Salara sailing sedately towards Spain with the breeze dead astern.


I had stayed on board Salara all through the winter lay-up apart from a couple of weeks in UK when I went to visit family. During my time on board I had the time to remove the old refridgerator and replace it with a new 60 litre Isotherm unit which is a lot more efficient. It is a little smaller than the original unit so there was a fair amount of woodwork to be done during installation. I also made up some permanent brackets and install the two 75watt solar panels on the cockpit hardtop in such a way that I can angle them for maximum effect. I rewired them and added a dedicated solar charge controller which is additional to the one on the wind generator.
I tested it all for weeks at the boatyard and it all works well so I am expecting great things now I am using it for real. Another job that I did was to modify the butane gas system to accomodate the K11 Repsol bottle. It is a composite bottle so no rust problems and they are readily available in Spain and Portugal, plus the fact that they are a lot cheaper than Camping Gaz.

I also slowly worked my way through all the usual maintenance jobs and finally gave the underwater sections of the hull two coats of Hempel Classic Antifouling. Salara was then launched off on 16 April and after following the boatyard pilot down the narrow channel from the boatyard to the head of the Faro Channel I was able to anchor and refit the mizzen boom and sail which if left in position fouls the boat lifting hoist.

The next day I decided to unpack and launch the inflateable dinghy, fit the outboard motor and check it all out. Unfortunately as I was refueling the outboard I heard a plop and I was just in time to see the fuel filler cap vanishing into the depths. I was able to cobble together a temporary cap just to keep rain and dirt from going in but it is not fuel tight so I cannot tilt the motor. I ordered a replacement via the internet and asked for it to be sent to the boatyard so I could not stray too far away. I decided that I would wait in the anchorage at Culatra which was only an hour away so I could easily return to the Faro Anchorage and visit the boatyard by dinghy to collect the new fuel cap when it arrived.

I had been anchored in Culatra about a week and I was enjoying myself. Most days I would go ashore and walk across the island to the Atlantic side for a stroll along the beach then on the way back I would pick up fresh bread and anything else that I needed from the small supermarket call at the cafe for a coffee and then return to Salara.

One day I had done all the usual things and as I was returning to Salara in the dinghy I sensed that something was behind me and looked over my left shoulder to see the bows of a fast local fishing boat. I just had time to turn away before it hit the dinghy and knocked me flat, the dinghy was swamped and all I could see were bubbles as the bow wave swept over me.
When I came to my senses I realised that I had lost my glasses and I was quite surprised that I was still in the dinghy, the outboard had stopped proving the value of the kill cord attached to my wrist. My left side and back hurt as I had been hit by the hull. However I reckoned that I had escaped serious injury.

The fishing boat had of course stopped and the fisherman claimed that he had not seen me. He was alone on board, the boat being the usual open twenty footer with a 50 HP outboard which they generally use at full bore. He was most apologetic, helped me sort the mess out and towed me back to Salara while I sat there half blind trying to remember where my spare pair of glasses were stowed. Once back on board Salara I decided not to make the incident official, I had escaped death or serious injury and that was good enough for me, I would put it down to experience and now I had found my standby pair of glasses I could manage.

The next day I ached all over but that was to be expected. However the day was brightened up by the news that the Suzuki fuel filler cap had arrived at the boatyard so I immediately moved back to the anchorage at Faro to collect it. All was well and it fitted perfectly so the next day I headed for Ayamonte, Spain and the Rio Guadiana.

It was a pleasant and thankfully trouble free trip. The wind was a light southwesterly which piped up a little in the afternoon and as I had time to spare I sailed Salara sedately downwind under mainsail alone crossing the bar into the river and only starting the engine just outside Ayamonte Marina entrance. Hopefully all problems are now behind me and I can enjoy the sailing.