La Linea 2

Eviction from the anchorage by the Garda Civil   

Friday was supposed to be another day of chores but we were disturbed first thing by a Guardia Civil launch. It motored noisily around the anchorage with a loud speaker system announcing that this wasn’t an anchorage but instead it was a fishing area and that we needed to move. The French yacht ahead of us gave the authorities a stiff ignoring and got in their dinghy and went ashore. Similarly, the Spanish yacht next to us also vocally refused to move. Despite the chart being clear that we were in an approved anchorage (and the naughty school boy in me wanting to just put out a fishing rod behind BV) we chose not to argue with the Guardia Civil and made ready to move on.

There was no space for us back in the Gibraltar marina (our preference in case there was some sort of back-hander being paid to clear people out of the anchorage), so we moved the short distance into the La Linea marina. With 25 knots of wind blowing across the pontoon berths and lots of yachts arriving at once it turned out to be a busy morning. Normally you turn up to the waiting pontoon, complete the arrivals process and get shown where you will moor. However, the waiting pontoon was full of previously anchored yachts and so we were waved on to a mooring. With a stiff crosswind we had one shot to get our arrival sorted and, happily, it worked out OK. Once secure, however, the mariñeros told us that they didn’t want us there after all but a few moorings further down the pontoon; they had waved to us from beside this mooring because that was where we could see them!!! Now with 25 knots of wind blowing us to port, a propwalk that moves BV to port when we select reverse, and a yacht moored very close on our starboard side, getting out of the berth was likely to be a bit of a drama. There had already been one yacht bouncing its way off other yachts trying to turn around in the confined space and we didn’t want to do the same. Fortunately, Paul, a very nice chap who was in the yacht next to where we should have moored, is fluent in Spanish and understood the issue because his yacht has a very similar underwater design and handling characteristics to BV. Valiantly he spoke to the marina staff on our behalf and explained that it would be much safer if we waited until the wind died off before we moved berths; there was, after all, lots of space and indeed an empty mooring right next to us. We spent quite a while discussing options for warping ourselves out should we be forced to move but fortunately, after a couple of hours, common sense prevailed and the urgency for us to move disappeared [Ed: Indeed, a week later the permanent berth holder still has not returned to that mooring. So much for the mariñeros’ ‘you must move now’!].

Hopefully no more leaks through the zips!   

Once all of the faff of moving was over Nicky settled into an e-mail and telephone session sorting out an issue back home whilst I started to cut some canvas to make some improvements to our sprayhood. Back in Greece, during the last winter layup, we’d had zips put into the sprayhood to allow the central window to open up to improve ventilation in the cockpit whilst we are at anchor. The ventilation bit of the plan works very well but the zips leak when it rains. We had hatched a plan to add a canvas zip cover, held in place by Velcro, to make a better seal but that got interrupted by some social calls. Kealoha V was also in the marina and Mike came on board to say hello. Shortly afterwards Paul joined us for a glass of wine by way of a thank you for his help in the morning; before we knew it, it was time to sort out dinner and turn in.

Spraying the anchor and chain with zinc paint   

Saturday, therefore, turned into ‘fixing the sprayhood day’. Part way through that job the wind died down a little and we took advantage of the lull to move to a completely new pontoon where the marina staff had now decided that they wanted us. Happy in our new mooring we finished the sprayhood repair and then rushed out to buy some barbeque food. Scott, a friendly Antipodean, had done a circuit of all the yachts inviting us all to a communal barbeque. We compared notes with Kealoha V’s crew and came up with a suitable menu to share the food preparation. It was an excellent barbecue but the brisk westerly wind made it somewhat cool for standing around chatting afterwards so, along with Mike and Cate, we repaired back aboard BV for post-prandial drinks and coffee.

Sunday may be supposed to be a day of rest but we still had a long list of jobs to complete and so set to early, which was hard work after a later than planned night the evening before [Ed: worth it though, it had been a good evening!]. As quietly as we could we laid out the anchor and the first 20 metres of chain on newspaper so that we could spray it with zinc cold re-galvanizing paint. After 4 years of heavy use, predominantly on sandy sea beds, the first 20 metres of chain had effectively had its galvanising coating sandpapered off. It would have been much better to send the chain off to a foundry to be properly re-galvanized but almost nowhere does that these days and so the temporary stop gap for us was to clean up the chain and coat it with zinc paint. It certainly came up looking much smarter but how it stands up to its first anchoring we have yet to see.

