Atlantic Crossing Day 1 - Leaving Gibraltar

Originally we planned on leaving on Tuesday for the great beyond. However, my wife managed to fully stock the boat, and this meant we were ready to leave, one day early. All of us have been looking forward to the crossing so much, that we could not wait any longer and decided to cast off the bowlines, and released the lines set to slip. Our neighbor at the dock let us know that they thought there would be no wind, and they where waiting for more wind. And indeed, when we left the marina, the sails went up, and we motor sailed out in 2 Beaufort. The sun was almost setting, and we were happy to be able to navigate the anchored tanker field in daylight. Some dolphins went by the SaltyPaws to wish us a safe journey. Our sail plan was to stay out of the shipping lane, and cross the shipping lane after it stopped at the call in point.

We happened to be lucky with the tides, we left just after high water Gibraltar, and this is the most favorable tide. In addition, it was full moon, so we had the strongest tide. The current at Gibraltar is always into Med, to resupply the evaporated water, but at high tide, with full moon, the current actually turns out for just 1 hour. Just before Tarifa, our ground speed dropped to a mere 3.5 knots, this with the wind in our back, and one engine on. However, our speed was due for an upgrade shortly. We have never done any straight without storm, and Gibraltar did also not disappoint the second time round. The 2 Beaufort quickly rose to 7, and we were racing out of Gibraltar with a staggering 8-10 knots. I was thinking about our dock mates that predicted no wind, when we decided to first set the first reef, then the second, and finally took the mainsail down altogether, and continued sailing on the genoa. The maximum wind we saw this night was 38 knots!

In the shipping lane, we where mostly lucky with the ships, with the exception of a 300 meter monster that was moving with 20 knots. At one point is was going straight for us. As we where in the direction of the traffic, that made the “monster” an overtaking vessel, and after the hart stopping moment of seeing the bow pointed straight at us, it quickly turned its side to us, and overtook us on starboard.

Needless to say, our shift plan fell apart, as we needed 2 people on deck for all the reefing and taking the sails down, and an extra pair of eyes in the shipping lane. After having woken up at 630 in the morning the Netherlands, after a full day of travelling, I finally went to sleep. At 1 in the morning. With the ship in the safe hands of my wife, I slept very well, even in the storm.

On the first day, just after noon, I have spotted a whale. I saw the water spout several times, and also a black shape, breaching the water. The whale is quite far off, perhaps 200 meters so it is hard to see which one it is.

As the wind lightened, we put up the genacker for some great light wind speed. Unfortunately, our friend mr duck tape needed to come to the aid, after an un fortunate rip. It took us quite some time to finally tape-up the genacker, and also involving a trip of Charles into the mast.

We still have the 24 hour distance record with a staggering 145 nautical miles. I hope we get to break it again later in this leg

Using the last light of the day to leave Gibraltar

Sunset over Spain, bay of Gibraltar

Sunrise the next morning over a very calm sea

Elizabeth marking a fruit salad

Pictures by Charles