Rough Passage

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 21:19:00 -0600

We had sort of an ass-kicking overnight passage. Plus, some pictures from Palma.

We spent a few days in Palma. It's like Miami, if a huge road construction project and windy, cool weather caused a lot of the businesses to close for a bit. You can get anything you want there -- boat services, Indian food, night club action, herpes (presumably). We found a place with excellent food and Sangria, and passed a pleasant few days waiting for a good weather window.

We chose to leave on a Friday night where the forecast was for 20 knot winds on our beam. It turned out to be a night with 25 knots on the bow, which is a much, much more unpleasant sailing experience. But we plowed through the night with a double-reefed main and a bit of jib flying, with winds gusting to 30.

The seas kicked up, and it was uncomfortable and annoying, We had some miscommunication about who was latching hatches, so it was also wetter inside the boat than it should be. The waves were enough to spray up over the cabin fairly regularly.

Here's how it looked from the chart table in the middle of the night. Volume up, if you're where you can.

Around sunrise, I was just getting up to end my night watch, and the auto pilot went out. We were still 20 miles away from Ibiza, and the wind was still coming from the direction we needed at an insane speed. I started the motor, and we plowed into the chop, hand steering through the cold salt spay for four hours.

When we arrived, we found that the anchor had shaken loose in storm and pounded the shit out of our bow. Our formerly beautifully painted bow. The shaking had also ripped the door to the forwardmost cabin right out of its frame.

It's been cold and windy in Ibiza, which doesn't help with the frustration. But in just a few days, we've made a lot of progress on repairs and cleanup, and in a couple more days, we'll be able to move along. A fiberglass guy is going to patch us up "good enough" so that we can move on safely, and then when we're in a place that's warmer and cheaper, we can haul out to complete the repair, sanding, and painting.

Most of my latest pictures are close ups of hull damage and steering mechanisms. I didn't even make a snap on the way to the laundromat.

First, a few pics from Palma, Mallorca:

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And not much from Ibiza, but there was at least a nice sunset in the marina.

I'm not posting pictures of my damage just yet. Too traumatic. Maybe later.