Wet n wild in Gibraltar

Sailing in Gibraltar is always interesting, whilst it is not the most easiest of places on the eye, the wind rarely fails and the straits themselves can be challenging. With a mixed bunch of Day and Coastal Skippers on board, we set off across the Straits, destination Marina Smir in Morocco. Strong winds allowed us to make the crossing in just over 2 hours and we enjoyed an excellent meal ashore having declined the ´Carpet tour´. The following day we spent the morning performing marina drills before setting sail for the Spanish mainland, the plan was to arrive in Duquesa, have some dinner and go for a night sail. Just outside the marina we blew the impellor and coasted very gingerly onto the waiting quay. Impellor fixed we tried to start the engine only to have a jammed starter motor. Time was ticking by and I called it a day, frustrated but determined not to be beaten, we fixed the problem in the morning and were back out on the water by 11am, the winds were blowing well and we took a trip upto Estepona where they tried to charge us for having a coffee on the waiting quay. Needless to say we moved on quickly and popped into Sotogrande where we had the same experience. We did manage to squeeze an hour out of them as we were planning the postponed night sail. Heading back to Gib, the light went about 5 miles short of Europa Point and finally we were sailing in the dark! Dodging the anchored ships and those entering the bay is always challenging, chuck in a force 6 gusting 8 and we really needed to have our wits about us. Friday was already upon us, we had kept the wind all week and had a fantastic weeks sailing.