Voyage of SY Nessaru - Still in Spain
05 April 2024 | Port Ginesta, Barcelona, Spain
Colin Maslen | Clear and sunny

Hola! We are in still in Spain. It is early morning, between 4:00 and 5:00 AM in Port Ginesta, which is becoming my usual time for drafting blogs and emails. Internet access is unreliable so we still rely very much on WIFI access at one of the coffee shops or restaurants. Coffee and a croissant at 08:00 AM is becoming a routine.
Our favourite café, Huevo, the supermarket, and the marine chandlers and workshops are at the eastern end of the marina, while we are moored at the western end, so we are walking back and forth quite a lot. I have already lost weight; I don't know by how much but I had to put a new buckle hole in my belt to keep my trousers up.
We have had some challenges, particularly with the main engine (more about that later). We didn't have hot water onboard for the first couple of weeks, and some of the electrical systems and the plumbing for the showers and bilges took a lot of effort to get working properly. Despite a few setbacks, we have made progress, and last week the solar panels and charger were connected up together with a 12V DC to 220V AC inverter, and the water heater set to work. The latter included installing a new water mixer (to control the hot and cold mix in a shower nozzle) for an outside shower.
Our refrigerator works really well, so much so that we initially overcompensated with the temperature adjustment and everything in it - meat, butter, milk, orange juice - was frozen. We now seem to have the temperature control about right (except for this morning)
Our new 50 metre anchor cable has been delivered, marked up every five metres, and installed in the boat with the bitter end properly secured. The yacht is "parked" with the bow out and stern to the pier, for ease of access and for connecting the electrical cable. When our new anchor cable was delivered, we had to turn the boat around with the bow to the pier to get the anchor and chain cable onboard. But when we started the engine it ran for about a minute, then died and would not start again. Fortunately we were still secured with mooring lines. We then worked out a plan to warp the boat around using two of our mooring lines. It was quite an interesting seamanship evolution. After loading the anchor and cable we repeated the process to turn the yacht around again with the stern to the pier.
On Sunday two weeks ago we took time out and walked to a small sea-side village called Garraf, about four kilometres west of Port Ginesta. We treated ourselves to lunch at a seafood restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean; Michael had fish and I had steamed mussels with white wine. The following week, we caught the bus to Castelldefels, then the train to Sitges for the day. Sitges is a delightful town with narrow streets and interesting shops. I fell to temptation and bought a guitar, an Admira classical guitar made in Spain. It is a beautiful instrument and sounds very rich with deep base notes.
The weather has been quite variable; some days are bright and sunny while others are cold, wet and very windy as experienced over the Easter week-end. The weather cleared somewhat on Monday 2nd April (Easter Monday), so we went sailing. The wind was initially moderate but increased in the afternoon with sea state four and a two-metre swell, so it was quite challenging. We learned many valuable lessons and sailed back with a fully reefed mainsail and the fully furled Genoa. Backing into the mooring stern first in a strong wind was difficult but we made it after a couple of aborted attempts.
The following day was put to good use working on our rigging and rectifying problems that became apparent on Monday. I also downloaded all of the electronic charts we need to get from here to Panama and plotted the courses from here to Madeira.
We are cooking onboard more, with mixed success, while getting used to the gas oven. Shopping for groceries in local supermarkets is interesting because we are often not sure where to look and the labels are all in Spanish. So there is a bit of experimentation happening with recipes. And Michael now knows that he does not need to add chilli into everything, especially into Spanish chilli con carne which already has enough chilli in it.
For the past couple of weeks, Michael has been working with Alberto, a marine engineer, on the main engine, and for Michael it has been a master class on diesel maintenance. They have pumped out old, contaminated fuel, replaced all the filters, installed a new impeller in the cooling water pump, changed out the oil in the gearbox, and repaired a leak in the exhaust. The engine now starts immediately and is running smoothly. Unfortunately, yesterday we discovered a fuel leak, possibly coming from the diesel fuel tank. It is a very small leak, but a leak nonetheless, and has to be investigated and resolved. (Last night I was reading other yachties' blogs about repairing fuel tanks. One commented that welding a tank in situ is possible; the risk of an explosion with diesel fuel is low - but wear a parachute!)
In the meantime our other preparations continue. Our running rigging set-up, with our sheets, halyards, reefing lines and so on, is now ready for sea, and yesterday Michael completed running a bead of sealant around all of the windows and hatches as a precautionary measure. Today the new Raymarine EV 200 automatic steering will be installed.
Our provisioning has mostly been completed, the boat is looking good, and we are anxious to be on our way, but our planned departure on 6 April has now slipped right because of the fuel leak. In addition we are still waiting on our registration process to be completed. Our Marking Note, duly signed and witnessed to certify that the boat has been marked in accordance with the relevant regulations, was posted to AMSA's Ship Registration Office (SRO) weeks ago, but, according to the Correos (Spanish Post) tracking system, has not yet been delivered. We are also waiting for an update on our insurance which needs overage to be extended for our ocean crossings.
Yesterday we had our (almost) farewell lunch, Spanish seafood paella, with Chiara and Oscar from Network Yacht Brokers Barcelona who have been so helpful with organising and project managing much of the work on the yacht.
Each day we are monitoring the weather forecasts, using an application called Predict Wind, looking for a suitable window of fair weather and favourable winds for the transit through the Strait of Gibraltar and the passage to Madeira. Predict Wind works with Iridium GO!, our satellite communication system, so we will be able to download regular updates while at sea.
The delay is frustrating but unavoidable, so we will just have to make the most of it! Hopefully the next blog update will be posted when we are underway.
Thank you All, for your support and comments! Much appreciated!