Tom
August 24, 2007, Port Ginesta

Tuesday, August 14th:
Moona and I got up early, took the metro to the port, passed by Capitanía to hand in our access card and got on board of Iris to start the last 16 Nm trip to Port Ginesta. I started the engine, pulled in mooring lines and steered Iris backward out of her berth. In the middle of the channel, putting her in forward gear, I noticed ... nothing. Iris didn't advance. Instead we started drifting towards the back of the channel without propulsion. I immediatedly called for assistance on the port's channel 68. Marineros arrived in zodiac just in time to prevent Iris from banging into the port wall. We secured her to the first berth on the pontoon. What the hell was wrong? My first thought was something had got entangled into the prop. That was reasonable. The water in this part of the marina was full of dirt and debris pushed in by last days winds. So I put on my scuba mask and jumped into the dirty water. I could hardly see through the dirt but enough to assure nothing had got stuck into the prop, nor was the raw water intake obstructed.
I quickly took a shower and walked down the whole marina in search for a mechanic. I found a Volvo Penta official service and one of their mechanics promptly accompanied me to have a look at the engine. It took only 10 minutes to see that the engine turned perfectly, the transmission to the shaft was ok, but the propeller seemed to have got loose. So, what to do now? One option was to call up a team of divers and have them have a look at the prop, but that would be expensive and it was not sure they would be able to solve the problem underwater. At Capitanía they suggested towing Iris to the Reial Club Marítim de Barcelona (RCMB) at the other side of the port, where they have a crane and an own mechanic. I walked over there, explained the situation and they said it was ok to bring Iris over. The marineros at Port Vell offered me to tow her to the Club Marítim, but they were called back by Capitanía, because they lacked the necessary permits to do the towing and the Coastguard was patroling the harbour. So I had to wait until 4pm for a tow by the Club Marítim itself. They arrived on time, towed Iris to the other side of the port, got her into the crane and set her on the hard. Out of the water I touched the propeller, it spinned loose around the shaft. RCMB's mechanic unmounted the prop and showed me the prop key (a piece of metal sitting in a groove on the shaft and the prop and makes them turn jointly) had broken. He explained the key that was in there was fitted by an amateur and had the wrong size and wrong metal. It was doomed to break some day. We were very lucky this happened in the marina, and were very lucky to have found this very professional mechanic! He promptly started to machine me a tailored stainless steel prop key, since the one Iris needed wasn't a standard size. The groove size on the shaft wasn't even the same as the on on the prop. After a few hours the new prop key was ready and the prop could be mounted again. In the meanwhile I had the chance to pressure clean Iris's hull. Since it was getting late, Iris would be lowered into the water again the next morning. That evening we all went for dinner at the Persian restaurant 'El Rincón Persa' in Barcelona.
Wednesday, August 15th:
Again Moona and I got up early. Iris was put back into the water around 9am, and we motored out through the bridge of the 'Rambla del Mar' at 9:30am. With a clean hull Iris went much faster. When we had motored all the way to the end of Barcelona's commercial harbour, we encountered a very rough sea with strong winds from the South. In view of what was in front of us, we decided to turn back to Port Vell and try again the next day. So we spent the rest of the day with our friends visiting the Parc Guell and the Tibidabo. In the evening Moona and I were invited for dinner at my aunt's who was on holiday in Barcelona.
Thursday, August 16th:
This day we got up very early at 6am in the hope to find a flat sea. But no luck. Again when we reached the end of the harbour a very strong wind started blowing and we even had to shelter behind the huge cruising ships moored there. An hour later, again we were back at our berth in Port Vell. Since from this day I had rented a place in Cala Canyelles to spend a rest week and teach Moona to dive, we decided to leave Iris in Port Vell and enjoy that promised week of holidays. Niko accompanied me to get my car at Port Ginesta, we got our stuff from Iris and drove back to the Costa Brava in the afternoon.
Friday, August 24th
Yesterday Moona went back home to Valencia, so I called op my friend and colleague Pablo to help me sail Iris back to her home. This time the weather was ok. In just over 3 hours we got Iris back to Port Ginesta, just in time because later that day and the following days there was such a bad sea that even the ferries to Balearics couldn't leave port. When we arrived at the entrance of Port Ginesta we spotted a Sunseeker powerboat that had collided with the breakwater and was about to sink. This time we weren't the unlucky ones.

