Well I suppose it better be at the beginning, like leaving the house at 0730 on Tuesday 7th April, driving down with Jackie in the car, not much to say, feeling a bit nervy cos I have not been sailing since last October. Still, Simo is in fine fettle, and the first few miles it will all come flooding back. I am glad to be leaving, all the waiting doesn’t do you any good. I’m going to miss Jackie and the cats and the house, but a man’s got to do, what a man’s got to do, so here we are on the day of reckoning. I had always decided that Tuesday the seventh would be the day, and so it was to be, even though I had checked the forecast through wind guru and passage weather and both forecast fairly strong winds, up to 30 knots in fact, but it was from the north, and so it would all be behind me. Laurie and Jean came down to see me off and they had a bottle of champers that we duly consumed with a bit of orange juice. I only had just over one glass and was busy getting all the fenders in and the hundred other jobs that need to done prior to a bit of a journey. I had decided to make Badalona my first stop, which is just north of Barcelona, and about 140 miles, so with the wind expected, I was hoping for a quick passage and anticipated being in Badalona by teatime on Wednesday at the latest .
Time to say bye and poor old Jackie’s eyes are full of it. She’s worried, and has been ever since I came up with this hair brain idea of “one last challenge before I get too old”. Still, cast off the lines, and I am on my way. The wind has already picked up as I motor out into the entrance channel and start to get the main up, thinking prudently, I decide to put a slab in “ reef” . I do have roller reefing but very often it works better to just slab down . I motor out through the entrance and turn sharp right, the breeze is from the north west as I head almost due south towards my first waypoint, about 5 miles to the east of Cabo Creus at the Eastern end of the Pyrenees .
I set the wind vane up, affectionately called Mildred, and clipping on my harness, go forward to hoist the small jib. It’s tiny, and acts as a storm jib in harsh conditions. Well with the wind aft of the beam , we are whipping along, and a bit of flying jib gets our speed up to six knots, time for a cup of tea.
We pass all the landmarks, but are moving further out to sea as the direct course to Creus is the best. It starts to rain early on, and it is full cloud cover, just like the UK, except appreciably warmer, about 16C. As the hours go by, the wind gradually increases, so I take in the flying jib and have another cup of tea. The wind increasing is not a worry because that is what was forecast, and I know that in the hours of darkness, it will be at its strongest, 30 knots. It will be almost dark by 8 pm and I will make a decision on another reef in the main by then, so everything is snug. These little Vertues with two reefs and a small jib will take a lot of wind, and I have a great deal of faith in her. The wind is still rising, and by 7.00 pm it was up to 27 knots true. We were pounding along, and a bit of a sea had built up, probably a metre. The rain was still coming down in fits and starts and it seemed as if when the rain came, the wind got stronger. I decided to slow a little, and also to make sure of having a comfortable night, made the decision to take the main off completely and lash it down tight into the boom crutch. We were still doing six knots, with just the baby jib up, I could see cap creus clearly on my starboard bow, but all the energy used in getting the main down had made me feel slightly queasy, and with no further hesitation heaved three big stomach fulls over the side. I felt a bit better, but was p----d off because I had taken a stugeron before I left, and I hate being sick.
Very soon, I was abeam of the great Cabo Creus and it was dark. Funny, when it’s dark, the waves seem bigger and the wind seems stronger. I got my windo meter out, and it was now up to 30 knots true. Ok, it seemed stronge , but hey, I had not been sailing for six months. Simo was steady in her track under just the storm jib, and Mildred was not having any handling problems.
I had got a nice piece of breast of chicken for dinner, and I was going to do it in the pressure cooker with some boiled potatoes and peas , but do you know what, eating was the last thing on my mind. I had had a sandwich earlier, but that went over the side earlier in the evening, so I just had a few little cat naps 25 minutes at a time in my bunk. I didn’t bother to get undressed, so my wet oilskins, made my bunk a little damp.
I had had my doubts on the new A.I.S. working earlier, but suddenly I found out how it works, and it is fantastic. An alarm goes off when a ship comes within 10 miles of you, but only if it is on a dangerous bearing and is likely to come close, so my thanks must go to the Master at wiring and probably many other things too, my old Mate LES who installed the whole lot for me. A fishing trip will be planned and it may be sooner than you think. . . .READ ON, so that put my mind at rest. It was past midnight, and we were about 15 to 20 miles south east of the big Cabo Creus, the sea was now starting to heap up and become a little playful. I had had a couple of swipes as wave , not big ones you understand, came over the transom, and whether I was down below kipping, or in the cockpit, the cabin doors were firmly closed. The rain was heavier now, but I knew before I set off it was to be like this, at least until morning. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel like getting the camera out to do anything with, as I still didn’t feel fantastic. All I really wanted to do, was go to sleep, so with that in mind, I decided to hove to, a nautical term for stopping the boat at sea so all is relaxed, and it really is. You can be in a force seven or eight in Simo, and she will lay hove to happy as a you no what. The angle of heel was not too bad, and I set the alarm for my first 25 minute stint in my nice warm bunk. The next hour or two were spent sleeping, getting up to have a look out, the A.I.S. came up with a couple of targets that I checked on, FANTASTIC, and I have to say, the wind every time I looked out seemed to be getting stronger, in fact, almost on my last lookout, I took a reading and it was 39 knots true. We were just making headway out to sea at about 2 knots. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT WAS PROBABLY THE BIGGEST SHOCK OF MY LIFE, I will tell you about it in my next update.
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