Fai Tira Blog Thursday  08/10/09 

Fai Tira  in Tarifa  36:00.39N 5:36.37W

By the time I’d returned to Tarifa,, from the U.K. on Wednesday, the evening had almost gone. It felt really strange being back, the temperature, cafes’ and bars still heaving even at this late hour, but most of all just being here after the weeks’ events.

Amazing how the same train journey seemed to alter so much, even allowing for the darkness. This time it all felt slower, more sedate, perhaps it was just that it was all less urgent now?

The town was still in the process of gearing itself up for, what seemed to be, some sort of street festival. Both the square and the water front were just full of market stalls, with some of the vendors still in the act of their final preparations. I have to say it looked great and easy to imagine the activity and atmosphere that would prevail.

Not for us however. We’d decided that we were leaving fairly early on Thursday, with the intention of doing the Gibraltar trip in one go, whilst also to trying to get some benefit from the tidal flows. This also presented us with our first problem, just getting off the mooring.

The water was rushing out of the marina at a fantastic rate of knots and the space for manoeuvring quite limited, to say nothing of the small exit that we were due to approach at a very narrow angle.

With Pete on the helm, I released the bow and by the time I’d got to the stern line, the boat had almost spun on a sixpence to face the right way and we shot out of the exit like a piece of soap in the shower, Almost felt a bit like that first train journey.

So here we were again heading off south (ok I know we had to turn a corner somewhere, but not just yet) Nothing was different. It was warm and sunny, the sea was flat calm and it was windless. We just started the engine, set course, switched on Angela, the auto pilot, watched out for pots and fishing boats, and settled back.

The Spanish coastline always held some interest, with its’ impressive silhouette.

As the afternoon progressed, the wind picked up and we hoisted the genoa. The boat lost no speed at all, silence, great!! Then the wind shifted and before long the speed increased and we were dancing along in idyllic conditions, in the warmth of the late afternoon sun, at a heady 6-7knots. Once more we had the fantastic experience of eating our evening meal at the cockpit table with the sea rushing by, bliss!!

About now we had a change of plan, deciding to break the journey with a visit to Tarifa, reputedly the wind surfing capital of Europe. Not the sort of description that would normally draw me to somewhere, but the books assessment still sounded good.

We set the watches pretty much as usual. This meant it was my turn on as we approached the famous Cape Trafalgar. This was the scene of Nelsons great triumph over the Spanish. I’d already had a request, from Pete, to give him a nudge as we rounded the point, so that he could witness this momentous occasion (even though it was now 6am and still dark)

He immerged bleary eyed, but alert, to be greeted by the added bonus of our first sighting of the African coast.

                                    Tarifa Lighthouse                                                                    Tarifa Anchorage

After running the gauntlet of the Cadiz fishing boats and high speed ferries’, we dropped anchor, just before 10am, in the small sheltered bay, just outside the town of Tarifa.

Just time, now, for both of us to get our heads down before exploring.

Regards  John and Pete