Blue water and bread larks
Wishanger2
Brian Bonniwell and Claudine
Fri 18 Sep 2009 20:26
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The Mediterranean Sea 35 41.09 N 005 01.79
W
Life has been hectic on this second stage
of our return passage, and despite members of the crew 'continuously
adding' to the blog, it has not been dispatched. We are now on
the passage from Ibiza to Gibraltar (more later) so time to dig out
some of these contributions:
Neil wrote from Mahon, Menorca:
After dropping off Michelle at the 'end of Palermo
airport runway' (Sicily - as previously reported), we moved the boat
to nearby Castellamare del Golfo. This provided an excellent
sheltered anchorage behind a breakwater which was in the process of being
extended, giving Brian the opportunity to observe yet more JCB's and the chance
to study the finer art of breakwater
construction! Castellamare is a very old town with Roman
and older origins which we enjoyed exploring, getting provisions for the
next hop to what we thought would be Sardinia and viewing
the vast numbers of mostly powered pleasure craft going in and out of the
harbour on the Sunday. They went out early in droves when the
sea was flat calm but came scampering back midday when a brisk wind
developed! We were not idle in waiting and found time
to do some boat cleaning in preparation for the new crew -
Gareth Cade and Peter Clark, who were to join us the next
day, Monday 7 September. Gareth and Peter came off the plane in
double quick time but were taken quite literally for a ride, with
their expensive (unregulated) 20 minute taxi drive from the
airport. Euro 60, but In consolation they had declined earlier offers
of Euro 100 and Euro 80 for the same
journey!. Gareth a boat owner and yachtmaster himself brings a
lot of boating experience, whilst Peter, a retired farmer 'brand new' to sailing, has already contributed to life on
board with his dry wit and ability to quickly learn 'things nautical'. They
make up the final team of 5 returning the boat to the Channel
Islands.
Why is this called Blue water sailing? - because we
had a fantastic sail departing Castellamare del Golfo, Sicily on 8
September heading Sardinia. After a rather lumpy start (good
initiation for new crew Gareth, and Peter) , favourable winds largely
from North and North East were the order of the day and night, which died only
briefly necessitating motoring. We experienced mostly 10 -15 knots but
did have one period of 20 + knots true wind which allowed us to
practise putting in the second and third reefs in the main as well
as going down to staysail and reefed main only. By day
we rolled along under wall to wall sunshine with blue water all round
and at night winds continued under a light pollution free
sky displaying a brilliant miriad of wall to wall stars. A
full moon, with both Jupiter and Venus in
attendance. What an experience! Temperatures remained warm
despite the beginnings of a chill to the night airs. These conditions
continued all the way to Sardinia. The forecast being good once in
sight of our possible anchorage, a joint crew decision was made
to continue on to Minorca and make use of the favourable conditions,
particularly as the crew had gelled well and were in the rythym of
ocean passaging. The sight of numerous vivid lightningstirkes
and black stom clouds over the Sardinian
hills reinforced this decision!
We arrived in Mahon, Minorca - what a splendid
place. On account of this fine natural harbour, ownership of the island
changed hands six times between 1700 and 1800. Caroline
will add more on this location.
Gareth and Brian investigated an apparent
'stiff' steering wheel as part of Brian's desire to commission a new hydraulic
autopilot (what, on holidays and whilst at sea, you might well say?!). The
attention was well justified and after working all morning a siezed rudder
thrust bearing was temporarily repaired by cleaning and stuffing with
copious amounts of grease. Brian and Peter are confident that it will at
least get us to Jersey. Additionally the new autopilot is installed,
although to use it does seem to require deployment of the emergency tiller and
disconnection of the wheel steering. After a practice drill
they are confident that, if necessary, the wheel steering could be
re-engaged, even in storm conditions. Hopefully, we will only have to take their
word for that!
The second night we anchored in the adjacent Cala
Taulera (photo) and we could imagine the British Fleet anchored here whilst
being protected by the cannon strategically placed in the
surrounding stone built battlements. Brian compared it
to Alderney but on a much larger scale. In the evening we explored
these defences and came across a Spanish wedding taking place in part,
and being entertained by riders in traditional dress mounted on four black
stallion (photo).
