Getting started
23/10/09 23:29
I have been remiss in not keeping the Captain’s Log up to date – my apologies. The main reason for this has been the fact that we have basically been holed up in Gibraltar since the 15th August and there hasn’t seemed much to report. Having said that, we have managed to escape back to England, USA and Scotland to catch up with friends and relatives. But apart from these very joyous interludes we have basically been stuck in Gibraltar which is great for a couple of days, tedious after a week, brain numbing after a fortnight and conducive to suicide thereafter. So my belt and shoelaces have been confiscated and I have been forced to endure the whole episode with only the occasional vodka or ten to alleviate the pain.
Well that’s not entirely true. Carol (who incidentally alleviates her pain with cheap white wine) and I managed a couple of days in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave just across the Straits of Gibraltar. It was claustrophobic and just like Gibraltar without the fish and chips. Poor Carol went diving to replace an anode on the propeller and nearly froze to death in her very lightweight wet suit. We returned to Gibraltar where a diver finished the job and also cleaned everything up below the waterline.
More latterly things have improved as the other Blue Water Rally boats and organizers have turned up. We all sailed down to Smir in Morocco to test communications and have a fun weekend visiting the souk and getting to know everybody. At this stage it would appear that that there is a very pleasant, varied and interesting bunch of folk on the Rally, including two boats with young children on board. They are lovely and inject youth and colour in a sea of somewhat mature, silver-grey heads. Last night we all went to a reception held by the Gibraltar Minister for Sports and Leisure i.e. free booze and munchies.
So things are looking up at long last and this feeling of relative elation has been celebrated by Carol who has bought a new camera to replace the one that didn’t take kindly to being coated in butterscotch sauce in Malta. She also bought me a new fishing rod to stop me dribbling in the fishing tackle shop.
We have Bob Marshall (old friend) and Jim MacDonald (an even older friend that I haven’t known as long as Bob) on board as crew to Lanzarote. Bob will stay with us until Antigua at least but Jim will leave us in Lanzarote to be replaced by John Popika, my old gliding buddy. My sister Avril and brother-in-law Mike have driven down to Gibraltar from their place in Cabo Roig to bid us farewell from Europa Point on Sunday when an army howitzer will sound the 10.00 start of the 2009/11 Blue Water Rally.
The other good news is that all systems on Bali Blue are up and running. So it’s now down to last minute provisioning and boat tidying. Today, Friday, Bali Blue has been thoroughly cleaned and the teak work is being oiled by Carol and Jim as I type. I will now go up and offer some help just as they are about to finish.
Sail on!
Well that’s not entirely true. Carol (who incidentally alleviates her pain with cheap white wine) and I managed a couple of days in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave just across the Straits of Gibraltar. It was claustrophobic and just like Gibraltar without the fish and chips. Poor Carol went diving to replace an anode on the propeller and nearly froze to death in her very lightweight wet suit. We returned to Gibraltar where a diver finished the job and also cleaned everything up below the waterline.
More latterly things have improved as the other Blue Water Rally boats and organizers have turned up. We all sailed down to Smir in Morocco to test communications and have a fun weekend visiting the souk and getting to know everybody. At this stage it would appear that that there is a very pleasant, varied and interesting bunch of folk on the Rally, including two boats with young children on board. They are lovely and inject youth and colour in a sea of somewhat mature, silver-grey heads. Last night we all went to a reception held by the Gibraltar Minister for Sports and Leisure i.e. free booze and munchies.
So things are looking up at long last and this feeling of relative elation has been celebrated by Carol who has bought a new camera to replace the one that didn’t take kindly to being coated in butterscotch sauce in Malta. She also bought me a new fishing rod to stop me dribbling in the fishing tackle shop.
We have Bob Marshall (old friend) and Jim MacDonald (an even older friend that I haven’t known as long as Bob) on board as crew to Lanzarote. Bob will stay with us until Antigua at least but Jim will leave us in Lanzarote to be replaced by John Popika, my old gliding buddy. My sister Avril and brother-in-law Mike have driven down to Gibraltar from their place in Cabo Roig to bid us farewell from Europa Point on Sunday when an army howitzer will sound the 10.00 start of the 2009/11 Blue Water Rally.
The other good news is that all systems on Bali Blue are up and running. So it’s now down to last minute provisioning and boat tidying. Today, Friday, Bali Blue has been thoroughly cleaned and the teak work is being oiled by Carol and Jim as I type. I will now go up and offer some help just as they are about to finish.
Sail on!