Back on Board
07 May 2016 | Mallorca
David and Andrea
Anzac Day 2016. After the big bird from Australia, the crew of Diomedea find themselves wrestling with the crap Hertz in-car GPS to navigate from Barcelona airport to Premia de Mar, about 40 unfamiliar km across the city and up the coast. The battery in the unit was flat and did not want to charge so we winged it and eventually arrived at the varadero to find Diomedea a little the worse for wear after six months on the hard. They had had some big storms and there were pockets of sand still on the deck despite washdowns by the yardies. Our helm cover had blown away, winches were partially seized, and new areas of rust had appeared. Thus began our revitalisation of the boat. Run in the halyards and reefing lines, bend on the sails, fight our way into the mess down below, install impellors into salt water pumps, go to the shops for victualling, have an animated discussion with the yard manager as to what happened to our $400 worth of pilot books that were delivered to the yard (vanished - never found) , new crankshaft pulley on, find the propellor anode that someone had stolen, water tanks filled up, wait out a day of bad weather, spend an hour on skype to Commbank about my credit card being skimmed in the first hour of our arriving here (it wasn’t - Hertz debited a deposit on the car and then closed if off after the car was returned) have an afternoon exploring La Rambla and environs of Barcelona, and then we were off.
As Diomedea drew away from the Barcelona coast in a close reach, the snow capped Pyrenees appeared in the sky. No wonder we thought it was cold. The water temp was only about 15 C and the free air temp similar. With wind chill we needed plenty of gear on. Amazingly, the mountains of Mallorca appeared quite quickly at 70nm (130km) out as the air was so clear. “ We’re almost there”. Not.
We romped over a lumpy seaway expecting to fall into a wind hole by night. Opposite. Gusts up to 30 knots with big rolling seas. I had not got around to setting up the boom preventer, nor the staysail, and our stomachs were rebelling. On deck most of the night, freezing, or brief stints in the saloon to warm up and recover. However, the stars were brilliant. I have never seen the Northern Milky Way so clearly. Diomedea approached the aptly named Dragonera island (where are you Daenyrys, Mother of Dragons?) at 5am only to be hemmed in by copious large shipping traffic around the southern cape. The wind faltered so it was time for the diesel topsail for the 15 mile run along the south coast. Andrea gets an hour and half off watch, and I awake to my forehead hitting the steering well as I collapse unconscious at the helm. Anchorage is made at the beautiful Cala Portals Vells and the crew takes a well deserved nana nap.