Atlantic Ocean - Leaving Gibraltar, and The Med
Sans Peur
Grete & Fred Vithen
Wed 13 Sep 2017 21:04
36 34 78N 06 14 69W Cadiz, at anchor
This was crazy 72 Nm. This small part really gives you the thrills.
Early start, not so early anymore, at around 8. Weather is much cooler now. Nice!
Wind + Tide + Current + Swell = Very confusing and unpredictable
About 12 hours of daylight now. So ... there ha sto be a plan B.
Sooon after leaving the "Rock" behind we had around 40 knots, in favour.
Yankee plus motor was on ... still only doing around 5 knots. What, what, what ... ???
Breaking waves and crazy current.
Worst part, Tripani, the infamous point where it blows +30 kn 300 days a year.
Current and wind was fighting each other ... and us.
Anyway with the +40 kn wind we made progress.
And according to tide schedules the current would soon ... around 15:00 slowly turn around.
Current and wind fighting each other. Breaking waves. We felt safe but it was a bit crazy.
After about 15 Nm we managed to pass the infamous point, Tripani.
For a while we felt safe., the wind drop to around 20 kn.
Yankee and main out. No, no, no, no ... shit, shit ... suddenly we have gust up tp 58 kn.
Very scary! For a while it felt like our yacht was totally out of our hands.
Happy we are very well equipped.
New HydraNet dynema inforced sails, oversized blocks, powered winches, dynema halyards and sheets.
We had some very scary moments there.
The forces are just insane.
This is Trafalgar point. The tide has reached the low mark.
And suddenly we are doing 10 knots. Never ever happened before.
We like it ... going with the wind and the current.
Finally safe and happy at anchor in Cadiz, just before sunset.
Cheers!
Well deserved.