Nov. 14th... On a way to Almerimar; U-turn to Mazzaron

SV Eleonora
Michael A. Andronov
Sun 14 Nov 2021 18:00
37:10.13N 001:27.46W
UTC  1800
November 14th…

We have made a ‘ U-turn’ and at the moment are moving FROM the Cabo de Gata, towards the Mazzaron bay… 

Everything is OK, the boat is going at her best…. But then… Why did we turn ? 

The following sequence of events brought us to this decision. 

First, the weather started to deteriorate pretty quickly…  
We are starting to experience the confused seas. Kind of 2 different swells started to come at us… One — coming from the direction of Cabo de Gata, and the other — exactly into our head… 
With average hight of about 2m… and around 60-80 degrees angle between…   with the typical Mediterranean feature — of about 4 seconds… short… 

As the Sun went down, the wind increased to the steady 18-19 knots true SW ( 232T )… 

Yes, the boat was still doing OK,  though the progress got slower… 

The major concern became — that the weather did not match any prediction I had from the models…  but all models have been predicting the strong Levante building up in the area…  with gale forces winds… My concern was — if the forecast(s) has changed since the last time I’ve downloaded them, and the deterioration — just the beginning  of something… then why I’m so persistent in attempt of getting into the middle of it ? 

As the Sun went down… I stepped inside the boat, and got dressed much warmer…. Stepped outside,  standing in the cockpit behind the dodger… watching the seas… 
As a mice watching the python, I’ve been watching with amusement how one of the wave a beam was growing and growing up approaching us a… how the reflection of another wave from the boat increased that approaching wave…  and suddenly I got the  breaking wave from the hight above the boom  right on top of me… 

Here I’m… soaking wet… with my nice boots full of water … ( why I’ve become so sorry for the completely wet/soaked  boots… still no idea! ) 
I’ve been still standing there, looking / checking if the wave made any damages to the solar panels… boat,  etc…  
When I notice another sailing boat coming from the Cabo de Gata direction…  After we cleared each other…  Picked the radio, talked to the captain… 

He confirmed that the weather around the Cabo de Gata — is ok to follow, but not really fun to go against… ( No, we did not specify the definition of fun… ) 
He also confirmed that according to his observations  the seas are building up during the last hours, but a bit easy as he sailed from the Cabo de Gate … ( Obviously opposite to what I would get! )… 
And finally, as I mentioned to him my plans,  he said  that the weather forecasts has changed in the morning… and the strong northerly winds are expected to build up rapidly over night… 
But he also mentioned that from his experience in the area — it means a very unpredictable weather around the point… 

With all above … I checked the distances,  remembered my original estimation not to sail towards Gabo de Gata as I arrive to mainland Spain… 
To make the story short,  we made the U-turn and took the destination to Mazzaron bay, which is approximately  25 nm from us… 

As we turned…. The boat stabilised and no more those ups-downs from the sea around us… We are on the run,  main sail — control by preventer, and we are doing about 7 knts  with 19 knts wind behind us….  So, the estimation is — we should reached the Mazzaron bay around the midnight… 

But I’m guessing that the wind will die as we progressing, and we are going to have at least good part of night in the sea… 

Everything is OK,  we going to protected space, where we are going to have some rest, clean up,  re-group, and would re-start to Almerimar  with the proper weather system… 
Which should be somewhere around …. I’m sure. 

Have a great time, 
Talk soon,
Michael.


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