Swallow's adventures

Vessel Name: Swallow
Vessel Make/Model: Barbican 33
Hailing Port: Premier marina, Gosport
Crew: Paul Young Carole Young
About: Paul's been sailing for over 20 years ; Carole has just completed her Day Skipper Practical . Been living aboard for 18 months.
Extra: Giving up our jobs and sailing off into the sunset!!! Here we go.................
Social:
26 May 2023 | Agios Nikolaus, Crete
26 May 2022 | Agios Nikolaus, Crete
14 April 2022 | Kalamata
22 March 2022 | Zante Port
22 March 2022 | Preveza
07 March 2022 | Parga
17 February 2022 | Orthoni
06 December 2019 | Santa Maria di Leuca
19 February 2019 | An evening in Marzamemi
19 February 2019 | Theatre at Segesta
19 February 2019 | Temple at Selinunte
19 February 2019 | Temple at Segesta
19 February 2019 | Sicily
12 January 2019 | Egadis
12 January 2019 | Sicily
27 July 2018 | Aeolian Islands
13 June 2018 | Tropea
Recent Blog Posts
26 May 2023 | Agios Nikolaus, Crete

Cruising the Cyclades Spring 2022- Part Three

NAXOS

03 June 2022 | Ios

Cruising the Cyclades Spring 2022- Part One Ios

Swallow has been safely hanging out at Agios Marina, Crete since June 2019 but various factors, including Covid, have prevented us from doing any cruising; all we've managed up until now is a few days anchoring in Elounda and a lively sail to Sitia last Autumn. However we did enjoy some land based sightseeing [...]

26 May 2022 | Agios Nikolaus, Crete

Kalamata to Crete

Kalamata to Crete (via Kithera)

14 April 2022 | Kalamata

Kalamata Winter 2018-9

At 0815 on Thursday 1st November 2018 we departed Koroni through the heat haze; the low lying mist all around was spooky. We were close hauled with only the main out, a pleasant but slightly chilly 15 miles passage. With only 3 miles to go we saw flying fish whilst a pair of old jets were soaring above [...]

Barbate and Gibraltar Straits

12 June 2017 | Gibraltar Straits
Carole Young
Taking advantage of the forecasted wind direction Swallow, Ula and Kady headed for Barbate on the 14/05/17 as we knew the next day conditions would be ideal to get through the Gibraltar Straits. I was slightly disappointed as I wanted to take a bus to Seville and spend a few days there but we didn't want to miss this window of opportunity. We had a bumpy exit from Rota at 07.30 just as the sun was coming up. We were on a close hauled starboard tack with an uncomfortable beam on swell ( I was feeling a bit queasy still from the dental anaesthetic, strong painkillers and antibiotics). The afternoon was less lumpy but we had to beat into the wind; as we passed Cabo Trafalgar Paul saluted Lord Nelson and shouted 'kiss me Hardy'!!! We could feel some tidal action which was pushing us off course, we were against swell and current - all the effects of the Straits. Luckily the approach to Barbate was much calmer, although we did have to negotiate a massive almadraba net , used for catching blue fin and red tuna; the tuna stop here on their way to the Straits and have been caught here for over a thousand years, a big business! We were too tired to explore Barbate and so only got as far as the supermarket; the other crews told us that the beach was lovely.

The next day, after studying the tidal flow charts and the wind predictions, we set off through the Straits at 13.45; this meant we would pass Tariffa, which is the furthest southern point in Europe, at the optimum time (high water) for the current to take us around the point which is notorious for high winds and strong currents. This morning I picked up a Morrocan radio station which reminded me of how close to Africa we are. It was a good job that we had lots of current and tide helping us because the winds were very benign; we tried poling out the genoa but we need to perfect this tactic as it wasn't very successful.; we also tried goose winging but it just wasn't windy enough. We passed, ironically, lots of wind turbines which, for some strange reason, frighten Paul; I must admit they do resemble scary giants invading across the land towards us. The Straits are like a conveyor belt of cargo ships and cruise liners; as we approach Gibraltar we can see Africa on our right and we are feeling a great sense of achievement at how far we have come. The rock looks pretty impressive in the evening sunshine. We picked our way through the minefield of anchored and moving ships in the bay; we've never seen so many red and green triangles on our AIS plotter! Right on the last home run we picked up some plastic sheeting around our propeller, agh!!! We plodded on into Alcaidesa Marina, in La Linea, the Spanish side of the border and tied up at around 2100. The night duty, non-English speaking, marinaro dealt with our formalities; I was a little alarmed when he took me off in his golf buggy for a long drive (only five minutes, but seemed like ages) to the office; Paul hadn't noticed that I'd been gone for 45 minutes!!

Paul spent our first morning here diving under the boat to retrieve the plastic sheeting which was wrapped around the prop. La Linea is a pleasant Spanish town but we weren't very keen on Gibralter; we found it rather unattractive and smelly with lots of traffic fumes. The major plus point was Morrisons where we were able to stock up with British favourites which we had been missing, such as salad cream ,Tetley tea bags and liquorice toffees, and , to keep the captain happy,Cornish pasties, pork pies and scotch eggs! I did visit A & E in Gibralter to try and get some help for my shoulder which I injured back in August and has been giving me a lot of pain lately- I was hoping for a steroid injection but instead they gave me a high dose of Codeine and Paracetamol; well I certainly won't be taking any more of those, I was flying all evening!
Comments
Swallow's Photos - Main
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Beautiful anchorage
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Day trip to Santiago de Compostella
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Photo Albums
15 April 2018
49 Photos
22 March 2018
No Photos