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!