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Tom
August 13, 2007, Marina Port Vell, Barcelona

Tuesday, August 7th:
In the morning Mahsa and Chema left us to catch their bus to Barcelona and plane to Madrid. Moona and I sailed out from Sant Feliu de Guíxols towards a next harbour: Palamós. The weather has become completely unstable, unlike any other month of August. Climate change? Anyway, anchoring in a little cala with turquoise clear waters, seems difficult this summer. In a few hours we reached Palamós. Palamós has two ports: an important commercial and fishing harbour and at the north side a modern marina. We entered the latter and where assigned a quite unprotected berth against the breakwater. In view of the cloudy weather, Palamós is the ideal stopover to do some tourism. We went for lunch at 'La Vostra Llar', and had some delicious black rice. After a siesta on Iris, we went walking through the little shopping streets of the village.
Wednesday, August 8th:
We got up late, went for breakfast in a bar in the marina, and spent the rest of the morning in Palamós. At noon, the weather seemed to start improving and it got sunny again. We decided to do a long walk along the beaches and calas to the north of the village: la fosca, cala s'Alguer, and the beach of Castell. Back in the marina the boats at our berthing place were moving and shaking a lot on the waves that entered the marina directly onto our pier. I had to call some marineros to secure the abandoned boat next to us, which was banging constantly into Iris. Luckily, a few hours later when the sun set, the wind lowered, the sea calmed down, and we could have a quite night's sleep.
Thursday, August 9th:
The weather being so unpredictable, I didn't feel much for sailing further northward. So we paid our stay at the capitanía of Marina Palamós, and started our descend back towards Barcelona. It was a cloudy morning with not much wind, so we motored all the way back to Sant Feliu de Guíxols, where we spent another day.
Friday, August 10th:
Moona had got news from our friends Katy, Niko and son Nikan, who were on their way by car from Belgium. We decided to meet them in an easy to reach point: Blanes, the southmost starting point of the Costa Brava. We sailed again by Cala Canyelles and an hour later reached the harbour of Blanes. We got the last available berth. At around 6pm, our friends arrived, loaded with food, drinks and presents. After driving for so many hours, Niko and son Nikan really enjoyed a swim in the warm mediterranean waves. At night we had dinner on board of Iris, I took my guitar out and we had a splendid time.

Saturday, August 11th:
Of course we had to show the Costa Brava to our friends, so we left Iris in Blanes, took the car and drove back up to Cala Canyelles, where Nikan spent most of the day in the water. We had a fantastic paella at the club, where I used to work as a divemaster. In the afternoon we visited the medieval village of Tossa de Mar and on the way back we stopped in Girona to buy some camping equipment for our friends who had decided to give the adventurous life a try. That night all five of us slept on the boat.

