Leaving Palma

At anchor near Andratx

After three weeks in Palma, with lots of guests and lots of boat work, we finally left two days ago and are now at anchor off Formentera, south of Ibiza.

Proper sailing at last

Improvements to the boat include: new water heater, new capacitors for the generator (one failed), new main halyard swivel (came from Ipswich) and new solar panels. Everything seems to be working well except the solar panels which appear to be producing only 3.5A out of a theoretical maximum of 18A. The boat draws 11-12A when sailing so we’d be happy with anything above 9A.

Tomorrow we’ve got a long day to the mainland (probably Calpe) then we gently sail down the coast to Gibraltar – more soon!

More Maintenance (& Improvements)

The AC panel has been tidied up with a new remote panel; the base of the mast has been prepared for painting; the tender cover has been repaired; the network has been tweaked; a new smart TV has been has been installed.

Back in Palma

New Genoa Installed

We left Gruissan a few days later than planned – flat tyre on the car, boatyard not ready to put the boat back in the water, bad weather, and finally, a broken tap in the guest head.

Eventually we set sail and sailed straight to Sóller, Mallorca – 202 nm in 29 hours. After a very pleasant quiet night in Sóller (for a change), it was round the coast to Palma and the home for the boat for the next few weeks.

There’s another long list of jobs before we’re ready to start the ARC+ in November – digital fuel and water guages and calibration, new chartplotters, a remote control panel for the generator (the panel on the genny is inaccessible), engine and generator service, new foresails (already installed) – the list goes on and on. We’re also filling the boat up with spare parts.

This weekend we had a break and hired a car. Yesterday we drove up to the north of the island and visited Polença and Alcudia. Today we went east to Santanyi and Cala Figuera. Back to work tomorrow!

Back to Gruissan

After lots more maintenance and lots more visitors (Carol, Ruth, Jo, Spider, Gill, Andy) we left Palma on Wednesday 27 October for the short trip to Andratx before the long trip to Port Argelès-sur-Mer.

A final evening in Andratx (most of the mooring buoys had been removed) was very pleasant and the next morning we motored north to the Spanish mainland and on to the French border, ably assisted by Batty. Approaching Port Argelès-sur-Mer we flew the Code Zero (a lightweight sail for reaching) but after a few minutes a huge gust luffed us up and the bowsprit, holding the tack of the code zero, broke and the sail flogged itself to pieces.

The fun wasn’t quite over as the next morning at Port Argelès-sur-Mer the wind was Beaufort Force 9 gusting 10! Needless to say, we stayed put until early afternoon when the wind dropped and we motored the final 35 nm to Gruissan.

On Sunday we spent the morning preparing Mistral for the winter e.g. removing sails, protecting lines, removing the bimini, filling the fuel tank etc. The boat will be at Gruissan for the winter before new adventures in 2022.

Thanks to everyone who helped us in 2021 – friends, family and contractors!

Maintenance Week

Releasing the Outhaul
Releasing the Outhaul

Chartplotter, mainsail furling, mainsail service, RPM gauge repair, rust stains from cleats, loose oil breather pipe, the list goes on and on. It would seem endless without the help of Mike and Guardian Yacht Services.

August in the Balearics

August has been and gone and with it some of our guests – Laura, Rory, Laura 2, the Nicols family (Calum, Ceri, Isabel, Mia and Tilly), Amanda and Valerie.

We’ve done mostly short trips exploring the south of Mallorca and anchoring overnight when the weather was suitable. Cala Blanca, Andratx, Soller, Deia, Sa Rapita and Las Isletas have all been visited at least once. We’re looking forward to returning to Portals Vells but in August it was always too crowded.

It was lovely having our French neighbours on board (neighbours in France, not French!). Everybody did plenty of eating, drinking, swimming and snorkelling, and we even managed an evening of Mario Kart!

Sailing Again

We are finally on the water at last! The boat reentered the water at Gruissan at the beginning of August and since then we’ve sailed to Argeles-sur-Mer, Palamos, Barcelona, Soller (Mallorca) and Palma. 296 nm.

The leg from Barcelona to Soller (on the North-West coast of Mallorca) was particularly noteworthy. We had a force 6 on our beam for most of the day and we blasted along at 8-9 kt! The maximum (GPS) speed we saw was 9.3 kt and the average for the passage was 7.7kt.

Cala d’Or

From Portals Vells we made a short run around Mallorca to Cala d’Or. A small marina in a small town that is obviously a popular summer resort. On the way in I noted advertised depths of 3.0m throughout, although the depth shallowed to 2.6m at once stage.

Portals Vels to Cala d'Or

The next morning was an early start. All hands on deck at 0530 for lines and departure prep. We slipped on time at 0545 but then, only 5 minutes later, we ran aground in the channel! Our draught is 2.31m and I saw 2.4-2.3 a moment before we stopped. It took us over an hour to get clear – our tender motor kept stopping and a fisherman who came to help got our line tangled in his prop. Eventually a mariniero in his tender managed to pull our stern around and off we floated.
62 nm later we arrived in the harbour of Mahon and spent 20 min searching for the Club Maritimo of Mahon. It looks more like a town quay. We’ll see.

Cala Portals Vells

Clogged with salt

A nautical generator expert came on board this morning and fixed the generator in 45 minutes. He disconnected the cooling water outlet and the connection was clogged with salt. We had already checked the cooling water inlet, the impeller and the outlet in the hull, but we would never have found this particular connection. All good, and we’ve learned a little more about the boat.

Ibiza and Palma

Wednesday: A short run to Santa Eulalia marina, a few miles north-east of Ibiza town. An excellent marina with lots of facilities, but pricey.

Thursday: A 10 hr/62 nm day today, so we left early at 0600 local. A good SW wind so running downwind all day. We used the preventer on the boom and also experimented with two foresails and no main. It worked, but one of the foresails needs to be poled out to stabilise it.
Jane left her hatch open a crack not realising that the sea wasn’t as calm as the day before – the bed got soaked…


There was a Mayday during the morning. We plotted the position but were too far away to assist.

We welcomed Shirley on board on Friday and said goodbye to Jane on Sunday. We’ll be sorting a problem with the generator (overheating and shutting down) in the morning then it’s off to Cala d’Or on the east coast of Mallorca.