Sailing At Last!

We left Valencia a day late because the car was broken into overnight in Sitges, just south of Barcelona. The police told us that foreign and hire cars are targeted because the thieves know there will be lots of stuff inside. I took the “tech bag” into the hotel, so laptop and iPads were safe, and I’d strapped some bags in the boot together so they couldn’t drag those out of the window. Still, they got away with €300 of food and two travel bags with sailing equipment and clothes inside. That all meant we had to delay our departure from Valencia to get the car into a repair shop.

Enough of that. We slipped from the Real Club Nautico Valencia for the final time at 0500 this morning. It’s 92 nm to Formentera, 13 hours or so, and we wanted to arrive before dark. The plan worked, mainly because there was no wind so we were able to motor at 6-7 kt all the way and we did the leg in 12:45.

We’re now at anchor at the Punta Sabina beach with a lot more boats than were here in February. Still, it’s a beautiful stop. Ibiza tomorrow…

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.

Leaving Valencia

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.


Boat Owners

As of September 2019 we are boat owners. We are the proud owners of a 2001 Oyster 56, soon to be named Mistral of Portsmouth. We are grateful to the previous owners for keeping her in such fine condition, and we will be sailing her for the first time in October.

Mistral undergoing survey