0746UTC

We are on Ibiza, on anchor in front of San Antonio. 
Relaxed, making some touch-ups here and there after the crossing — like processing the photos, cleaning, etc…, sending/receiving the messages to friends, planning the next trip….

Time to do some aftermath of the passage from Almerimar to here… 

One of the simplest way to make the preliminary scratch of the route  — by Windy.com — would probably show something like this:




Simple, nearly straight route of about 245 nm….  Is there days with the ideal ‘forwarding winds’ all the way from Almerimar to Ibiza?
Yes, they are.    As long as your boat is in Almerimar, and is NOT ready to leave the harbour — you open the weather forecast tool you like,  and you will see it:
— nice westerly/sourth westerly breeze all the way to Cabo de Gata, and then the wind bending more South,  to help you all the way to  Ibiza… 

But then…as your boat and yourself are ready to go….  The chances to get those nice conditions are going nearly to null….  At least, it is my belief based on my own experience, and observations of my fellow sailors… 

So, we left Almerimar when at least there were no forecasts for the bad weather on the part of the route… 
We made the trip, trying to motor as minimum as possible and trying to catch all glimpses of wind, no matter which directions there are going to be… 
So, our route is shown on picture below with the black line:



How many miles it has been ?  Frankly, I do not know.  Definitely, much more then 245! ;-)  
( The story behind is — I’m using SOBv360 software from digital boat.  I like it very much,  even despite the fact that abbreviation my give you another thought…. 
But the way to calculate the actual millage passed — not so ’straight forward’…. It should be simple, based on instructions… but it is not in reality… Fixing that issue — on ’to-do’ list somewhere… ) 

But the miles have been priceless and short in a different way… 

Before leaving Almerimar, I’ve touched and worked nearly on all major — and not so major — systems on boat:
— on engine, including moving it, mechanical work on its system, electrical work  on its subsystems around, etc, etc…. 
— on autopilot — hydraulic cylinder re-done/re-installed, computer itself…. 
— batteries charging — new solar panels system… 
— water maker has been serviced but not checked…
— bilge pump re-installation… 
— sails … 
— etc, etc…. 

And all above — on top the major job of the bottom which has been really cleaned, re-epoxied, and antifoiled…. 
So, the trip for the Baleares has been viewed as ’sea trial’ for all the jobs accomplished… 

Looking backwards — I think all the efforts put into the boat during staying in the marina are paid back. 

First, the boat is definitely moving faster — accelerating more rapidly, going faster under motor on the same rpms which I’ve been using before, going faster under the sails… 
When I say faster — I mean at least 1.5 - 2 knots faster then she was doing before…
No idea what is the major contribution to that — the re-aligning of the motor,  re-conditioning and doing some work on sails, stripping all old antifouling from the bottom, and then repeating it and putting new antifouling… 
Or just all of the mentioned… No idea…   But she is faster now, and seems to be enjoying it… 

Sailboat trip along the Spanish Costa del Sol and then towards Baleares… 
Majority of people would imagine Sunny days,  nice, crystal, clean, and deep blue water, light breeze, the endless dark sky at night, full of  stars! 
And right, we have gotten all of it, in addition to: 
— long hours with no glimpse of wind, when the speed has been dropping to 1.5 knots…. // but I’ve been dedicated not to run the engine… ;-). 
— dodging the ferry, which was trying to ignore our presence under the endless deep sky full of stars in the middle of the night… 
— the solar panel controller, which tried to start the fire on board and to fry us, as the Sun makes the new solar panels to work to their potential… 

In short, it was a real and fantastic re-introduction to the life on the boat! 

As I said, I have no choice to fully test the water maker in Almerimar due the fact, that the water is dirty in the harbour.  The watermaker condition has been my major fear/concern.
I have plenty of water as I left Almerimar, no problem with drinking water… 
But the watermaker is robust and delicate — yes, at the same time — peace of equipment… The last time it was used in 2019…  nearly a year and half ago… 
And such a long ’storage’ without use — is the well known scenario when the ‘delicate’ nature of watermaker surfaces… 
It was the great relief when after some massage… the watermaker  agreed to stay with us and to work!
( As the boat is sailing, under nice Sun and over blue water….  At this moment,  I did not know that the water marker had already cooperated with the solar panel controller… 
It was just grabbing my attention, as the controller was working on starting the fire… ;-)):




There has been no too much wind… I knew it from forecasts since I left Almerimar…  Where the forecasts accurate ?  No, they have been not. But they provided some ideas what to expect… 
And we were trying to use any possibility to use any wind we got:





On above, we are NOT actually making progress toward destination… ;-). But we were able to test sails, autopilot mode(s), etc…. And get to the better place for the wind direction change, promised by forecasts… 
Yes… the wind direction change has occurred… But not as forecasted…. ;-)

Finally, on this trip, I’ve visited the Cartagena. That visit may be the different story by itself…  Probably, the most noticeable  — what the Mother Nature is capable  to create… and the humans:

Look on the pictures below…. Many centuries ago… people built the fortifications on the top of the mountains…  To the highest possible their technology standards and capabilities ….  Which was quite good actually — they picked up the best position possible for built it… Modern technology, with a quantum leap ahead… picked up the same spot to build… fortification….  New technology, a lot of of advances… and the same human being approach…  look into the sea,  to check if the enemy coming…
Are we actually moving forward ? ;-)





  


Ok, all those miles of sailing, with limited drinking water, hard work, not so much sleep at night,  etc, etc, etc… 
Why ? What is the point ?  Is there something in all that ? 

A while ago, I run into Olivier de Kersauson saying, that the common opinion — the Earth starts where  the Sea stops… or that the Sea is the end of the Earth  — is terribly wrong!
The Earth is just the accident in the Ocean! 

With each extra passage, with more miles in the Ocean, with each extra landfall — I understand better and better the true meaning of his saying….
And my  guess is — that once you got it… there is no way back! ;-)





That is all for now. 
The journey is going on!  I hope more stories coming! 

Talk to you soon, 
M.

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