Tomorrow we depart for
Ibiza .
.
Caroline writes:
Bread larks.
Having discovered that the Sicilian bread turns to
rock within a day, it was decided to get the breadmaker out. What is it
about guys and gadgets? They were round this lump of white plastic like
bees round a honey pot, comparing it with the one 'they use at home, and
what flour do you use?' After lengthy discussions re mode d'emploi,
Neil stepped up to the machine to make the first batch. 4 hours later
and a wonderful aroma of fresh baking, he tentatively lifted the lid (photo),
while the blog camera was poised and all around held their
breath.... Water, water everywhere, but not a drop in the
mixture!! (photo).
Undeterred, Neil set the next batch up,
Brian switching it on as he went off watch at 4am, and we all breakfasted in
style, melted butter and jam(or marmite) just wonderful!
At the mention of taking in reefs, Gareth is there,
lashed to the mast winching to his hearts content. Peter has the sharpest
eyes and spots shipping before it is over the horizon. He also spotted a
bright red and blue inflatable dinghy, an immediate change of course and man
overboard routine - was it full of 'salted illegals'? (photo)
No, so the said craft soon on board - Brian particularly taken with
the long warp attached - he's easy to please!
Peter is now on the hunt for further flotsam, and
has set up our own 'e bay' site with a nautical theme.
1 white fender, mint condition,
one careless gentleman owner
1 red/blue dinghy. Good
condition, only one repair patch, no oars, bit of string shown in photo not
included in sale.
Do hope this list of items isn't going to
consist of 'inflatables' only. Someone might get the wrong
idea. Anyway, buyer collects and cash only.
We have not seen much shipping on this leg
from Sicily, very few yachts. But a dolphins and visiting birds
kept us amused for a bit (photo), ducking and diving under the bows. The
guys spotted a turtle which was rather special.
It has been great to realise that there is no
mad dash to get to an airport for crew changes. The course is not set in
stone, we can afford to change direction slightly to make the most of
the winds.
Within sight of Nelson and Josephine's summer
residence we anchored in Mahon, Menorca, only to be moved on by a frightfully
solicitous and over chatty Pedro. A quick motor up to look at the old
town, again built high on sandstone cliffs, we plumped for a floating pontoon
with water included in the price. This facility not made full use of
by Caroline who got totally over excited at the thought of getting some
washing done, loaded it all in the machine and while we listened to the
generator humming for an hour, she produced clothes just as disgusting as when
they had gone in. She had forgotten to turn the water tap on!
Delighted Neil was hard to mutter "Water, water everywhere but not a drop in the
machine!!"
Totally alone on this pontoon, with lovely
views, we are so lucky. The evening spent doing a big shop
and Brian discovering bags of ice (photo), back to the boat for mouthwatering G
& T's then into town for a sea food supper. Peter picking up the
gauntlet from John Watson, forging ahead to find a good 'eatery'
Next morning it was down to business again, the
order was given to 'scrub the teak', and generally getting the salt off
everything and polishing. We have noticed that at breakfast, Brian
sometimes says ' I had a thought in the night' which usually means taking
things apart, putting lots of grease all over the place and putting said bits
together again. Yesterday was a humdinger - was it because he hadn't used
the emergency tiller before? He, Peter and Gareth buried
themselves in the bowels of the boat where all the steering gear
is. It's a bit worrying because Gareth seems
to be a bit of a 'tinkerer' too. I dont really understand what they
have done but have been assured it will be ok!
Brian writes:
Must get this off before it has to be completely
updated. We have stopped in Ibiza and experienced a monsoon
proportion thunder and lightning storm. Decks washed and scrubbed by
nature! That was the best bit if Ibiza - enough
said!!
As this is being transmitted Gibraltar is
only 30miles away. We are motoring into an uncomfortable sea, the
wind having forced us to cross to the African coast (Morocco) last
night. Tonight will be our 4th at sea since leaving Ibiza with
some fairly difficult conditions. Some exciting sailing in F6
occasionally F7 with 3 reefs at night! Wishanger II has behaved well
as has the new autopilot! Not to mention the crew - well done,
all.
Brian, Caroline, Neil, Peter and
Gareth
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