1. 2 May 2006. Chipiona to Rota. 17nm
After all the anxieties of the last weeks, we have decided
that we must leave even though we are not totally confident of the engine.
There is a knocking sound from the through-hull/shaft area which indicates
that the shaft may have come out of alignment or there is a problem with the
stern fittings. We motored out of Chipiona at noon in bright sunshine and a
light NE breeze. At 1pm we stopped the engine and 'hove-to' for Terry to don
his wetsuit and go over-board to check the rope cutter and propeller
underneath the hull to see if
he could find the source of the knocking
sound. He reported all was OK. We continued to sail in a beautiful
force 3 towards Cadiz, still trying to work out what the noise could be
caused by, if it was serious or, as the engineers kept saying, it was just
'bedding in'. But the noise was getting worse and not better, so we called Moreta (engineers) to ask them to come to Rota tomorrow. As you can imagine,
there is a dark cloud over 'Roam' at the moment, not much seems to be going
our way.
Antonio came around 5pm the next day and the engine did need further alignment, but the adjustment did not cure the knocking. We had noticed that there was some blurb in the Vetus catalogue against the Bullflex coupler that they had used. Unfortunately our catalogue is in Spanish, but we suspected it had something to do with using the coupling with rigid stern bearings (ie our stuffing box). I went to the internet to check it out in English and we were right, the coupling needed to have a piece removed. Moreta had not read the instructions with it! Terry and Antonio uncoupled the shaft and removed the coupling which he took back to the workshop to remove the piece. he came back the next morning, re-fitted the coupling (after Terry had to go overboard again to check the rope cutter lined up!), but when we fired up the engine, the noise was still there. Antonio insisted the noise would go and that everything is ok. he made it very clear as he left Rota that he did not want to see us again, and frankly the feeling is mutual.
2. 4 May. Rota to Cadiz 6nm
A
quick nip across the bay of Cadiz into a marina on the edge of the docks
near the heart of historic Cadiz. It's a fabulous city, full of narrow
streets and tall buildings. We still thought that there was an outside
chance of us being able to get to Majorca to meet the FA Cup crew on 12 May,
but when we
checked the weather we realised there was no way as an easterly Levanter was
forecast barring our way through the Straits of Gibraltar.
FA cup weekend Majorca
We then made a decision that we would not let them all down(!) so
we booked flights to Palma for a week. We also made the decision that we
would back-track to Portugal to some engineers there who had been
recommended to us so we can get the engine fixed properly. It won't be so
bad, we enjoyed our time there last year.We
had a great time with everyone in Porto Colom on the SE coast, which we can
confirm is a great anchorage, but the town itself is a bit touristy and
lacks local flavour unless you make your way over to the 'old town' in the
far corner. Once the FA Cup crew had gone, Terry's sister, Lyn and her
husband, Mark then joined us. It was great to see everyone and share a few
beers, sit on the beach, go swimming every day (me, not Terry who said it
was too cold - wimp!). We watched Arsenal v Barcelona Champions League final
in a bar in the old part of Porto Colom rather than one of the English bars
.
It
turned out that the bar was like the Majorca HQ of the Barca Supporters
Club, and was packed out. we were the only English people there and stood
out a mile when Sol Campbell scored the opener. However the 10 men of
Arsenal were worn down by Barca how managed to score 2 late goals to win the
title. The bar crowd went mad, bottles of fizzy cava were handed round to
all including us! it was a great night, even if the result was
disappointing.
When
we got back to Roam in Cadiz we had a nice surprise to find our
friends Wayne and Angie on Hitrapia in the berth next to us. We had a
late night catching up with news and stories (boring them with the engine
saga!). the next day John and Carol sailed in on their boat Genesis.
We had been in email contact with them as we had sold them some bits from
our old engine which they picked up from Chipiona. On our last evening we
all went out for some beers and tapas at a bar in the city and had a very
pleasant evening.
3. 24/25 May. to Portimao, Portugal (34 hrs) 120nm
Another Levanter was forecast for the Straits which gave
us the weather window we needed to go west and have some wind behind us from
the east. We managed to sail for about half the time, but had to use the
engine at low revs for the rest of the time. We were visited by a pod of
dolphins on our first evening which was a lovely surprise. Otherwise an
uneventful trip. We arrived in the anchorage at Portimao at 8.30pm to find
our German friends Klaus and Bruni on Windrift also there. They
immediately came over to have a chat. What a lovely welcome!
The next morning we went into the marina to meet up with the new engineers. Jeff came over in the afternoon to diagnose the problems and devise a plan. He reckoned, like us we have a serious mis-alignment problem which he thinks he can sort out in a couple of days. Lets hope so!
We went to look at the nearby resort of Praia de Rocha. the beaches are fabulous, but the 'strip' is the usual assortment of bars, cafes and shops. It must be a very popular place for the Irish as one part looked like 'Little Dublin' - about 10 Irish bars all in a row!
4. 26 May to Alvor. 8nm
We had a nice easy beat across the bay to the Ria Alvor - a large lagoon behind a big sand bar and in front of the town of Alvor. We were here last year for a week or so and enjoyed the town and beach. The disappointment is that the engine is still knocking. Terry dives under the boat and finds the rope cutter has jumped out of it's housing and is now spinning around. We try several times to get it back, but each time we try the engine and put it in gear the movement on the shaft is so great that the cutter can jump out of it's notch again. The cutter has to come off, but it's a fiddly job to do under the water with an allen key with boats whizzing passed every few minutes.
