Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

On Tuesday 9 July we left Cádiz. The wind was still blowing from the east but it was only about 10 knots when we left. The plan was to take advantage of the lighter wind in the morning to sail 25nm down to Cabo Trafalgar before turning east for 10nm to get as far a Barbate. We knew that these last 10nm would most likely be directly into wind and so would take a few hours tacking backwards and forwards, but reefed down BV is very comfortable beating even in 25 knots of wind. You never know what the conditions will actually be like until you are sailing, but getting as far as Barbate would put us just 20nm from the narrowest part of the Strait of Gibraltar; a good start point for when the wind turned westerly, which it was forecast to do in a couple of days. So, it seemed to be a fair gamble.

The sail down the coast as far as Cabo Trafalgar went reasonably well. The wind varied from 3 knots up to 25 knots so we were constantly reducing and then increasing sail area as well as using the engine when the wind died out completely. It certainly kept us busy during the passage. Towards Cabo Trafalgar the wind became a much steadier 20 to 25 knots and we started to become exposed to short, stopping seas. The east going tide and current were acting against the Levanter, generating steep waves about 1m high and only about 12m apart.

The short gap between waves was stopping BV from accelerating; before she had passed one wave she was being hit by the next. We had 2 reefs in the mainsail with the staysail and some of the genoa out so BV was balanced and felt very comfortable. The issue was that to get her to accelerate we had to bear away from the wind so that we were tacking through about 120 degrees. Making headway the last 10nm to Barbate was going to take, we guessed, the best part of 6 hours.

We reassessed. 10nm back the way we had come was Sancti-Petri, a sandy windswept lagoon with a narrow entrance where we could anchor, provided the entrance was safe. So, despite having got as far as being able to see the north coast of Africa, we turned tail and headed back towards Sancti-Petri at a much more satisfying 7.5 knots.

The fort guarding the entrance to Sancti-Petri

The pilot book paints a concerning picture about the entrance to Sancti-Petri with shallow shifting sands and poor markings. We found that with an offshore wind of round 15 knots, the sea was smooth and the channel was well marked and deep enough. The flood tide was reasonably strong at 3 knots through the narrows but that was not a drama and we easily navigated our way past the moored yachts and anchored in the deep channel.

Overnight with a 25 knot wind blowing and the strong tidal flow against it we had to keep an anchor watch as the tide changed to make sure the anchored stayed put (which it did) but aside from that minor inconvenience, Sancti-Petri turned out to be a good stopping point for a lazy 36 hours relaxing, reading and doing odd jobs whilst we waited for the wind to come around to the west. Its flat, windswept terrain and exposed mud flats at low water very much reminded us of Chichester harbour; just a lot warmer.