A stormy one…..

Saturday 16th August 2014

Just look at the colour of the sky....

[caption id="attachment_1973" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Not just black….[/caption]

this is what we awoke to this morning. We were up bright and early as we had to move Windekind back out of the way of the expected ferries and BT had arranged to meet Javi...remember we met him on our journey to Es Calo...to go and take a look at his boat restoration project...Reina del Mar. Once we were settled back just off of the beach we made a mad dash for the shore...that was trouble enough as it was incredibly rough inshore. Climbing on and off Mango Tango was a real challenge!. BT and I returned to the creperie, where we had a coffee together before BT had to make his rendezvous with Javi. Billy remained at the cafe, drinking tea, charging various electrical items, blogging, emailing and skyping friends and family. Remember that sky...well...the heavens opened and torrential rain fell on the town.

[caption id="attachment_1972" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Heavy rain pour...[/caption]

Apparently, Ibiza has not seen any rain since November...can you imagine that? Everywhere is so dry...the trees look completely starved...grey dry trunks but miraculously, green tips, even the stones sound dry as you walk over them. Fire hazards are everywhere, so the rain is desperately needed here. It stopped everything for a while, but life resumed to normal once the shower was over.

BT had a fantastic time with Javi. Unfortunately the camera ran out of charge whilst he was with him so there aren’t many photos. These few will give you an idea of how the project is coming along.....

[caption id="attachment_1968" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Lots of amazing artefacts littered the area...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1967" align="aligncenter" width="480"] This is their wood steamer….the wood takes all day to steam and then you have one minute to take it from the steamer and clamp it onto the boat!!![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1971" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Javi and his running companion![/caption]



It has taken 3 of them 5 years to get this far, but the boat will look absolutely fabulous when it is finished. BT is determined to return and spend time with them working on the boat. Amazingly they come to the UK frequently to visit Trinity Marine in von and various boat jumble events in Southampton...so I’m sure we will be having them to stay sometime in the New Year.

We spent a lot of time looking at the weather tying to decided where we should go to escape this unsettled spell. Some time later, after a lot of consideration, we felt that we should move on from here and head North (anti clockwise round Ibiza) knowing that until we rounded the first headland it might be quite rough.

Before I start, this is how the story we are about to tell ends…at 7pm tonight we rounded the headland into a calm bay relieved to be alive. Six hours earlier we were between a rock and a hard place, the weather had unexpectedly changed making our situation very dangerous and we had to leave what had previously been a safe harbour. We made a decision we would have to go a particular way. The way was unsettled and unnerving, we had to go by some really dangerous rocks and a very nasty reef. Two hours into our journey we had to pass between a rocky headland and an island that were a mile apart. The sea was really rough and the wind was strong. Almost from nowhere the rain came…like monsoon rain...completely obliterating any sign of land and the visibility went to 6 metres ahead… It was so hard that it almost flattened the now very rough seas and the rain drops bounced a couple of inches up from the water as they pelted down. We donned waterproof jackets....not that were at all waterproof, but kept the cold at bay. At the same time our only navigation equipment failed. For an hour we had to trust we were going the right way..but it was really scary…sometimes we saw glimpses of hope…a little piece of land, and then it would disappear again. We found our way into a bay we had previously sheltered in but we were unsure it would be safe for the night so we decided to travel on. Half an hour later we were hit by a terrible wind and more torrential rain, obliterating the land again and the seas grew to enormous heights. (3 metres or more) BT was really worried…thinking that things had gone beyond his own control and that if one thing on the boat had broken, or anything happen, the chances are we would die in the storm. Somehow out of the gloom we saw we were making progress towards the next headland but the wind was still chasing us…we were tired and scared beyond belief at this stage. It was as if the wind and waves were determined to get us..and nothing we could do of our own will would make any difference…we had to keep trusting that we would make it through. Amazingly the lighthouse came into view indicating the way to the next safe place. It took everything we had in us to get us to the destination…even once the safe place was in sight we still struggled to keep the boat under control…we had to manoeuvre her around the corner but obstacles still got in our way..we still had many challenges to face. Slowly we crawled into the Cala, looking for a patch of sand into which to lay our anchor. Amazingly, just as we needed it, the sun came out and the sandy patches became obvious. With Billy at the helm following BT’s instructions to the sand, BT dropped the anchor overboard and we were safe at last. A stern anchor was also laid ....giving us a chance of a better nights sleep. We were exhausted but glad to be here. Team Windekind  (boat, BT and Billy) did a fantastic job of bringing us through the storm.

As you can imagine, we don’t have any photos....it was not the time for lovely posing shots...I think we would have lost the camera overboard if it had been on deck!

Once the sun had disappeared, it was time for two very weary, grateful sailors to retire to bed.