5. 6 June. to Lagos 6nm
It was my birthday on Sunday and we celebrated with a meal
ashore and a few brandies in one of the bars. On the Tuesday we made the
small trip (thankfully) in a very rolly sea to Lagos and had 3 nights in the
marina there, again meeting up with people we had met the previous year and
a few new crews. The rates in the marina jump up in the summer season over
2.5times,
so we are taking advantage of the rates now! Lagos is a popular
place and many cruisers find it difficult to peel themselves away after
spending winter there. It's a nice town too, after spending much of the
winter in Chipiona, we can see why it's a popular choice. The
chandlers there is also one of the best we have seen since leaving France,
so we took the opportunity to get a few bits and pieces. Terry managed to
get the rope cutter off the propeller shaft after discussions with a yacht
surveyor who advised that our type of rope cutter is incompatible with the
engine installation and we should remove it asap before it does any further
damage.
6. 9 June. to Alvor. 5nm
After a tricky exit manoeuvre from the marina berth, we motored out of Lagos - with the knocking sound still ringing in our ears. What else can it be? We have to meet with Jeff, the engineer again, so we will continue discussions with him. The World Cup kicks off today and the only way we will get to see the games is to spend time in the local bars and cafes as we have no TV on board. It's going to be an expensive time....
The world kite surfing championships are being held here and a stiff breeze makes for an interesting morning watching the spectacular leaps and wipe outs in the heats.
Towards
the end of June, Cliff, a friend from UK came to visit. He managed to bring
2 large sheets of engine sound-proofing tied to a small bag of clothes in
his luggage allowance. It was great to see a friendly face from home and we
appreciated his visit hugely. We were also able to show him a little bit of
the Portugal we had come to love.
Meanwhile, Jeff continued to work on the boat - new morse cables, new morse control lever, re-positioned the water box, all to no avail. The knocking continued.
6. 15 July, to Portimao
We left Alvor to got to Portimao so we can make use of the boatyard as Roam
is hauled out for the 3rd time this year. Jeff has done all he can while we were afloat, but still the noise persists. Any further work requires work on the shaft, taking the shaft out will leave a hole in the back of the boat under water...so... Before going to the yard we enjoyed a fabulous evening with our dutch friends, Erik and Claartje with their young son Florian (aka 'the sand monster')on a beach barbeque. We cooked sausages, kebabs, chops and sardines, all delicious with a sandy crunch!
We ended up staying in the boatyard for 2 1/2 weeks, finding dreaded cockroaches on board and the final night being covered in large flying ants. Jeff replaced the old grease lubricated stuffing box with a new flexible one and then re-made all the engine mounts as the ones made in Chipiona were all uneven, which would not help the engine to run smoothly. Back in the water with new shaft fittings has not cured the knocking, but Jeff says there isn't anything left that will break the engine or the boat, so we'll live with it for now. But it could be that the propeller is too big....
In the anchorage at Portimao were Joyce and Phil on their beautiful home built ketch 'Arya Tara'. We had briefly met them last year in Cascais and Porto. They rescued us for a couple of evenings from the boatyard to enjoy the cool breeze in their cockpit swinging to their anchor.
6. 10 August, to Faro
6. 12 August to Gibraltar 145nm We sailed virtually the whole of the first day on a beam reach at 6.5knots or more.
Roam seemed so happy to be on the move that she just galloped away, even after we reefed the mainsail at dusk, she was still doing more than 6knots. 'Arya Tara' left with us, but being a much larger boat (17m), they go a lot more quickly and it wasn't long before we lost sight of them in the persistent mist. this was a tricky passage as we had a 90 nmile
journey to round Cape Trafalgar and then catch the tide to get us past Tarifa and up the Straits of
Gibraltar.
We left the anchorage for the 35 mile trip to the large lagoon south of Faro. We had spent a couple of weeks there last year off the village of Culatra. This time we anchored closer to the entrance at Farol. We motored for about 3 hours, then the wind kicked in and we managed a great sail. we arrived at the entrance about an hour after high water and the tide was already ebbing fast through the narrow channel to the lagoon causing a standing wave and some very swirly water to be negotiated. It was a tense 15 minutes as we motored up quarter mile the channel. We stayed 2 nights enjoying the relative peace of the spot, even swimming off the boat. Next stop Gibraltar!
Bucking the tides here is certainly not recommended. When we left Faro, we intended to get the tide that turned favourable for us around 3pm the following day, but we made such good speed that we managed to catch the end of the morning tide, this meant that we had to go further south toward the shipping lanes and just add some spice it was foggy.
Visibility was around 1.5nm and we can't run the radar while we are sailing at night as we have nothing to charge the batteries with. All was going fine until we were about 5 miles away from Tarifa, on the northern edge of the shipping lanes, when the sea went from rolly to down-right rough. We were now motoring to keep the speed up to ensure we got as much out of the tide as possible, but Terry was having difficulty keeping hold of the tiller as Roam bucked and rolled in the steep confused seas.
It didn't help that i had plotted a position incorrectly on the chart and had missed the fact that there was a relatively very shallow spot among some deeper water that was causing all the horrible seas. skipper managed to hang on as
Roam gallantly fended off most of the waves and took us to smoother water. We rounded Tarifa behind another yacht and slipped up the Straits. It's not until quite late that 'the Rock' comes into view. It's a stunning sight, very iconic. We felt very proud to have reached such a historic place as we motored into the harbour.
