After a bad day yesterday we arose today with high hopes of getting into one of Gib's marinas, which would mean we would be securely moored and free to have a proper look around.

Jax went to the police sation again to report the outboard theft (now that the correct office was open) and by the time she rerturned we'd managed to reserve a berth in Marina Bay in the centre of town.

We moored up and set off to wander and do some tourist things. We managed to see the museum and shops - which being a tax free state, were very reasonable. We couldn't resist a 1l bottle of Captain Morgans Rum for £4.95 and a 1l bottle of Bombay Saphire Gin for £7!

We had also met up with two boats from the Rally (Lady Drake and Mary Lou) so in the evening had a few drinks in the marina bar whilst we swapped stories and plans.

After arriving in Gib yesterday and anchoring we were keen to get out and have a look around, even though we had to land on the Spanish side of the border and cross on foot.



We set off in the tender to try to find somewhere safe to moor it whilst we crossed to Gib. We motored towards and along a small boat Spanish marina but were told we couldn't tie up there, so we continued along towards a small pontoon surrounded by a few fishing and rowing boats that was suggested by the official at the marina.

On the way another yacht hailed us over and told us that the area was unsafe to leave tenders due to theft and that one of us should drop the other off and pick them up later.

Our choice was to find as safe a place as possible, lock everything up as much as possible and go ashore and risk it or to stay on the yacht all day.

Since we needed provisions and wanted to visit Gib we chosew to tie the tender up and go ashore.

As it happens, most of the shops, museums and tourist attractions in Gib were shut as it was sunday so we found our way to a Safeways - which was fantastic, with all the supplies of a normal UK supermarket, bacon, sauces, ribena, crisps etc.

We stocked up and headed back to the boat dissapointed not to have been able to see the sights but both concerned about the tender. When we finally got back to where we left it the tender was there but the lock attaching it to the quay had been removed and the engine had gone. Bastards. We'd only left it for 4 hours in broad daylight...

Now you see it...         Now you don't....
     

Fortunately for us the actual dingy was still there, so we took photos for the police and rowed the long way back to the boat.

I suppose we were lucky that the tender was still there. I guess if we'd been any later that would have gone as well and we'd have had to swim back to the boat.

Interestingly, the lock supposedly securing the outboard had been expertly removed with a blow from a rock.

So, we have had our first loss. Welcome to the med! Another lesson learnt at the cost of a £400 outboard. Luckily we'll be able to get about 1/2 of that back from insurance.

Once back to the boat (with all our shopping) we unloaded it all and were just about to set off back to drop Jax at the shore to go to the police station when our nearest anchor neighbours came over with condolancies having seen us row back and deduced what had happenned.

Apparantly the same thing had happenned to another boat the previous day. Someone must be watching the anchorage and making an easy living off 2nd hand outboards.

We chatted to them for a bit and then Jax went ashore to find the police. The office was closed so that evening we had a nice fajita supper and then rowed over to Jeff and Nicky's boat for drinks.

They are really nice people and as it turns out were just exiting the med after having been sailing around it for 4 years. They had loads of interesting stories and tales and endless useful advice and tips about what to do and where to go. We even ended up buying a whole bunch of their used western med charts from them for a very good price.

Just relaxing after a busy day's sailing instruction with a chap called Alan who we know from a sailing school in the Algarve. We polished up on mooring skills, learnt a few new techniques and practiced a few Man Overboard drills.

It was really useful and helped us both with some of the more difficult aspects of sailcraft. It was great to have someone expert to bounce questions off and learn from.

Tomorrow we set off on our trip down the Portugese and Spanish coasts towards the Med - our first long trip for a month.

We have decided to paint the inside of the house ourselves to save a bit of money so thats a big job we need to get around to. Possibly we'll be able to spend a bit of time here during August when not sailing - otherwise it will have to be in October when we´re next around.

Mark has done a fantastic job managing the project and has ensured the builders have worked hard and maintained high standards throughout.

 

The only issue now is our new neighbours that have crawled out of the woodwork with what seems like possibly legitimate claims to part of the adjoining ruina. It seems that despite our care and use of a recommended lawyer we received bad and possibly frauduent advice and information about the property and its full title.

That discussion will take a long time to resolve so until then we have a fantastic 3 bedroom house in the beautiful picturesque and quiet Spanish countryside that we can use and rent out.

Another bit of luck is the news that finally we'll be able to get internet at the house via a countryside long range wireless provider.

Today we were up early to hire a car and drive to Spain to see the Spanish house. After having to wait for over two hours whilst they found us a car (they hadn't received our internet booking) we drove 400km and eventually arrived at Jane and Mark's at 5pm.

Typically Jane and Mark made us very welcome and provided us with a lovely evening meal on their sun drenched patio whilst we brought them up to date with our latest adventures. Mark has been managing the building work on our house whilst we've been away so we were keen to see the house and the building progress.

The house is almost finished and looks fantastic. The once smelly, small and dark rooms are now open, warm and inviting, whilst the pool is now all clean and ready for water. The renovation has taken a long time and despite us not doing much physical work ourselves yet has been very strenuous and taken a lot of our time and money to organise.

   

Thankfully the tiles and bathroom fittings we chose all on one mad day back in January look fantastic and the builders have done a wonderful job. The place is amost finished and will take just a couple more weeks.

Yesterday we arrived back in Portugal after being home for 2 weeks. The boat was as we left it, albeit covered in red dust - which actually was saharan sand, deposited by the winds and rain. After giving the boat a good spray down and clean we met Roger (Jax's boss from the Guardian) to take him out sailing for a day. The wind was slight to start with but after a couple of hours grew to 15 knots which was fine for a gentle sail.

