Greetings All:
It is 1215, Med time, Wednesday, October 4, 2004. CT II is enroute to Gibraltar. Our current position is N37-15, W001-14 or about 57 nm NE of Cabo de Gata, Spain. (Pam & Fernando: remember Cabo de Gata?)
We are currently sailing SW with full main and jib in 12-13Kn from the WNW in 4-6′ seas from the SW. The sun is partially shining and it is 77F outside.
We arrived in Ibeza Monday evening about 1800 and Med moored at Marina Botafoch. It was a great sail. About 71 nm in 11 hours. Ibeza was a happening place Monday nite, just as my daughter predicted. The crew kept me out way too late, but we did manage a 0710 departure in 20-25 kn on the nose, of course.
Yesterday was a trying day, sailing. The wind was all over the place and up and down in velocity. On top of that we had big steep swells from the SW. We probably did two dozen sail changes and started the engine 7-10 times during lulls. We probably made good only 125 miles or so in the first 24 hours and the crew and boat took a beating. But boy, the crew sure has reefing down well.
This morning the wind moved to the NW (that means WNW to NNW) and has varied in velocity from 25 to 7 kn. We have sailed with double reefed main and jib all the way down to the reacher and full main for a while. We haven’t had to motor yet.
Pete and Mike are sound asleep. (They are off watch) Jim is awake and driving (I hope). I think we are going to grill hot dogs for lunch, when everyone wakes up.
Our ETA in Gibraltar is sometime Thursday night or Friday morning. We will probably anchor out north of the airport runway and go into Marina Bay Marina Friday morning.
So, all is well here and I trust all is well with you.
Best regards, Doug & crew
