Well we are still in Menorca, but we are getting very close to being able to move on again. Our first crew member joined us last Tuesday (Jason). He’s been helping us get the last few things ready. Originally he was supposed to meet us in Gibralter on the 19th, but ended up changing his flight to Menorca instead.
Besides the constantly crappy weather, here is what has been holding us up.
First, the port side propeller. From the previous post we mentioned that the engine stopped working. Turns out that the propellor fell off!!! My bad, I guess I did not tighten that enough when it was on land. I’ll try to do better this time. It is a real bitch trying to steer a catamaran at low speed with only one engine. We know pretty much exactly where it fell off at Cala Caves, since we were only a couple of feet away from the cliff face at the time. We rented a car again for a few days and went back there to see if we could recover anything. More adventures, I packed two wet suits but they were both Maggie’s. Can’t do the zipper all the way up, and it is a tad tight. I got in the water, right to where I figured we lost the prop and dived there, but the visibility was crap and could only see about 2 feet. Once the weather settles down and the water clears up someone will be able to see our prop and retaining cone clearly on the bottom I’m sure. At least we got to explore some of the prehistoric caves, some of which were occupied during the bronze age. Right now we are waiting for the retaining cone, nuts,and washer we need – I have a couple of spare props already. Then its back into the water on Monday to put the prop on (and check the other side for tightness). Unfortunately right now the water is like coffee from rain runoff — hope it clears up soon!
Next, we have had the boom fixed. The riggers got that done in pretty good time. While they were here we got them to inspect our rigging, and all went well until he looked at the fore-stay attachment (the big steel cable from the top of the mast to the front of the boat). The fitting there had a bunch of micro-cracks in it. Not ideal. It’s the sort of thing that might work fine for years to come, or bring the mast down tomorrow. You just can’t tell. So they are replacing the fore-stay clevis. But to do that they need to be able to loosen the giant turnbuckles on the cables on the side of the mast. One of them turned, but the other one is stuck – so replace turnbuckles as well. Frick. Those things are 260Euros each, plus 21% VAT (our 11% tax in SK seems pretty tame right now). Those parts should be in Monday, and the riggers should be able to get finished in a morning.
The new life raft arrived, but it was a little smaller than the one we donated to illegal migrants on the north coast of Africa so it would just fall through the platform rails. Picked up a chunk of marine plywood and built a shelf for it, and strapped it in. Hope it stays put this time !!
Our jib needed a little work. The sail itself is in pretty good condition, but the seams along the bottom and back were coming apart (sun damage on the thread I think), so we found a sail maker and took it to her and she gave it a professional once over and fixed it all up for us.
Over the past couple of days (between rain showers) Maggie scrubbed the boat deck & got it looking nice and white again. With all the work going on, it was getting pretty grungy, and was yellowing… it was also the first time it had been properly cleaned by us. While Maggie did that, Jason worked on the chrome, and I got the running backstays rigged. The running backstays are something that we have never used before. They are an extra set of cables to help hold up the mast while sailing downwind. The riggers explained how to use those properly, so one more time up the mast to hook them in, then they get attached near the back of the boat.
While we had the car we did another grocery and wine run – so we have a packed freeze an food for three for the next couple of weeks. Also did some jerry can runs with diesel since it is 30cents a litre cheaper on land then at the marina fuel dock (which is only open for a few hours a day right now). Saved us about 100Euro! So enough fuel on board to probably last us a couple of weeks as well.
We’ve met some wonderful cruisers the past few days. Lori and Paul from Conneticut, sailing on Imagine Squared. They have been sailing for about 4 years, and headed for Tunisia to spend the winter there. Also Rene and Bab’s from Holland on Momentum. We kept running into Rene as he kayaked around the harbour and they were near us at the marina. While we were anchored we met some wonderful French sailors a few days ago. Max, Christine & Kristof on Liberte (a beautiful 52′ Lagoon) and Roman on a 44′ Lagoon (Cat Surfer). They invited us over for drinks one evening and we were treated to some wonderful French hospitality, food & wine. They are all very experienced sailors.. unfortunately they had a tragic story to tell. There were 3 big catamarans sailing together from France to Morocco. We never met the third one because their boat sank a couple of days ago! They were coming in to the north coast of Menorca at Forells (a real ship chewing coastline) as you can see in the photo, taken on November 15.
And here is a picture taken at the same spot a couple of days later on November 20. (that is Jason with us)
They had a small dog on board, and the skipper tripped over the dog, banged his head on a winch and was unconscious. His wife had been sleeping inside. He came to when their boat crashed onto the rugged coastline. They got rescued by the local fire department with ropes over the cliff. It happened about 10 at night, and they got rescued about 2 in the morning. The waves totally destroyed that 45ft catamaran over the next couple of days. You can see in our picture that all that was left was a piece of the mast. Actually, I think that the local authorities towed the wreckage away the next day since it is a marine park.
It is a very sobering situation, and we try to learn from other people’s mistakes. In this case it was primarily trying to enter an unfamiliar port at night, especially on a coast known for jagged rocks all along it. And little dogs can be tripping hazards.
So we heard all about the misadventures of one third of that crew of French sailors. They were fantastic to us. We had lots of French wine, Leek & Potato Soup, cheese. Maggie had wasabi and they had fresh tuna, so tuna sashimi all round. They were getting ready to head around to the north coast where their friends boat was wrecked to dive the site and recover some valuable pieces of equipment. We saw them the next day when we drove back to Fornells to see the site for ourselves.
So just waiting for final boat repairs on Monday and the moment the riggers get off the boat we hope to set sail again… weather permitting of course ! But its been crappy & raining for the past couple of days, so good opportunity to do boat chores and hopefully the sun will come out on Monday afternoon and the winds will be in our favour. Today is 2 weeks on Menorca… sailing is definitely something that mother nature determines how long you will stay at a destination… and sometimes where your next destination will be. Right now the plan is to head as quickly as possibly to Gibralter. The Strait of Gibralter can only be gone through when you are sailing downwind as there is also an 2knot current running against you. So we need to get there as soon as we can, as we may have to wait a few days for the conditions to be right to go through. Once we get to Gibralter it will be on to Madeira.
Wow what a adventure and sounds like a lot of learning and help from other sailors. Enjoy once you get going again. Dave
Love your approach, no bitching hey! In spite of all the sailing issues you have to take care of, and dealing with the blessed winds, you appear to be in a very good spirit, must be all the great 🍷, my guess! Hopefully the winds will be on your side tomorrow!!! Stay safe, great sailling!!
Love reading your posts you guys….am living a dream vicariously :-). It sounds like you’re having the adventure of a lifetime. No better ways to learn than through the experience of trial and error and through the wisdom of others’ experiences passed on – especially when passed on along with good food and wine!
Wishing you good weather and happy sailing! Kim