The City walls as we said good-bye to Cadiz

We slipped out of Cadiz at 11.00 after a great visit. Not a place you would consider to holiday to normally, however definitely worth it. The passage to Barbate was quite long at 50 miles and would require us to round Cabo Trafalgar - the place of the famous victory by Admiral Nelson over the Spanish fleet almost 200 years ago, and his death. The Cabo has a big reputation for bad weather and has seen many ship wrecked in these waters. So a good clearance should be made to ensure deep water is under your keel.

The plan was to give the Cabo 5 miles clearance, especially as the forecast was for F5 –6 winds.  This clearance was soon to be increased as we rounded the city of Cadiz and headed south. An official vessel telling us to move further offshore intercepted us. We had observed some loud bangs and shells falling into the sea around 1.5 miles away!! So probably a good plan to do as we were told, as that part of the coast was clearly being used for firing practice! The sea was quite rough and the wind was building, requiring 3 reefs in the main sail and a postage stamp of genoa.  We were hard on the wind and fighting both the sea and the wind to make progress south and east. We rounded the Cabo Trafalgar at 16.30 and tacked back towards the shore from around 12 miles offshore.

Cabo Trafalgar rounded in rough weather and big seas!!

 The sea state was bumpy and water was coming over the bow and ending up in the cockpit. Luckily though, the sun was shining and we had shorts and T-shirts on, so happy, totally wet, pushing forward towards Barbate.  We kept our eyes wide open for Tummy nets, which are placed all around this area. (Tummy nets are large floating nets marked with yellow buoys to catch Tuna). Luckily there were none set and we just made Barbate before dark.

Sailing in shorts & T-shirts with ‘Antony the Autopilot’