Depart Gibraltar for Canarie Islands

This morning at 0700 it was still dark outside, and while everybody slept I began making final preparations to sail. At 0745 we called the Marina, let go lines, motored into Gibraltar harbour, then motored our way between all the cargo ships to the entrance of the harbour.

As we approached Punta del Carnero the sun began to rise, and the wind began to freshen. We hoisted the sails and began sailing into Gibraltar Strait.

High water was scheduled at 0630, so we sailed up the shoreline to keep out of the flooding tide, and make best use of the 2kt counter current up the shoreline.

We passed Tarifa at 1300, watching Incat 039 Tarifa Ferry take off from the terminal and overtake us at 35 kts. By now the tide was beginning to turn and the water around us boiled as we surged forward at 8.5kts. At 1400 we altered course of 240 towards the Canary Islands. We could not have asked for a more delightful and safe passage through Gibraltar Straits.

We are expecting light winds for the 600nm passage to CanaryLanzarote, which are not ideal, however due to the repeating low pressures in the Atlantic the northerly winds along the African coast have not settled. There was a potential window in 10 days time, however we did not want to delay our departure for the Canary Islands for that long. So we will drift our way along the coast and should arrive in the Canaries in about 6 days.

Our passage plan from Canaries to the Caribbean relies on the NE trades settling in and a good flow can already be observed so by mid November the trades should be well established in the right location for our passage. Our passage from Canaries to Antigua will take about 30 days. Our aim is to be in Antigua before Christmas and we should arrive Mid December, which is outside the Hurricane season.

Check out our noon position, course, speed and weather at:

http://cms.winlink.org:444/maps/positionreports.aspx?callsign=vk7hew