Monday August 22 2011
Bright and early we were up and getting ready to set sail for destinations to be defined. Our boat, the Beautiful South was a 45 foot yacht and it felt considerably bigger than the 40.7 foot Lancelot I crossed the Atlantic on. The yacht was clearly a lot wider as well as longer and that, combined with the fact there were four as opposed to eight crew, made for a spacious experience.
After a late-ish breakfast and then additional cappuccinos on the quayside we set out. Leaving the berth, we spent some time getting used to the yacht’s handling in the safety of the harbor itself, taking turns on the helm as we motored around. Moving out into Gibraltar Bay I was struck by how many other vessels there were out there: cargo ships, oil tankers, refueling ships, tugs and the odd other yacht too. Heading out into the bay Graham spotted a British frigate moored further up the bay so we took some time to go and check it out.
After a spot of lunch, on the move and ably prepared by Ali we headed out further in the bay, hugging the Gibraltarian coast. All of a sudden the winds picked up and we were given an early initiation to how quickly conditions can change in the area, as the winds are funneled through the straits.
Instead of having practiced calmly in more tranquil conditions, we found ourselves helping Graham with the reefs in sail, taking in the sail and making the yacht just a little easier to handle. Coming round Gibraltar point the conditions were quite choppy, but within no time we had passed through and entered much calmer waters on the easterly side of the Rock.
Continuing along we had an enjoyable sail down along the coast to our first port of call, “La Duquesa”, a small Spanish village with quite an attractive harbor. The westerly wind provided perfect conditions for a series of broad reaches as we fairly zipped along and within no time we were preparing for our first mooring.
As our day skipper candidate, Sharron was tasked with mooring not once but twice: a first temporary mooring, a kind of parallel parking manoeuvre along the quayside while we enquired after our permanent mooring. Sounds easy enough, but a lot of things to do, particularly ropes wise and after a long first day at sea we were all happy when we were finally properly moored up. Back on dry land, there were a couple of English bars allowing me to catch an early season United victory against Spurs.
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