Sunday, August 12th:
There was a swimming competition announced in the harbour of Blanes and at 10am the harbour entrance would be closed- So we hurried up, temporarily said goodbye to our friends, and sailed out southward. We proceeded well and reached the marina of El Balís after 5 hours. El Balís is a very big and cheap marina. Unfortunately there is not much to do in the surroundings. Moona and I took a long walk and ended up finding a nice Mexican restaurant where we had dinner. On the walk back, we noticed how the sky was getting very dark and thunder and lightning was approaching. We got back to Iris, got ready to go to sleep but half an hour later the thunderstorm was right on top of us. The wind started to blow at over 40 knots and the firmly moored Iris heeled over dangerously under the force of the wind. Lightning struck all around us. This was one of the scariest moments I've experienced on Iris. One hour later, all was calm.
Monday, August 13th:
When we sailed out of El Balís in the morning, we found a mirror flat sea, for the first time in two weeks. There was almost no wind and Iris motored rapidly over this flat sea. After 5 hours of motoring, I considered it would be better to let the engine rest a bit and enter Marina Port Vell in Barcelona, the last marina before Iris's hailing port Port Ginesta.
In Barcelona we met again with our friends who had camped the night before in Canyelles and had now also descended towards Barcelona. While we were waiting on board of Iris we got the visit of a kitten that seemed to be perfectly used to boat life.
In the afternoon, we showed our friends around the Ramblas, had dinner in 'Les Quinze Nits' on the Plaça Reial, and being so close to home, we all went to sleep at my place.

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Tom
August 7, 2007, Sant Feliu de Guíxols

Ok. Here we go. There is a lot to be told after this first week of cruising from Port Ginesta towards the rocky Costa Brava. Photographs of the cruise can be found here.
Wednesday, August 1st:
In the morning Moona and I went to Barcelona airport to pick up our friends Mahsa and Chema who flew in from Madrid to join us on our sailing cruise. From there we drove to Port Ginesta where Iris was ready and waiting to set out to sea. After a short briefing for the newcomers, at around 11 o'clock we motored out of Iris's hailing port. First destination was El Masnou, a village just north of Barcelona with a well-equiped marina. This first sailing day went all according to the book. We covered the 24 Nm in just over 5 hours, an average of 4,5 knots, almost entirely under sail. At this speed we would be at the Costa Brava tomorrow. If only the rest of the days could have been so perfect. In El Masnou marina we got a berth next to the Capitanía building, had a few beers at the beach, showered and went for dinner at an Italian restaurant in the marina.
Thursday, August 2nd:
This morning a strong NE wind is blowing, just from where we ought to go. I checked the weather forecast on several internet sites and we decided to stay another day at El Masnou. With the current wind Iris wouldn't advance much anyway and in a few hours the waves would have grown uncomfortably high. The forecast for the next day was slightly better. So we spent the day on terraces and shopping streets and had dinner at the chicken restaurant Guirigall in the marina.
Friday, August 3rd:
The wind had dropped and we sailed out early in NE direction. After about 4 hours of slow-speed sailing covering a distance of only 13 Nm, the NE head wind started blowing again. Combined with waves and swell, our speed dropped even further, so we decided to enter the harbour of Arenys de Mar. The next harbour, Blanes was still a bit too far away in these circumstances. Arenys de Mar is a nice fishing harbour and a modern marina. We got access to the Club Nautic's swimming pool, where we all got a refreshing swim. Visiting the busy fish market in the fishing harbour we spotted it's restaurant, and later that evening we went there to taste what the local fishermen had captured. Delicious.
Saturday, August 4th:
Today seemed to be a better sailing day. Only 17 Nm separated us from Cala Canyelles, our first anchoring place at the Costa Brava. We sailed out at 9am and 4 and a half hours later we reached our destination. We anchored without problems over sand, 8m deep, 30m of chain out. Iris stayed perfectly put at here anchoring place, but the sea swell caused quite some shaking on board, a bit uncomfortable for some of our guests. So we got the tender out, and in turns we rowed to the nearby beach. The water was crystal clear and Moona and I enjoyed snorkeling around the rocks and observe the banks of fishes underneath us. This was the Costa Brava at its best. We had dinner at the beach restaurant from where we could easily observe Iris. The girls rowed back in the tender while the boys enjoyed a night swim back. At night Chema and I organized watching shifts in the cockpit. Iris circled a lot around her anchoring position, but she didn't move from it. From the cockpit it was a pleasure staring at a sky full of stars, now and then a shooting one.
Sunday, August 5th:
The idea from now on was to sail just short distances to a next anchoring place. So, after breakfast we raised the anchor, motored a bit towards sea, and raised sails. We past by Tossa de Mar, but unlike described in the pilot guides, we didn't spot any suitable anchoring place. A bit further up, the attractive Cala Futadera was full of yachts, leaving no space for an extra boat. So we continued. Then suddenly the strong head winds appeared again and in no time the sea state worsened. We had other choice than to enter the marina of Sant Feliu de Guíxols. Entrance and berthing was quite complicated under the heavy winds and among the amount of traffic that had gathered in the marina to find shelter.
Of all of the about 20 marinas I visited along the Spanish coast this year and last year, Sant Feliu de Guíxols is definitely the worst! It is the most expensive marina of them all. Berthing Iris for one night costed us 50 euros, almost the double of many other marinas! You might expect good services at an expensive marina, but what you get is a scandalous shame. The toilet and shower facilities would scare off many visitor. When you're lucky and the showers are not cold, you have to stand on the borders of the shower plate in order to avoid the basin full of dirty, smelly water. When Moona and I unavoidably had to return there a few days later, the situation was so desastrous, we wanted to file a complaint. Instead of handing us the mandatory official governmental complaint forms, they handed us their own piece of paper (which they probably threw in the waste paper basket right after we left). We met many other cruisers all scandalized by the swindle at Sant Feliu.
That night I prepared some delicious spaghetti on board of Iris. A pity only 3 of us could really enjoy the food. Moona got a sudden heavy belly spasm and had to lie down for a while. Fortunately, some strong pain killers did the job and in no time she was better again.
Monday, August 6th:
Again a cloudy day of bad winds and swollen seas. Not a good idea to go out looking for anchoring places. So we spent the day doing local tourism in the village. We also made a long walk along the rocky coast south of the marina, where the real Costa Brava can be admired in all its splendour. While I enjoyed a Belgian beer at a terrace, Mahsa and Chema reserved bus tickets back to Barcelona. They would leave us the next morning to catch their flight back to Madrid.

