We spent the first two days here battling with rusted bolts and trying desperately not to drop any tools into the bottomless bilges in an attempt to get the CVJ (constant velocity joint) free. This is the universal joint which joins the gear box to the propeller shaft and one of the bearings had failed. Once this was completed we decided to take a leisurly Sunday afternoon stroll throught the very beautiful old town, taking in the sights and relaxing. As we passed a small rustic bar we decided this would be a good place to take a small beer before returning to Oceana for our Sunday roast. At first all was quiet, then the musical instruments came out and before we knew what was happening we were in the middle of a traditional Canarian music session with myself and Christina singing renditions of my music and the drinks flowing freely!! We made our escape just as the door was bolted for a lock in and we were down to our last euro thinking about the slab of beef we had waiting on Oceana for our supper.
So now we are again waiting around for parts for the engine although this time it is in a sunny place and for the next two weeks there is a festival here culminating in a carnival and open air rock concerts to keep us entertained. Some people don´t believe us when we tell them it´s a hard life.
After living it up on the luxury yacht for a while we thought that it was time to move on and cast off from the dock at Gibraltar on the 6th February. We made slow progress out through the Straits of Gibraltar and crossed to the coast of Morocco that night dodging large ships untill we could smell the wood fires and see the light of Tanger. for the next two days we had light winds and often had to motor in the calm spells to try and find wind. By the 8th we had moved into constant winds and started to enjoy the sailing once again with a following wind and clear skies. At 11.30 on the 8th we reached the half way point of our 700 mile journey and celebrated by having a thourough wash and putting on clean clothes (we had started to pong a bit after a couple of days at sea!). Later that day the wind started to freshen and we were soon surfing down the waves at an exciting 9 knots leading to a hard nights sailing as some of the waves were coming in at strange angles so we were forced to steer by hand to hold our course.
By the next morning the wind had freshened further and we were now being pushed along ever faster in what was fast becoming a bit of a roller coaster ride. We realised that we were heading into a bit of a storm and started handing in the sails to slow us down a bit. The waves started acting a bit strangely now, they weren´t holding their shape and we started encountering huge blocks of water travelling in seemingly random directions. The wind started increasing further and we were soon down to our smallest sails with 30 knots of wind and waves approaching 4m in height. We realised that we were going to be in for a tough night (especially as we hadn´t managed much sleep the night before) and started making preparations for riding out the storm safely. By the evening of the 9th we were down to just the storm jib with ropes trailing out behind the boat to slow Oceana down and keep the stern pointing into the wind. It was then that we were pooped for the first time as the waves had started breaking and we got one that broke over the transom soaking us both and fillinf the cockpit with about 8 inches of water. We felt quite safe though as we were both harnessed on and had all the hatches battened down to keep the water out of the boat. By now the wind was up to 35 knots and we were sailing down swells of up to 5m so we took in all sails and rode the storm under bare poles with our two longest anchor warps trailing behind.
So that was how we spent the night, taking one hour at the wheel - one hour off. We grabbed food when we could although that was easier said than done often ending up with more food on the galley floor and locker doors than in the bowl! The wind finally started to abate the following morning when Christina witnessed a very strange sight. Four large completely simetrical waves came through, rolling under Oceana and that was it - storm over. The sun came out, the sea calmed down, the wind settled and we had a lovely sail into Puerto de los Marmoles, Lanzarote, where we anchored for the night.
The next morning we sailed on to Puerto Castillo, Feurteventura where we stayed to make some repairs and generally recouperate after a hard weeks sailing. Within 24 hours of arriving at Puerto Castillo Christina had arranged a gig for me to play my guitar in an Irish bar! Now this was quite a hard gig - here I was , an English fellow playing in an Irish bar following a football match where Ireland had just beaten Scotland with no Irish tunes in my reportoir!!!!!! It started badly when the microphones didn´t work but I managed to fend off the heckling and got out of there alive with €60 in my pocket!
We spent the week getting the boat shipshape and Bristol fashion again and sailed to Gran Canaria on the 17th. After sailing for eighteen hours in a storm we thought that this would be a walk in the park - and so it was until we started the engine to approach the harbour. There was a horrible noise from the transmission and we had no propulsion. We had to sail into the port in very light winds dodging the container ships, tugs and fishing boats, finally getting towed into the marina by a passing rib. It was pretty nerve racking at times but we were now safely tied up and could enjoy the sun.
We managed to get a days work last week cleaning a £4.2m motor yacht in the same marina. We got friendly with Pete, the skipper, and he set it all up. Now the owner was away so at the end of the job we were able to spend some time sipping fizzy wine on the sun deck and generally acting in a very La-de-da manner. Now we think that it quite suited us and have made a plan to try and do this sort of thing much more often, especially when the vessel has a surround sound home entertainment center aboard with Moulin Rouge on DVD.
