A lot to catch up on
Ppariso
Fri 5 Oct 2007 12:51
happen. Lets see, last left off and we were across the Bay of Biscay
and heading to Gibraltar. So, trying to retrace it all.
La Coruna was the fist stop and nothing much to say other than -
tapas, beers and wine! Left in heavy fog and not the best of
conditions.
From there on in there were amazing winds, no wind, dolphin, whales ..
you name it. Surfing competition were the record was clocked at 17.4
kts of speed (Fin of course) with poor John lagging behind - but in
all fairness he did have the helm during the quieter times!! Oh,
nice tapas lunches, eggy bagels and various cold beers kept us well
nourished!!
Upon arrival in Gib, we were met by the EH01 crew!! Bless them with
beers in hand waiting for us. Gibraltar was very hot, and simply not
the best of places to spend a couple of days, however we did manage to
find a gem of a restaurant our second night there, and our last Pi
crew evening together. Must say, staying up until the wee hours of
the morning (about 0500 boat time) wasnt the best of plans.
A few hours later, Liz and I walked Fin and John to the airport to
head back to the UK. All of us looking a bit worse for wear. Liz
and I then pakced our things onto EH01 for our trip to Malta and the
Middle Sea race.
Now, this is where the fun begins. We popped into Cartegna to re-fuel
as we spent most of the time motoring with no wind at all!! Lots of
sunscreen kids!! Oh, adn we did have one cheeky swim off the back of
the boat .. just what we needed. Again, nice tapas and some wine and
all is grand. Gorgeous streets and marina front. Off again we go,
thinking next re-fuel will be Sardinia (with an out to Palma if
criticial). Well, guess what we are in Palma. Spent the time
motoring for awhile, with light wind and Hmmm, funny noise in the
engine. So, we spent the next 36 or so hours under sails only, heavy
winds, light winds with no instruments or electronics running at all -
conserving battery power as we can not use the engine. Finally made
it to Palma, fantasitc city. The old portion is beautiful. Liz and
I had an amazing Tapas lunch, Tim (EH01 skipper) met up with us and
the skies started getting a bit dark! Hmmm, lets find a place inside
so we popped into The Escape to discover it is a local yacht racer
hangout. Good fun until the call came in; the pontoon we are on is
destroyed, we must move the boat and one cre member has hurt their
back. I have never seen an aluminium pontoon buckle like that ever.
Reports of 78kt winds through the marina, water spouts (tornado) seen
and trees felled everywhere! Carnage basically. So, crew member in
hospital safe and sounds - strained back muscle. Boat absolutley
fine!
So, we are catching up on emails and setting out this evening to
finish the trek to Malta. We will get there at some point. Next
update when I get to Malta.