Roger was keen to learn and hopefully had a good introduction to yachting. Once we had returned to port and packed the boat away we had a well deserved ice cream and then drove to Roger's Portugese house in the country to spend a pleasant evening with him and his wife (Rachel) sipping wine and enjoying a meal in a local restaurant.

We've been back in the UK for 5 days now, frantically catching up with friends, bills, house maintenance and garden jobs. Portugal seems a long way away and we've both quickly become used to dry land again, although we can't wait to get back to the boat.

Went to Mel and Dan's joint 30th birthday party the other day, which was a blast. Typically we were also invited to Janet's birthday meal at the same time so we did a quick visit for drinks then went back to Mel's.

We've been here for 2 days now and the weather is hot and sunny. The girls have been on a trip to an historic town this morning (Sintra?) whilst I've been into Lisbon to get a few bits and pieces from the chandlers.

Tonight we have a prize giving meal then tomorrow morning its off on our penultimate sail to Sines - last stop before rounding the corner and heading east towards the med.

Its strange to think the rally is coming to an end. We've become great friends with the other boats and have been through a lot with them and will miss their support and presence.

After Lagos some people are taking their boats to the Cannaries ready for an Atlantic crossing, some are staying in the Algarve and others like us are heading into the Med.

Arrived in Cascais near Lisbon yesterday evening after an interesting day's sail.

We started fantastically with a dramatic unfurling of our big red Twistle sail right on the start line and shot off like a rocket. With 20 knots of wind directly behind us we cruised away from the fleet at a steady 7-8 knots. The wind was perfect for us and allowed us to keep dead to our required course.

The sun was out and apart from a bit of atlantic swell we sailed fantastically for 6 hours. We were finally overtaken by a couple of the larger yachts but were still ahead of most. Thats when things changed a bit!

We'd been told earlier by the organisers that when we rounded a headland near the finish the wind could increase dramatically by up to 2 forces. This didn't seem like it would present too many problems as the wind was between 15 and 20 knots but we reefed the Twistle early in anticipation.

As we continued south the winds grew steadily until one of the leaders a few miles ahead reported back winds gusting 50 knots and bad storm conditions. We decided to pack away the Twistle and set up a fully reefed mainsail.

This is where the fun began! We were very exposed at the time and were overpressed with even a reefed mainsail so we decided to go bare poles and motor the 1/2 hour until around the corner and out of the wind.

With winds of over 35 knots we struggled to get the main down. The boat was being bashed around and we were on deck trying to get a sail tie around the dropped mainsail to stop it flogging around in the wind.

It was pretty hairy stuff despite being hanked on and in full life jackets. The sea was covering us and the boat with heavy spray whilst the wind made it very difficult to pull down and secure the sail.

After Amanda and I finally managed to cast a sail tie over and secure the mainsail I had to go up front again to get the Twistle sail down as it hadn't furled properly in the strong wind and was flapping around quite violently. This was really difficult to control as it came down as it was flogging back and forth and I could hardly grip it. After a few minutes struggle and being thrown about it was down on deck and secured. My arms ached and I could hardly clench my fists they were so fatigued.

With all sails down we returned to our course and set off around the headland. Ironically, 10 minutes after clearing it the wind dropped to almost nothing!

We set our sails again and slowly sailed the last few miles until the wind died completely and we said 'buggrit' and motored to the finish line.

Hopes of a good finish had faded and we lost about 3 places in the struggle to get our sails sorted. At least we learnt a few things. Our maximum wind was between force 8 and 9 - very nasty. The boat and we made it through unscatched, save for a few skinned knees, bruises, aching limbs and an impromptu soaking.

Needles to say, we all had a well deserved drink in the evening after mooring up.

Yesterday´s sail was quite difficult due to constant downwind conditions that made it tricky to keep the course. We were pretty rushed in the morning so had a bad start, and spent most of the day catching people up. We eventually finished in the top 8 or so, so didn´t do to bad.

We alternated between our downwind twistle sail and our normal sails all day, so there were lots of sail changes and deck work. In the evening we just ate on board (a nice pasta dish prepared by Jax) and had an early night.

Today we´re visiting Obidos (an old walled city) which is pretty quaint and impressive. Fortunately it also has a free Internet cafe!

Football tonight, so in the bar again.

 

 

Yesterday´s sail was quite difficult due to constant downwind conditions that made it tricky to keep the course. We were pretty rushed in the morning so had a bad start, and spent most of the day catching people up. We eventually finished in the top 8 or so, so didn´t do to bad.

We alternated between our downwind twistle sail and our normal sails all day, so there were lots of sail changes and deck work. In the evening we just ate on board (a nice pasta dish prepared by Jax) and had an early night.

Today we´re visiting Obidos (an old walled city) which is pretty quaint and impressive. Fortunately it also has a free Internet cafe!

Football tonight, so in the bar again.

 

 

Yesterday´s sail was quite difficult due to constant downwind conditions that made it tricky to keep the course. We were pretty rushed in the morning so had a bad start, and spent most of the day catching people up. We eventually finished in the top 8 or so, so didn´t do to bad.

We alternated between our downwind twistle sail and our normal sails all day, so there were lots of sail changes and deck work. In the evening we just ate on board (a nice pasta dish prepared by Jax) and had an early night.

Today we´re visiting Obidos (an old walled city) which is pretty quaint and impressive. Fortunately it also has a free Internet cafe!

Football tonight, so in the bar again.