13th-15th July sudden winds!
Off again
Mark+Barbara
Fri 1 Aug 2008 09:33
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Our peace and tranquility of calm seas and very
light breezes came to an abrupt end as we were awakened early hours of the
morning by strong winds gusting between 20-30kts and creating large
swells which were threatening to drag our anchor.All hands on deck as we decided
to move further out into the bay away from the other boats which were
moored close by and showed no signs of activity.A large diving platform had been
blown ashore and was crashing against the quay and we felt it more prudent to
shift our position and therefore reduce the risk of any further damage from a
collision.
The next morning the winds were still blowing at F6
and we decided to delay our exit from Thomas Maestro until the winds abated .We
were able to depart on the 12 o'clock opening of the bridge.Swells in the Med
were initially not too bad around 1m and the wind had reduced to F 4 but just
into an hour of motor sailing,wind on our nose again,the wind and swells
picked up and it was a most uncomfortable sail.We decided as the weather was not
predicted to get any better that we would go as far as possible towards
Alicante.We had a couple of bolt holes planned if needed.Time was getting on and
we were all rather tired so we decided to stop over for the night in Santa
Pola,arriving there around 7pm.On entering the harbour we were greeted with
sounds of the National Anthem it made one feel quite emotional and had us all
stopping momentarily in our tracks. It was lovely to have a good hot shower and
have the sanctuary of a marina where we knew we could all sleep soundly for
the night.
We now only have about 12 nm to go before we
reach Alicante.An up to date weather forecast predicted F2-3 in the morning
increasing to F6 in the afternoon sea state mild to moderate.
An early start saw relatively calm seas and we
headed out reasonably confident. We were just about to put up the mainsail when
the wind suddenly changed and we had gusts of up to 30knts and again mounting
seas, we were not amused! Rafiki was dipping and diving with the
confused seas.
We were all relieved when we caught sight of
Alicante Harbour and were in contact with the surveyor,whom we had planned to
meet there on our arrival.He was able to instruct us on where to head for and
managed to have the travel hoist ready to lift us out of the water.The operation went very smoothly and we were most impressed
with the running of the yard..
Once Rafiki was on hard standing Andy the assessor
was able to make his very thorough inspection.It turns out on initial inspection
that our sail drives have never been anti fouled.Inspection was prolonged
somewhat by a downpour of rain, first we have seen since Cartegena .
It looks as if we will be here for about 3
weeks.Mark is due to fly to the UK tomorrow for one week to surprise Samantha on
one of her official parade days and also to sort out some things with
Ancasta, he will fly out with both Trinity and Dan.So it was with sadness that I
waved them all off the next day.Lily will be quite happy here though as there
are quite a few Ferrell cats wandering around, so I am going to have to be on my
guard!
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