Estepona -> Almerimar

Wanderingdragon
Stephen & Anne
Thu 1 May 2008 19:05

36:41.855N 2:47.546W

 

We left Estepona at 11am on Wednesday, aiming to arrive at lunchtime Thursday in Almerimar.

 

The winds started very light (3-4kn) so we motored for the first hour. The winds increased and managed to sail happily with no motor for the rest of the afternoon. . All humans and cats were happy - Yoyo was on lookout in the cockpit

 

As the wind then moved behind us, we grabbed the opportunity to try out the spinnaker pole. We had replaced the ends of the poles and now had confidence we would not be left holding a pole with broken supports.

 

After some trial and error, well more error than trial, we eventually had the pole out and supported. We then unfurled the Genoa and wow - Wanda started sailing scarily fast reaching 8kn with no trouble. The wind then started picking up even more so we furled it away and restowed the pole. We need to try it in more gentle winds and build our confidence.

 

While restowing the pole, the local police boat came to “look us over”. It does appear we attract the police. At least this time we didn’t try to ram them.

 

We then had a rather windy, unpleasant bumpy night as the winds built up. Yoyo learnt a new meow called– “are we there yet?” Anne managed to pick the exciting watch with nothing for ages then three boats all at once! By daybreak the wind had shifted 180 degrees and was now on our nose. Fortunately we had made good time and even had to slow down so we didn’t arrive before people started work in the marina. We arrived at 09:10 several hours ahead of our estimate. At least we didn’t have to dodge the lobster pots this trip.

 

Once we had moored up we had a very quiet day recovering from the overnight sail. Yoyo & Koshka has decided the boat next door looks far more interesting than Wanda, even if it does involve a rather large jump across water. The boat on the other side of us is nearer but has high sides – no barrier for out cats though!

 

This evening we went for a wander around Almerimar ending up at Rafiki for a drink and to catch up over the last week or two. We have discovered that Almerimar is a purpose built marina village and to get to a “real” town we need to catch the bus.