21 April 1993 Gibraltar
Still in Gibraltar - getting really sick of it now. The boys are getting a bit wild now - there are hordes of kids here.
We have been struggling to give Brett consistent school lessons while onboard. It’s hard work thinking up what to teach him and then doing the actual lesson - we’re using small booklets from the UK that are designed to help parents consolidate what children learn at school. He’s only six at the moment, so it’s going to get harder and harder. Glenys talked to an American couple who are educating their 8 year old using a correspondence course from the Calvert School in Baltimore, USA. The course looks really good. It includes all the text books, a teacher’s manual covering each lesson in detail and they even supply pencils, crayons and paper. It costs about £120 per year. It follows the American “Grade” system, but seems to be the answer to our problems. We’re going to order a Grade 2 course for Brett.
22 April 1993 Gibraltar
Still in Gibraltar - it’s all a bit too much like England! We had a disappointing, awful curry on our last night!
23 April 1993 Gibraltar to Puerto de Estepona, Spain
We left Gibraltar in a very light south westerly. We rounded Europa Point, poled out the jib and ran down wind. At about three o’clock, the wind veered to the NW and started to increase. By the time we had berthed in the marina at Estepona it was back to SW and gusting 30 knots. We had a really nice sail but I’m glad we got here before it blew up! Reaching in gusty conditions continues to be a problem for the Hydrovane – why?
The marina is quite nice, but the town is about a mile away, so we didn’t bother to go. Couldn’t see the shower block and couldn’t be bothered to go hunting for them.
24 April 1993 Estepona to Marbella
We were going to sail to Mona overnight, but decided to do it in two 40 mile hops. We left Estepona in sunshine, but showers kept coming through. The winds were very gusty and variable, so we decided to stop at Marbella. Thank goodness we did - it’s blowing 35 knots and raining now!
We were experiencing a lot of swell while we were on the “waiting” pontoon, so when the wind dropped below 20 knots we decided to go to our berth. By the time we’d got there it was gusting 30 knots and the swell was worse. Instead of trying to go “stern to”, we came alongside. That wasn’t too clever; the wind and waves were bashing us against the quayside and, even with all our fenders out, I was worried about damaging the top sides. Eventually, in a brief lull in the weather, I rowed a Danforth anchor out and pulled us off the quay.
It was windy all night with the pressure dropping down to 1006 at eight p.m. I foolishly used an old genoa sheet to tie up to the dock. This type of rope doesn’t stretch, so in the vicious swell it has managed to rip the rear cleat out of the deck - another thing for me to sort out. To cap it all, the starter motor is playing up again!
25 April 1993 Marbella
Still blowing a hooley. The starter problem seems to be the ignition switch. which is good because it won’t cost a fortune to fix. The annoying thing is that I have a new ignition switch, but it’s at Carol’s in the UK! The boat was rolling so much in the afternoon that I felt seasick, so we went out for a meal (any excuse!)
26 April 1993 Marbella
The wind seems to have gone away, but we are getting heavy showers and its cold! I rigged up a temporary starter switch because the ignition switch has completely stopped working. I tightened up the cables on the rudder quadrant and then we went to McDonald’s for lunch as a treat for the boys (and me.) It’s still raining at eight o’clock at night. I want to get out of here!
27 April 1993 Marbella to Marina del Este
No wind first thing in the morning, so we started early(ish) to escape from Marbella. We motored until one o’clock when the wind picked up enough to sail. Forty minutes later, we had to drop the main because it was too windy. We ran downwind all the way to Mona, passing Benalmadena because we would have been there too early. Marina Del Este is a lovely marina between a very large rock (hill) and a cliff. The entrance is very spectacular.
28 April 1993 Marina del Este
It rained and rained and rained. I did a few jobs and made a dipole antenna, which doesn’t seem to be any better than the wire antenna supplied with my Sony short wave radio.
29 April 1993 Marina del Este to Almerimar
Again no wind first thing in the morning. The wind picked up by eleven o’clock and by two o’clock was blowing 20 knots. We ran straight past Adra because we would have been there too early. We were going to carry onto Almeria, but Glenys’ morale was very low, so we stopped at Almerimar.
The place seems deserted – apparently their prices were too high and everyone left about 3 years ago. They are now the cheapest on the Spanish coast and actually provide a list of charges at other marinas to prove it!
The damn ignition light stayed on while the engine was running as we approached the marina, I suspect that the alternator has packed in now – there’s nothing else left on the engine to go wrong now!
30 April 1993 Almerimar
A beautiful day, but again we have a cold, twenty knot, southwest wind. I checked the fan belt tension and wiggled the wires on the alternator and when I started the engine the alternator worked OK. I suspect we’ve got a loose wire on the alternator. I’ll leave it, see what happens and, if I need to, I’ll fix it in Ibiza along with the ignition switch.
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