If I see another bloody tin can ............I'll scream!!
So, since the little excursion to Africa we have spent our time stocking the boat with about 6 month's supplies ready for our trip across the Atlantic. This has included stripping the labels from all the tin cans, writing their contents on in permanent pen and varnishing them to stop them from rusting. This job on it's own took the best part of a day!
So now we are all stowed away, engine fixed, genoa repaired and are just dependant on the weather as to whether we sail tommorrow or later in the week. We took a day off from boat work last week to go to Tarifa and fly my kite whilst watching the kiteboarders out at sea.
My mate Pete Ging came over for the New Year to stay on Oceana and visit us. After he had seen the sights of Gibraltar (about 3 days later) we decided that working in a pub for 3 pounds an hour was not really what we were all about and that what we should do was to jack in the jobs and sail over to Africa for a couple of days - and why not?
So off we sailed, Pete Ging at the helm (narrowly missing a 100,000 ton oil tanker - no Ging wasn't wearing his glasses) and headed South out of Gibraltar. We had a lovely day out in Morocco driving around a couple of towns for the markets and up into the hills to take the air. Much mint tea taken and I enjoyed a lovely close shave of the cut-throat variety.
So then, the next day we decided to head back to Gibraltar. The wind was a little gusty, but not too bad we thought, so off we set. We slipped our mooring lines under sail and left the marina without using the engine (2 Brownie points thank you very much) and set course back to Gibraltar.Just as we were setting the genoa a huge squall hit complete with hail stones and lightning. So we shortened sail. Here I managed to collect a smack in the teeth with the winch handle - lose one Brownie point. Just as we got the sails set again a high powered rib came alongside from the Moroccan Customs. We had to haul in the genoa to speak to them in my rudimentary French. They sped off and we got the genoa out again. Just as we got it set another rib pulled alongside this time containing men with machine guns seeming quite eager to come aboard Oceana so we hauled in the genoa yet again to allow them onboard. As they boarded us one of the men got the end of his machine gun caught on my harness so that it was sticking into my chest. Now, I didn't want to just grab this blokes gun so I gently pushed it to one side smiling nicely as I did so. Two men went down below to conduct a search of the boat, one of them being Machine Gun Man. Somehow, whilst Machine Gun Man was searching the boat he managed to get Christina's skirt caught up in the strap of his machine gun - Luckily it was a skirt that had been hung up to dry, not one that Christina was wearing! But there he was, searching the boat with Christina's skirt hanging from the strap on his back. Christina couldn't communicate with him knowing no French and the best I could muster was "It's behind you Monsieur" which set up a scene that could only have come from a pantomime apart from the machine gun was real! Well luckily he saw the funny side and they left us after a few minutes all parties in good spirits (apart from as they sped off they scratched Oceana's hull with their nasty speed boat).
So onwards to Gibraltar once more and out into the Straits. Here we got hit by an almighty gust which had us shooting off almost out of control and the log going off the top of the scale!!! We decided to head on nevertheless - lose aanother Brownie point - thinking that it was just an isolated gust. After about 2 hours of hard sailing we had managed to make no ground and decided to head into Ceuta under power. Just then the engine overheated and we were back to sail again not being able to head directly into any of the nearest ports (drop one more Brownie point). We sent Pete down below to prepare some food and just as he was about to dish it up we blew out the genoa (lose two Brownie points). So now we were starting to drift off into the Med with no engine and a shredded sail wrapped around the forestay (minus about half a dozen Brownie points there). After eating the curry Ging had cooked us we took stock as now we were heading off the edge of our charts to the place marked 'Here be Monsters'. I had a look at the engine to find that the fan belt had snapped. Luckily Mick in Brighton's mate John had given us an emergency fan belt before we left so I strung that on whilst Christina held Oceana steady to the rising seas and we had the engine up and running again (1 Brownie point to me and 2 for Christina). So, we made it into Ceuta, still in Africa after it had taken us 12 hours to sail about 15 miles!!!!
Obviously we needed a drink after all of that so we headed into town and found a disco bar. Now I don't know about you, but I find that the best way to unwind after a horrendous 12 hour ordeal at sea is to get your record box and DJ in a bar untill 3 in the morning. It seems to relax me anyhow!!!
Yes indeed, what about New Years Eve. Well there was a party set up by some local people for local people and the rumours were that a big London DJ had been brought over at great expense to crank the place up. In reality Christina had made another of her legendary blags and we were in with the right crowd once again. So people start arriving with an air of expectancy hanging over the crowded room, what would the big DJ from London do to whoop up the crowd? Play 'In the Navy' by the village people of course!!! And yes, there were a good few bemused looks from the punters (and the organisers!). These were soon dispelled when the real beat was dropped in and we managed to Rock the Rock good and proper. (And I got paid a handsome wage for basically standing at the front of a big crowd and having a bloody good time - I could get used to this you know).