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Tom
July 30, 2007, Port Ginesta

The old RM69 Marine toilet on board of Iris was up to a replacement. It leaked and smelled and in view of the upcoming holiday cruise with ladies on board, I decided to replace it with the newer model RM69 "Sealock", which can be locked to avoid incoming seawater when the seacocks are open.

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Tom
July 27, 2007, Port Ginesta

The second phase in the companionway refurbishment project concerned the sliding hatch itself. The old varnish on the hatch was in pretty bad condition after several years of sun and salt.
First thing to do was to get the hatch removed. For that, I had to dismount the sprayhood and remove the fiberglass cover with the navigation instruments housing. As can be seen on the photograph, the sliding hatch was attached with a piece of steel cable to the back of the housing. I thoroughly cleaned the entire area of dirt and caulk and replaced the cable with a piece of strong rope and a pair of shackles in order to be able to easily remove the hatch afterwards without having to dismount the whole housing on top of it.
While the cover was removed, I had the bad luck that in that short lapse of time it started to rain a little bit and some water dripped in through the screw holes and found its way right onto my radio-mp3 player at the chart table! I was afraid the thing was lost for good as it didn't want to play any of my music anymore. Luckily, after unmounting, drying and mounting again, it miraclously revived.
Then for the refurbishment of the wood itself. Slowly, I removed all of the old varnish by means of a combination of a heat gun and a chemical paint stripper. After sanding, I managed to turn the entire hatch into clean fresh teak wood.
Next, using a small screwdriver I removed all the old, hardened black caulk separations between the planks of wood. When all the rests of caulk had been removed and the grooves were completely clean, I applied a special "Sika Primer 290DC" to them.
After the primer had dried I could then fill up the grooves with new black Sika 290DC caulk. I made sure to put on a generous amount of caulk, as once hardened it could easily be machine-sanded level with the wood. The result was perfect.
Left to do was to finish the hatch with 6 coats of marine varnish, just as I did with the frame and handles as explained in a previous post.

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