Flights are booked Thursday 12/07 to Tuesday 16/07. My Brother and I are hoping to get to Morocco. Original idea was to go down the straits to Tangier but that seems to be a bit difficult for yotties and it is easier to go to a marina called Marina Smir to the south of Cueta on the Med coast. People in the know then recommend going to Tetuan which apparently has a much more interesting Souk than Tanger. Should be fun anyway.
We are also finally getting the wind generator shipped down so I hope to be busy installing that as well.
Sunday, 24 June 2012
Saturday, 16 June 2012
Next Trip Down
Well, I have booked my flight and committed to geting their 12/07 to 17/07. No Audrey this time but my Brother will be joining with the intention of sailing across the straits to Africa.
Our original plan was to go to Tangier down the Straits but research seems to indicate that visiting in a yacht is very fraught. You also need to clear in a designated port of entry so I suspect we will go to Smir a few miles south of the Spanish enclave of Cueta. That is apparently quite close to a town called Tetuan which has a magnificent Souk.
We shall see anyway.
Our original plan was to go to Tangier down the Straits but research seems to indicate that visiting in a yacht is very fraught. You also need to clear in a designated port of entry so I suspect we will go to Smir a few miles south of the Spanish enclave of Cueta. That is apparently quite close to a town called Tetuan which has a magnificent Souk.
We shall see anyway.
Friday, 15 June 2012
Trying Blogger app
First time I have tried this app on the phone.
News is that the next trip down has been booked.12 July for five days or so.
I'll do a proper update later.
Sunday, 20 May 2012
A Bit of Instructive Fun
One of the mistaken things we bought last year when getting ready for our cruise to Gibraltar was a liferaft which we got on Ebay. It was out of service and it turned out that the price of getting it serviced was going to be the same as a new one after we had paid £200 for it anyway. The odds of being able to resell it were vanishingly small. Freecycle even failed so we decided to see what happens when you pull the cord!
As ever, I think it is an excellent thing to do this in a controlled manner so you know what to expect if you have to do it for real on a dark and stormy night. Not that we want to be in the position of having to abandon ship on a dark and stormy night.
Two things were interesting:
One is the length of the painter/ripcord though I suspcect that this would be less of an issue when afloat.
The other is that it makes quite a lot of sound with a definite bang when the CO2 cylinder goes off. After that it is all over in less than ten seconds!
I have a rather poor quality video and will get that uploaded somewhere soon. These photos show it. I didn't have time to get a picture of it coming out of the canister between dropping the painter and raising the camera.
And here is the video!
Click Here
First time I have ever posted a video but there you go.
As ever, I think it is an excellent thing to do this in a controlled manner so you know what to expect if you have to do it for real on a dark and stormy night. Not that we want to be in the position of having to abandon ship on a dark and stormy night.
Two things were interesting:
One is the length of the painter/ripcord though I suspcect that this would be less of an issue when afloat.
The other is that it makes quite a lot of sound with a definite bang when the CO2 cylinder goes off. After that it is all over in less than ten seconds!
I have a rather poor quality video and will get that uploaded somewhere soon. These photos show it. I didn't have time to get a picture of it coming out of the canister between dropping the painter and raising the camera.
And here is the video!
Click Here
First time I have ever posted a video but there you go.
News From Others
We got an email from Miss Poess who we had met in Ria de Cedeira last August. They announced their intention to leave for the duration with a terrifying list of things that they had sold and canceled in The Netherlands. Plans are to get to the Med around the end of August so hopefully we will be lucky enough to cross paths.
This does seem to be the year for jacking it in and going off. My half Sister and her husband are in the process of getting their house rented out and commissioning their barge to cruise the French canals.
Our turn is coming anyway.
This does seem to be the year for jacking it in and going off. My half Sister and her husband are in the process of getting their house rented out and commissioning their barge to cruise the French canals.
Our turn is coming anyway.
Sunday, 13 May 2012
Getting closer
I have a count down widget on my phone and it shows 111 days to go till 31/08. The time is really getting closer now.
No particular boating news though. The BBQ was, as predicted cold but also very enjoyable. We had particular admiration for the others who had sailed there for the rally. Sailing up the Thames before a NE with the prospect of having to beat back into it would have been an arduous undertaking and reminded us why we decided to sail south!
Still, we now have to start seriously planning for our departure.
No particular boating news though. The BBQ was, as predicted cold but also very enjoyable. We had particular admiration for the others who had sailed there for the rally. Sailing up the Thames before a NE with the prospect of having to beat back into it would have been an arduous undertaking and reminded us why we decided to sail south!
Still, we now have to start seriously planning for our departure.
Saturday, 5 May 2012
Off to a "BBQ" at The Cruising Association
Not a lot been going on cruising wise recently since we got back from Spain. The wind generator tweaks our conscience every time we look at it in the new kitchen and demands to be sent down to La Linea.
We are however off to a so called BBQ at CA House this evening. The weather is a bit drizzly and cold so I think it will be more of a visit to the bar rather than a BBQ. Still, a chance to chat to other yotties so it should be fun.
We are however off to a so called BBQ at CA House this evening. The weather is a bit drizzly and cold so I think it will be more of a visit to the bar rather than a BBQ. Still, a chance to chat to other yotties so it should be fun.
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