3 November 2009, Jorf Lasfar, commercial port in Morocco
Just when we were going swimmingly disaster struck. Well...not that much disaster. We got a fishing net caught around our starboard prop. The starboard motor just came to a complete stop. The first thing we thought was that the prop had caught something but it was still dark so we couldn't check. Ray checked the oil filter and found they were gungy but that didn't improve the situation. On sunup all was revealed as the bright green chunky nylon fishing net flowed out from under the boat. Of course the problem is that we need the two motors to manouvre into a harbour and given we're looking at coming into the Canaries in the middle of 40 knot of winds, we thought that was a bad idea. So the nearest all-weather port was this one, Jorf Lasfar. There's only about four harbours on the Atlantic coast of Morocco that you can enter in heavy conditions and we had 2.5-3 metre swells sending us into the port, so conditions weren't all that light. But it's built for large commercial ships so it's deep and entry was a piece of cake. Formalities were interesing. First the Health Officer, then the harbour master, then the Customs and Immigration and then the Coast Guard. The hilarious thing was that when we tied to the dock you had to climb down a 5 foot ladder to get to us. Of course the tide kept dropping so by the time the Coast Guard got to us the drop was about 20 feet. He found his way down onto the tugboat beside us and then he jumped across to us. All were very nice and there were no problems. We'll check out the prop tomorrow and see if there's any damage once the props removed. Might have to sit out the bad weather here though and then head off to the Canaries early next week. Sigh....
|
Comments [2]
2 November 2009, 33 45.062'N:08 52.245'W
Revolting day yesterday in the sense that we all felt seedy for most of it. But the sailing was great with up to 20 knots pushing us along under sail only for a good deal of the way.Sam and I played Rummikub a couple of times and watched a movie. Ray spotted something big, like a whale, astern of us but because of the swell (aobut 2.4 metres) he couldn't get a clear view. Winds and seas subsided a little over night and of course that means we're motoirng, not sailing at the moment.Just crossed paths with another yacht, Tulula, who are also heading to the Canaries. They left Rabat in Morocco yesterday.
|
2 November 2009, off the coast of Africa
A good first 24 hours at sea with a great crossing over the Strait of Gibraltar where we were assisted by the tide and got speed of 8-9 knots. We then had some good winds to help us along early in the day but they dropped back to around 10 knots for most of the trip. Lots of traffic throughout the night and a couple of ships that we needed to radio to make sure we were on their radar. We travelled 110 nautical miles yesterday with 457 to go.
|
