2018 08:51
Nice sky, full of stars… The West is still completely dark, and only a small area on the East is saying that the Sun will arrive… and shows where approximately…
We have sailed away from the anchorage near Dénia harbour… No, wrong wording…
We have escaped the anchorage near Dénia harbour… No, does not sound right again…
The boat managed to rescue me again, and we both ’se replier’ to the safer water from ‘the mouse trap' which the anchorage had changed into on a blink of the eye…
The sound of the drums of the waves, crashing on the stones are still loud… They are probably still looking for us… But we are further and further away…
And as the depth of the water keep growing, the waves — though still big — are loosing their breaking danger, and seem to be less powerful…
A few more feet away from the shore, I’m double checking again and again the boat and myself — with some disbelief — that we are in one peace and OK….
The main sail is going up, the motor is slowed down, with a lot of thanks, and we are turning towards Cabo De La Nao, ‘ down the coast ‘, abandoning the plans to continue the trip towards Valencia and Barcelona…. Napoleon retreated, Nelson retreated, Kutuzov retreated… Now, it is my turn… ;-)
But let me explain what happened during that wonderful night from the beginning… Retrospectively, I should admit it has been all my fault…. For a long time, in many messages and conversations I was expressing my surprise of the Med — ’the water flat most of the time, the swell is not actually the swell, the waves too short…. ‘ The list of my assaults was long… For sure, it could not go like that forever, and the Mediterranean decided to teach me a short lesson…
As I arrived in Dénia — I dropped the anchor in the designated area, between wave breakers… It was not the best place, but… It was Sunday… some waves around on our way there, some good wind — which provided a lot of fun for local club race… A few boats in that small ‘anchorage'. Proving that it is the designated anchorage… Pretty calm on anchorage, and as the wind calmed down — not bad at all…
I spent Monday calling the marinas a bit further North, around Valencia, quoting for staying a few month there. Dénia marina appeared to have a waiting list, and the price was not too great anyway… Valencia marina was cooperative, somebody called me even after working hours, covered all the topics… It is more expensive then Almerimar… but Valencia Marina — the marina which hosted one of the American Cup — is in the Valencia itself, with all transportation, communication to other cities, etc, etc… The 3rd city in Spain… I spent the whole Monday, thinking about all that… advantages and disadvantages of going towards Valencia, returning to Cartagena, etc, etc, etc… And came to decision that I would make my choice in the morning… Looked on Dénia, looked on the beautiful sky, its reflection in nearly calm water, and went to sleep….
About 0100 o’clock at night I realised that the water does not have the sky reflection anymore… some waves…. Of course, waves… it is the big sea. Big deal!
The boat is still flat… At 0230, on a next check — I noticed that there are some waves… Bigger then before ? Not sure about it… But, just in case, took the light, and went to check the anchor, the snubber… Everything was good !
At 0300 — I realise that something is not right! The boat was thrown up and down in all directions… I was thrown up and down in all directions inside the boat…
It took me a while to realise that it was not the drum music from the party on the beach, but rather the breaking waves on the stones, in endless hope to move the wave breaker away…
Since there was no wind — the boat started to turn in al directions…
The next phase — was even more brutal…. As the waves were growing up — they started to break… Not much at the beginning… But as the bow of the boat started consistently covered with the waves … I realised that my question - ‘ To stay and wait ? Or to go away ?’ became more a statement — ‘Run!!!! Now!!!!! ‘…
But… it has been already not easy, and it has been getting worse every few minutes…
The kind of cracking noise at the bow made me to find out that the anchor chain is slowly going out… ( Later, I realised that the new stainless snubber hook — was ‘opened’ by the load, drop from the chain… The load of the chain was going over the windlass and chain stopper… But the water pressure was opening the stopper, and the clutch on the windlass — was not strong to hold the chain… So, we started to give more chain, and drug at the same time towards the rocks… It was getting shallower, letting the waves to become nastier, and soon we would start to hit the bottom, as the wave amplitudes keep growing…
The next discovery was — the chain was removed from the roller, moved between the cleat and the opening in the rail ( on a side ), and tightened by the pressure on the boat and by waves…. It stops the chain going out… But, it was not a ‘right stopper’, for sure… And to start lifting the anchor — I have to take the chain out of there, and to locate it on the roller…. Otherwise, I can not use windlass… Intuitively, I looked on my fingers, remembering what happened the last time I put them around the chain, 2 years ago on BVI…
As I was staring on the chain, the boat dived under the next wave… The last moment, I managed to hide behind the furler and pulpit…. But the wave covered me all over the head… So, I got my morning shower… It also provided the hint… As the wave was rolling over me and the boat, at certain moment, the chain got loose… For short time… But if I managed to move quickly… During the complete shower #5 I managed to make it — and put the chain on the roller….
That was a step forward, for sure… But… now, each time the boat was hit by the wave, the water was rushing forward the chain, lifted the stopper liver, and pull some more chain out….
At this point, If somebody have been watching the boat from the outside, he would had been really puzzled what that crazy man on the boat doing…
— stands on the bow on his knees, and been completely submerged by the wave or two;
— then runs as fast as possible to the stern, to cockpit… Touches something on the side of the cockpit, touches the wheel;
— runs back to the bow, stands on his knees, take a few ’showers’….
— and repeat again…
From my point —
— since there were too many chain in the water already… It was very tight to begin with, and now the angle with the water was very small… If I run the engine forward, the boat was ‘running around on the chain’, but was not making it loose… the tension was too strong for the windlass…
— run to the cockpit, push the boat forward — touching the control on a side, turn the wheel, trying to position the boat and the chain in line, run back — as the chain got loose at least a tiny bit…. and took a few feet of chain by windlass… repeat…
As only 100 ft of chain left…. the strategy change… now, on each wave, at the boat was pushed forward a bit, as it was going down… Or, may be the waves increased too? But it became a bit easier — the boat was trying to climb the waves now, ( I guess since the slope got smaller, and the angle of the chain changed ), and… I got used to be in the water as we were going through…. ;-)
With trying not to think what would happen if the engine decides to quit, I pushed the last feet of chain out, run to the cockpit, and we moved out of the trap…
Still dark… Still sounds of waves… But now their angry voices further and further away…. Sea is becoming more reasonable, with 4-5 feet waves, but not steep, with ’normal’ period between…. Remarkably, still no trace of wind… The stars are smiling on us… The point on the sky, where the Sun should appear — starts to grow…
A bit later — I decided to go back… The plan became — moved to Cartagena, and check if we can stay there… If we can — good. If not — move to Almerimar…
Ironically — or superstitiously ? — as we started to move towards Cartagena, the sky started to lighten, and the wind appeared! Nearly from the stern! ;-).
The main sail went up, we turned the point… the wind veered a bit… and we were running! The same 4 kts … But as we were progressing on our course, the wind was picking up a bit… Consequently, I was lowering RPM on the motor… And soon we were really sailing! ;-). Not fast… But sailing, with the motor down…
As if the agreement with the sea has been reached, and the trust I’m doing my part — built! ;-)
That is all for now… In about 24 hours — I should be near Cartagena…. Or, in about 48+ hours — near Almiremar…
Everything is under control,
The boat and myself are smiling! ;-)
Talk to you soon,
M.
P.S. ( From Michael, as a crew… ) Of course, there are reasonable and scientific explanations for above. There has been strong mistral blowing to the East of Minorca Island… It is written in all books, that the waves and wind in Mediterranean may build up within a minutes… The captain should put those 2 together… That should be done instead of complaining about absence of good weather forecasts, and romantic descriptions of sky and star reflections in the water… But everything is fine, what has finished fine! ;-)