Sat 8th Sept 2007
GIBRALTAR
ESTEPONA

The objective is to sail Grehan from Gibraltar to France as quickly and directly as is sensible, stopping only when necessary. Ruth won't be making this trip - she has to drive our little old car back to France and 'see to business' whilst we're at sea. On board we have two crew members, and Jim. Colin our aged sea dog friend and Carmen our unknown quantity Yachtmaster. How's it all going to work out?
Well, to start off, good and bad. Good because we have benign conditions, blue shies and sun. Bad because after a couple of hours it becomes obvious that a fuel leak we thought had been fixed, wasn't. So we have to make for a convenient port - in this case Estepona. A nice place, but not what was planned. After a night's rest we manage to locate and fix the problem (an imperfectly tightened nut) and set sail again.

We leave Estepona at lunchtime in hot overcast muggy conditions and motor or motor-sail until the early hours when a little breeze gets up. At one in the morning we are accompanied by a 10 dolphins in a pod, playing and leaping around the boat. Needless to say the skipper misses all this - fast asleep! We continue to voyage eastwards towards Almeria and Cabo de Gata for most of Monday, mainly motor-sailing.
But, approaching the big headland at 13:30, the wind gets up to 20 knots slap bang on the nose, and so does the sea. This is ok, but we need our engine to maintain progress. Then the cooling water alarm goes off so we have to switch off, hoist sail and change course. We have to head for Almeria harbour and we have to warn them we may not have engine assistance to berth. After making some checks which seem all ok we cannot re-start the engine. Finally Colin bridges a connection and hey presto, everything is working ok. Or seems so. We surmise that some polythene sheeting may have bocked the inlet temporarily. In choppy seas and gusting winds we head slowly and carefully for the port, arriving there at 17:45. Our collective confidence has taken a bit of a knock.

Tues 11th - Wed 12th
With strong northerly winds 'on the nose' there's no point in trying to leave harbour and attempt to 'round the cape. We make the most of Almeria and the clean, professional and enjoyable Club de Mar.

Thurs 13th - Fri 14th Sept
172nm, 39hrs. Another memorable voyage, at the end.

We leave Almeria at 05:30, round the cape without problem although the wind direction is once again dead ahead. However, we make reasonable progress during the day and the following night. By 05:00 we have passed Cartagena and rounded the next big cape - Palos - and by 06:30 we have anchored outside the Mar Menor for breakfast.
During Friday conditions are again quiet and sunny but there's a sting in the tail. We approach the next cape - Nao - and the skies darken. It's 17:20. Over the land, Benidorm, there's obviously heavy rain and lightning. We're concerned but there are also some brighter spots ahead that we head for. Then they disappear and the wind strengthens considerably, once again dead on the nose and it starts to rain. We're motoring into biggish seas when Jim smells burnt rubber. Our engine's 'fan' belt has disintegrated. Sad to say our team spirit, which had been declining gets worse and arguments ensue about what to do. Not good at any time, especially not in difficult conditions. The skipper is not pleased but finds and fixes a spare belt. Carmen helms Grehan superbly - in her hands we now are sailing toward our nearest port Calpe, tacking, reluctant to use the engine too much until at least we get into harbour. And finally make Calpe at 22:00, somewhat the worse for wear . . . someone says that out there we've had a near miss with a waterspout.

Carmen, who has proved a terrific crew member, has to return home and with Ruth unavailable Jim sadly takes the unavoidable decision to abandon sailing towards France. Grehan has performed well but we have been let down by some bad luck, some fairly simple mechanical glitches and by personality problems. All the experience in the world is no good if you can't get on and work harmoniously with other members of the crew. A great shame.

Mon 16th - Sun 30th Sept
CALPE

Calpe's Real Club Nautica is a very good and professional place, but it's also quite expensive. We chew our fingers trying to arrange transport, for a reasonable price, as quickly as possible. But it's a slow process.
Finally we agree a price with Augizeau (La Rochelle) and arrange with the Real Club to lift the mast and then lift Grehan onto the transporter. Jim makes some timber supports and on Saturday 29th Grehan's mast is removed, not without some more anxiety as the inexperienced workmen (the yard itself is superb) tell us they need a bigger crane to do the job. They don't. Christophe our brilliant lorry driver turns up that day, and on Monday 1st Grehan is lifted out and onto his rig.

Mon 1st - Tues 2nd Oct
CASTELSARRASIN

Wed 3rd Oct
Christophe arrives at Castelsarrasin, Veronique and Bernard's yard, and so do we. After a couple of hours wait Bernard fires up his crane and gently lifts Grehan off the lorry and into the Canal Lateral a la Garonne.

It's great to be back!