El Rubicon arrives in Marbella

El Rubicon is safely tied up in Marina La Bajadilla in Marbella, our trip so far has been testing with strong winds. Taking the decision to leave Sunday night rather than Monday morning certainly paid off, we rounded Cabo de Gata with 40 knots behind us and the winds were due to increase, following a quick stop over in Almerimar we set off again much to the amazement of the marineros. We tucked the thrid reef in and weith the staysail hoisted El Rubicon handled the 30 knots winds and large swell admirably. Our intention was to head for Motril only to be told the harbour was closed due to foul weather, with little option other than marinas on lee shores, we pressed on through the night towards Marbella. It all fell into place as the winds and sea eased as we approached and awaekening this morning we are back to 25 knots across the deck in harbour with water crashing over the sea wall. Looking forward to a well earned paella, a couple of beers and siesta before setting off tomorrow for Estepona or Sotogrande. So far it has been a breezy trip with some great sailing, Will has helmed most of the way and is over the moon with the sailing experience so far, having done this trip numerous times we have never gotton this far so quickly having used around 3 ltrs of fuel, excellent sailing!!!

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.