A Perfect Day and Things Go Bump at Night
13 September 2019 | Spain
Peter Needham
A perfect crossing to Mallorca flying the cruising chute.
Sometimes I am lucky enough to be blessed with a really perfect sailing day and the day that Salara crossed from Ibiza to Mallorca was just such a day. I had slept well in the calm of the anchorage of Cala de Sant Vincent and was up to greet a clear and lovely dawn. I lifted the anchor and motored slowly out to sea in the company of a French yacht that was also making an early start. The sea was calm and for the first couple of hours there was no wind and as Salara chugged along I sat in the cockpit drinking a mug of tea and eating a bacon sandwich. A bacon sandwich always seems to taste much better at sea.
After a couple of hours the wind gods gave Salara a gentle breeze and she was able to sail under mainsail and genoa which was very pleasant but very slow so I had to resort to motor sailing to keep pace with my passage plan speed of five knots. Which gives Salara ten hours for the fifty mile trip. I sat listening to the beat of the engine which is quite soporific after a time so to break the pattern I decided to rig the cruising chute for the first time in many years. The last time I used it was returning across the Atlantic to Europe from the Caribbean. Just lazyness on my part I suppose.
I sorted everything out on deck and then hoisted the chute enclosed in its snuffer straight out of the foredeck hatch and up the mast. I had already organised the sheet and the tack line. Then after clearing a slight tangle on the snuffer line I hauled the snuffer to the top of the sail which filled immediately. I made a few adjustments to the sheet and and the tack line and all was well with the chute pulling Salara on towards her destination of Santa Ponsa, Mallorca. I was well pleased, the engine was off and all was quiet and peaceful with Salara sailing at about six knots for the rest of the day until the wind changed as she approached Mallorca. I released the tack line and let the chute fly free and the snuffer worked just fine, I then lowered the whole thing down the forward hatch. Probably not the not strictly according to the book but as a singlehander I do what suits me best. Salara was safely at anchor in Santa Ponsa by 1800 hrs and I was happily enjoying a cold beer in the cockpit. It had been an excellent day.
I spent the next two weeks in the anchorage. I had not planned to but time slips pleasantly by when there no urgent plans to pursue. I met a couple of other singlehanders that I knew and we drank beer ate ashore a few times as well as going on a days out to Palma and the market at the nearby port of Andraxt. When I finally made a move I sailed to Porto Colom stopping off halfway along the coast at the huge anchorage at Isla Gavina which although busy never gets full. The water is gin clear and you can see the anchor chain stretched out on the sandy seabed. In Porto Colom I tucked Salara quite close inshore anchored on a clear patch of sandy seabed as they are very protective of their Posidonia sea weed in this area and have a warden to police the anchored yachts, moving them on if necessary.
I had intended to sail further up the coast to Pollensa but persistent strong northerly winds put paid to that idea and after a week I gave up waiting and headed Salara back the way she had come. She fairly romped down the coast and rounded Cap de Salines in fine style with a near perfect gybe as she went round. Again I stopped for the night at Isla Gavina before continueing once again to Santa Ponsa where I anchored her for a few days before heading back to Ibiza and anchoring in Portinatx for the night with the intension of carrying on to San Antonio in the morning.
I was tired and after cooking a meal I settled down to rest and have an early night. At about four in the morning I was awakened by a tapping on the hull and when I investigated I found that another yacht had swung into Salara when the wind changed direction. As I started to rectify the situation two sleepy chaps appeared on the other yacht. It transpired that they had veered more chain than anyone else so they had to recover some while I let a little more out. Luckily there was no damage done and we all went back to bed.
In the morning after eating breakfast I left the anchorage intending to sail along the coast to San Antonio and anchor there for a few days before returning to the Spanish mainland. However once I had an unobstructed view of the coast I could see that there was a large squall approaching so I immediately steered Salara into the next bay which was Cala Xucla where I just had enough time to anchor in 15 metres of depth and veer 45 metres of chain before the rain started. I decided that the rain was so heavy I would refit the cockpit screens so I stripped myself naked to do the job getting a good freshwater shower in the process. Thunder and lightning crashed almost overhead as I worked. The storm lasted for most of the morning with the rain persisting all day. Even as I went to bed the thunder was rumbling and the lightning was flashing in the mountains ashore.
In the evening as I ate my dinner I abandoned all thought of going to San Antonio and instead I would leave early and head for the mainland and if I was lucky and the wind played ball I would make for Valencia.
In the morning I left the anchorage an hour or so before dawn. It was pitch black apart from the anchor lights showing from three or four yachts in the anchorage. I steered out of the Cala on a compass course skirted the lights of a gaggle of fishing boats and headed offshore under engine power. However as dawn broke the wind appeared and I was able to sail Salara under full sail for a couple of hours but south of the intended course to Valencia. Salara was actually sailing on the land breeze off Ibiza and predictably it died as the sun rose and she had to motorsail. The most efficient course gave her landfall just to the north of the traffic seperation scheme of Cabo Nao so I would have to be content with that, at least Salara would arrive before dark. So she chugged along throughout the day at varying speeds as what breeze there was varied in strength and direction. Late in the day Salara was amongst a mass of shipping which was entering and leaving the T.S.S. and once again I was very glad of the AIS system that I have on board. Once clear of the shipping I altered Salara`s course a little and headed her towards the anchorage of Caleta des Dins where she dropped anchor in eight metres of water just as the light faded.