Four days is not a long time to be at sea, in fact, you are just starting to get into a comfortable rhythm when all too soon you are back near the coast weaving your way through yet another maze of fisherman’s pots and missing out on much needed sleep so as to keep clear of myriad other small craft. (Boats without active AIS or radar are invisible to my current array of electronic anti-collision sensors so it’s old fashioned eyeball power that’s needed for coastal watch keeping).
It took all of “day one” to find sufficient force in the forecast easterlies to switch off my engine, but better late than never… yes…no… maybe?
Below is an extract of the wind forecasts showing how easterlies accelerate through the strait of Gibraltar and on into the Atlantic. It was in this same acceleration zone that I tore my mainsail eight months earlier, so I know that what looks rather benign in a forecast can be quite severe in reality.
By “day two”, with two reefs in the mainsail and both foresails set, I made excellent progress (100 NM plus) due south. While shipping traffic was heavy, I had plenty of advance warning from my AIS receiver, so sleeping for several hours at a time was not overly risky.
Lucky for me, because the cross-swell was causing me to turn a ‘whiter shade of pale’, and getting out of my bunk is always more difficult when I’m feeling sorry for myself.
So much for my newly formulated curry and beer seasickness cure theory! Still, I can’t complain too much because compared with others I’m only very mildly effected by motion sickness, but it still takes much of the fun out of sailing when you are not feeling 100%.
By “day three” the sea and my stomach had settled, but I was forced to switch back to fossil fuel power to encourage any significant forward momentum. By now I was following the northwestern coast of Morocco well clear of any shipping lanes, but that didn’t stop one behemoth from attempting to ram my little blue boat. Nothing that a timely call over the VHF couldn’t fix:
“Hello SKS Tiete, this is the small sailing boat Eileen of Avoca one mile off your starboard bow… Just calling to check whether you have seen me?”
Silence…., The AIS and my radar detector are now beeping incessantly. A few second later….
“Err Motor vessel SKS Tiete, I’m the sailing boat with the red sails right under your bow…”
“Yes sailing vessel… I see you now and am adjusting my course to pass by your stern…”
Large vessels must only keep a close watch on their radar screens, because the radio operator seemed completely surprised to see me with his own eyes. He even felt the need to advise me to be extra cautious around traffic lanes because I was almost invisible to his equipment.
How about that! Eileen of Avoca operates in stealth mode. So much for the fancy looking tubular radar reflector fixed to the top of my shroud line. No wonder I’ve been constantly forced to play dodgems with so many commercial vessels. I’m going to have to purchase one of the old fashioned bulky tetrahedral types when I return to civilization. No big deal, especially since I’m also going to have to lower the mast to fix my tri-light wiring. Grrr. Just what I need, not only am I invisible to radar, I’m without my sailing lights. Good thing the steaming lights are still functioning.
By “day four” the wind had returned (15 to 18kts) and Eileen was racing downwind at an impressive 6 knots. I had the whisker pole out on the stay-sail, two reefs in the tethered main, and the jib sail goose-winged. As the swell increased, Eileen of Avoca showed me how much she likes to surf and my GPS recorded speeds in excess of 8 knots! I didn’t get much rest.
Just 15 miles off the western coast of Morocco near Cape Ghir, I decide to modify my planned itinerary and turn Eileen toward Agadir. Lanzarote can wait… Why? No real reason… Perhaps because it’s just another 8 hours away, or because I’ve never been to Morocco. Just looking at my chart is making me increasingly curious. So why not go and have a look? Agadir it is.
By 9:15am I’ve arrived in Africa and entered another world. This was definitely a good move and I’m looking forward to exploring this exotic town . I’m sure to dig up something interesting to photograph so stay tuned for my next report.
- PS Just as an aside, I was surprised to find that I had mobile phone reception more than 20 miles off the Moroccan coast. Handy to know for anyone else wandering down this way.