Adjusting the rig tension    

The next Sunday task was checking the rig tension. Nothing about the standing rigging seemed amiss to us but having the rigging too slack can do more damage than having it too taut. The wire gradually stretches with use and so in our view it’s worth checking the tension each year or so and especially now when we are about to cross a lumpy ocean. We’d last checked the tension in May 2016 and the updated check showed that we needed to tighten a turn or so on the bottlescrews to get everything back to the tension that it should be.

Masked off window ready for sealant    

The ‘pain in the derrière’ part of the job was that first we needed to remove the wooden support battens and the deck jerry cans to be able to turn the bottle screws. Derigging and then re-rigging all of that took quite some time especially as Nicky had diverted her energies to booby-trapping the windows. The rubber beading sealing the windows had been exposed to a lot of UV light during our time in the Mediterranean and in a couple of places we’d noticed some leaks. To stop those, Nicky cleaned the window seals, masked them up with tape and then completed the booby-trapping by applying a layer of silicone sealant to the window surrounds some of which were dangerously close to where I was refitting the wooden battens and jerry cans. I’m only admitting to one smear of her very carefully applied sealant!

For good measure, she also masked off and ran a bead of sealant around the edge of the chain plates. At some stage soon we should probably remove them completely, give them a 100% check and then re-bed them on a completely fresh layer of sealant. However, that’s a very big job and best done when we next drop the mast. So, for now, a good check of the bolts and exposed parts of the plates below and above deck was done without any problems discovered. The bead of sealant is a guard against any potential leaks at deck level. We have very rarely had seawater slushing about on deck during our time in the Med but that is likely to change when we hit the Atlantic so better, we thought, to do a precautionary seal now rather than later on find a leak.

The new cockpit sunscreen   

Monday the 18^th September was equally industrious. I spent the day sewing zips onto the bimini and the fill-in panel and then set about making a side sunscreen. We had seen these on other yachts and had brought back with us from the UK some of the mesh material we’d need for making our own. What looked to be simple rectangular piece of fabric turned out to be a very strange shape with not a single right angle in it. Starting at the top the hem and zips were attached and then the mesh fabric could be stretched out and trimmed to just reach the guardrail. Making up the screen and giving it a good strong hem took me all day and so the elastic and rope attachment lanyards were fitted on Tuesday. They will need a slight adjustment to hold the sunscreen absolutely flat but all in all we think that it works well. It can be fitted to either side and provides enough shade to the cockpit in bright sunshine without completely cutting out the view. Surprisingly, it also acts as a much more effective windbreak than we had expected.

Subliminal messages from the bin?!?   

Whilst I had been busy with the sun shade, Nicky had inflated our dinghy and stuck down the many parts of the rubbing strake and the various patches that were lifting after too many seasons hard use and rolling up and unrolling. It was a tedious job cleaning up all the old glue and then a very sticky job applying the new adhesive [Ed: and my fingers will take some time to recover – should have worn gloves!]. However, the job was a great success and even the seat no longer deflates! She also finished sealing the last of the windows and checked that the lifejackets were all serviced and in date. Several of the lights were about to expire and so those were changed. One fell into the bin and started flashing in protest; we had a flashing Duty Free sign illuminating the galley.

Tuesday allowed us to finish off the jobs we had started as well as applying some epoxy to some of the bimini joints. These joints are riveted and after several seasons of use, some had very slight play in them which allowed the bimini to ‘jiggle’ in strong winds. All the joints are now solid so hopefully there will be no more bimini-jiggling!

Kealoha V departs the marina   

Wednesday was new mainsail day. The previous day Kealoha V’s extra crew had arrived and so they took the opportunity to leave the marina and to move out into the nearby anchorage. With no wind forecast for the day, Mike and Cate had decided against setting straight off for Rabat, instead staying in the La Linea area for one more day in the hope that the spare part they had been waiting for would arrive before their departure on Thursday. In the end, the part did not arrive in time and they set off for Rabat with their extra crew but without the spare part. It did, however, arrive before we left so we will deliver it to them in the Canary Islands in a month or so time.

The new mainsail arrives!   

Meanwhile, we took the opportunity to do a last shop and get a final laundry session done before Andy Longarela from UK Sails turned up. The shiny new sail was laid out on the pontoon and over the next 2 hours Andy fitted the battens, the luff attachment points and then we all helped to bend the sail on. Hoisted it looked to be a much better shape than the last one. The only issue was that there were no sail numbers on it. Andy would come again on Thursday afternoon to apply them. A minor oversight but it meant that we’d have to spend an extra night in the marina and couldn’t set off until Friday.

La Linea, Spain