Welcome to Chris and Karen’s sailing blog. We are planning to join the 2021 ARC+ and the 2022 World ARC and have just bought a wonderful Oyster 56. We can’t wait.
The Lockdown
We had some maintenance carried out in Palma and worked our way back to Valencia in early March. We then left Mistral and drove back to France. The next day, Spain went into lockdown and a fews days later, France followed.
It’s now mid-June and there are signs that the lockdowns will be lifted soon. When we can travel back to the UK without quarantine, we will do so and visit friends and family. Then we’ll be back on Mistral for as long as possible in 2020.
RCNV Palma 
Wedding Anniversary 
Mallorca 
Mallorca 
Cala Bassa 
A Sunshot
RCNP Palma
Back to a big marina for a change, the Real Club Nautico de Palma. I’m doing the Yachmaster Ocean Course here next week, so this is a good base for a few days. There’s little wind anyway so we’re not missing any sailing.
Whatever electrical adapters you have on board you never have the right ones!
And we’ve ordered Lithium Ion batteries to be installed next week.
Portals Vells
This bay was recommended to us by a bloke in a ship’s chanderlery. Absolutely beautiful.
Portals Vells 
Portals Vells
Cala Major, Palma
A longish day of sailing to Mallorca. Plenty of wind until later in the afternoon. We anchored at Cala Major, the first bay to the west of Palma.
Ibiza
A short 11 nm trip from Formentera to Ibiza. The nav instruments keep failing when the bow thrusters are used. Will try to get them fixed when we get to Palma.
We explored the town a little. Very quiet out of season. Valentines dinner at the marina pizzeria with a posher meal the following evening.
Formentera
With new battery 
We had a couple of very pleasant nights here at anchor. We replaced the battery on the tender and had a play with it. We also got a technician to come to the boat to try to diagnose the electrical problems. Not fixed, but we have a better understanding now of the systems.
While trying to get the tender working I managed to fall into the water. Not cold at all. How Karen laughed. My new glasses fell off so we found a local driver who came to the boat and recovered them!
First Passage
Today (Tuesday 11 February) we made our first proper passage in Mistral. We left Valencia at 0605 and arrived at Formentera at 1940 – over 13 hours and 93nm.
We spent most of the time on the engine but once the sun was up and we left the fishing boats behind we sailed for a while. When the wind dropped the engine wouldn’t start! After some time troubleshooting and searching for circuit breakers, I switched the engine battery off and on again and it came back to life.
Mistral 
Mistral Walkround
Anti-clockwise round the deck. Shot with an Insta360 One X.
A Pleasant Afternoon
Getting to know Mistral. Sailing with some friends in the Valencia area. Video put together with GoPro’s Quik app.
Sunset in Valencia
