Sextant Work

I’m brushing up on my sextant skills with the aim of taking (and passing) the Yachtmaster Ocean exam in Las Palmas when we get there. My 500 nm qualifying passage will be Gibraltar to Gran Canaria in October.

The plot today went well, all things considered. There was a clear view of the sun in the morning so I did a standard Sun Sight which plots as a Line of Position. In this case, 112 degrees from my chosen position and 10 seconds (nautical miles) away from it.

Sun Sight
Sun Sight

The second shot today is known as Sun Meridian Passage. The idea is to take six or eight shots before and after noon and work out the time and angle of the highest point of the sun. At local noon you are on the same meridian as the sun (the sun is directly north or south of you) so the result is a line of latitude, in this case 36 deg 51.1 seconds North. The was a lot of high cloud at 1400 local so I wasn’t very confident of accurate readings.

Sun Meridian Passage
Sun Meridian Passage

Finally, in order to fix your position at the time of the second sight, you move (advance) the first Line of Position by the course and distance sailed between the first and second sights, in this case 290 deg and 12 nm. Where the Advanced Line of Position and the noon latitude cross is your position! Magic really.

The final plot looks like this:

The Plot
The Plot

The noon sight was taken after we had dropped anchor, so I took a screenshot of my iPad which shows the boat location (red arrowhead) and my calculated position (white circle) about 8 nm apart. Good enough for sailing the oceans!

Final Result
Final Result

Alicante to Aguadulce

Cape Palos
Cape Palos

Sunday finds us in Alicante Marina meeting Tim & Jane from their flight from London. The first night we spent on the anchor off the island of Tabarca, about 10 miles south of Alicante.

Next we headed south to Cape Palos, and took a couple of sun shots with the sextant en route (5 miles out, not bad!). Once there, out came the paddleboard.

Next stop was Carboneras Beach, with a great view as long as you’re not looking west (cement factory). On the way we intercepted Brizo, a Discovery 55 owned by some of Tim’s friends. They were on their way to get a new engine start battery so we left them to it.

At Carboneras we took the tender ashore for some urgent provisions, a cocktail or two and a rather disappointing meal. Win some, lose some.

Then finally we took the opportunity to practice with the cruising chute in light winds. Too light, really, but a good learning experience all the same. Back in Aguadulce Marina we had a meal ashore (half a metre of pizza) before saying good-bye, for the time being, to Tim & Jane.

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.

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.

It’s Not Over Until It’s Over

Villefranche Sur Mer
Villefranche Sur Mer

We knew France was in lockdown again so we stocked up with supplies and planned to stay on the anchor overnight all the way to Gruissan. Villefranche, near Nice, was very pleasant for the first night, as was Port-Cros near the Porquerolles Islands the following day.

The third night we dropped anchor near Carro, west of Marseilles. We were open to a south-easterly so it wasn’t a very comfortable night. With a long final day to Gruissan we were up and 0530 and – the engine wouldn’t start!

Carro Coastguard
Carro Coastguard

Long story short, we ended up calling the coastguard and getting a tow to Port du Bouc. There we had the two engine batteries replaced (they weren’t charging which is why the engine wouldn’t start) and finally left for Gruissan.

Dolphins

The Gruissan harbour is very shallow so we took it slow and easy until we were safely moored up. Mistral is now on the hard standing for the winter having routine maintenance carried out and improvements installed.

Out of the Water
Out of the Water

No sailing now until May – see you then!

The Trip
The Trip

On to France!

Imperia
Imperia

We started today by dropping into the large marina of Imperia to get a running fix for the broken davit – thanks to the marina staff for their help! (They were very impressed that I had a cordless rope cutter on board!)

Then it was on to Villefranche Sur Mer, just east of Nice. We were last here in 2008 (when we lost a kedge anchor overnight – not again, please). Again, a lovely spot but with lockdown in France we’re on the anchor again and staying on board.

Villefranche-sur-Mer, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France

Nice, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France

Across the Gulf of Genoa

Portofino
Portofino

Leaving the harbour of Santa Margherita we popped into Portofino before heading across the Gulf of Genoa to Diano Marina. No wind again, but a big chunk of the distance to Gruissan put behind us.

We dropped the anchor off the beach of Diano Marina and ran ashore in the tender for a cocktail. Last chance since France is now locked down again. Back on board one of the davit lines snapped…

Santa Margherita

Santa Margherita
Santa Margherita

We’re pressing back to the French border and since bars and restaurants close at 6pm in Italy, we arrived here just after dark and dropped anchor in the harbour. Shame, as it’s a very pretty town that we last visited in 2008.

Livorno and La Spezia

Blasting along
Blasting along

A great day’s sailing from Elba to Livorno. 47 nm in 6 hours in a force 5 gusting 6. Lusben Marina isn’t anything special – it’s deep in a busy commercial port, but we were only charged €36 for a night alongside. Bargain!

A motoring day to La Spezia. Into Porto Mirabello in La Spezia harbour for the evening. With lockdown starting again on France tomorrow we took the opportunity to have a final restaurant meal then stocked up with provisions and filled the fuel tank.