Well I had been in Badalona long enough, and I could’ve just put off leaving forever, but it was time to get back on the horse and put my fears to bed,(so to speak,) so I decided to leave on Monday,13th April. The wind forecast was, for up to 15 knots max, (mind you, I have heard that before!)and I guess Tarragona is a good day’s sail at about 50 odd miles.
I togged up early, before dawn in fact. The previous evening I had made sure all was done for a quick getaway. As I nosed out of the marina, I had the mainsail up in no time, and put away the ropes and fenders. The awning was still wet because it had been raining all the previous day in Badalona, so I just rolled it and put it in the cabin, but not in its cover. The breeze was from the land, I would say just north of west, and my plan was to stick with the coast all the way down, one, to keep the waves small, and two, if at any time I got fed up or it picked up dirty, there are a multitude of marinas en route, almost one every 5 miles.
The dawn was breaking as I sailed past Barcelona, and it went through my mind all the people getting up and getting ready to go to work, if they weren’t already on their way. I was about a mile off as I slid past, but decided to head out to the fairway buoy to avoid the multitude of ferries and ships coming in and out of this very busy Spanish port. I went through the anchorage and passed very close to a Turkish ship with a load of dagos hanging over the side waving. I had full main, small jib and flying jib up, with the wind aft of the beam, we were doing six knots, and as I passed, I was sure I could smell a kebab. Shortly after, I hardened up to follow the coast south west and keep to my plan (CLOSE INSHORE). As I came round the point more onto the wind, it seemed to freshen a little, and I got out my windo meter, just to see what it was reading. I had already taken in the flyer, and was surprised to see it reading 23 knots, so with our speed of about 5 knots, it was already 18 knots true. Thoughts began to go through my mind as to where do these guys get there forecasts from? I quickly dispelled my anxious feeling into a cup of tea. I generally make a flask full when I start a trip, and today was no exception. By the time the tea was finished, swiftly followed by another, we were beating up the coast hard on the wind with the lee rail under. I just knew this wasn’t going to last so I thought to be prudent, I would put half a dozen rolls in the main, dead easy to do, just clip on, go to the mast, let off some halyard and roll her up. It went great, and we were still knocking on at 5 knots. Over the next couple of hours we were back to full main with the flying jib set, wind at last, what was forecast. It was also forecast to back this evening, so I was hoping to make Tarragona before that happened. (When I say "back" it means that the wind goes anti-clockwise as it shifts.) Well, the wind was up and down all blooming day, so at times I had the iron horse on. Her name is Beta, and unusually for a horse she is red, but when she gets revved up she develops 20 more horses, she is fab. It's funny, but I only thought about it later during the day, all the key, rev counter and electrics for the engine are in the cockpit, and during the bad storm night, the whole bloody lot was under water for maybe ten minutes until the cockpit drained! I think I will give it all a big WD40 spray RIGHT NOW!
Another annoying thing has happened. The wind vane, Mildred,keeps disconnecting herself and deciding she doesn’t want to play. In fact, she got me downright annoyed when she did it, and Simo then decided to head back to Barcelona without telling me! What’s that all about then? Anyway, I had a good close look, and decided that maybe in the storm something got strained, but I retired Mildred and put on Vince, the electric autopilot, he works better when the engine is on anyway, and I will have a good look at Mildred when we get settled in Tarragona.
Well we’ve done well, it's 3pm and we have about three more hours to go before we'll be safely docked, and I can get some dinner on the go. The wind has by now, backed a little and we are not as free as we were to maintain our course, and not have to reef or roll so near to our destination. I had been keeping an eye on a Latino sail down to leeward, and ahead of me, he seemed to be struggling with the conditions, I mean, even I had full oilies on, and was getting a lot of spay on the boat. As I got closer, he tacked, so he would cross our path and I thought "gawd, I hope you are not in trouble and want a tow". It was the last thing I wanted, anyway he sailed behind me, about 50 yards. I could see that he was much bigger than me, and I don't want to appear rude, but his boat was more tub like in appearance. There were three on board, that I could see, but none of them waved frantically, and I didn’t see a barrel with burning tar on deck, so assumed they were O.K., and on I went.
We finally arrived at 6pm, in a capful of wind, and was grateful to get the sails down, fenders and lines out, and tie up somewhere snug and cosy, call the missus get food and bed. In just that order!
Goodnight
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