Looking back at the log book an entry was made for 07:30 in the morning, course set for Tarifa. I went down bellow and made us a big breakfast. It is amazing what a bit of food will do to restore a shaky constitution. Unfortunately, the wind, likewise had restored itself from about 10, 12 knots to 24. We were back in the game. At 08:30 the log read, “Course set for Barbate” We were staring right in the face of a strong easterly. By the time a war ship crossing our path told us to alter course we were experiencing gusts up to 30 knots. I loved it. A bit of fun. We only had 10 miles into Barbate, the sun was out and the wind was fresh, if not exactly blowing our way. At least we could make Barbate once tacking past the Spanish Warship.
Once into Barbate we met up with an English boat who had experienced much the same weather we had once rounding Cabo Trafalgar. We were back on English drinking time and I am sure it must have been the beer talking. Once we had had a look at the weather forecasts it was clear if we did not make Gibraltar that night we would be in Barbate for a week. The forecast was for F8/F9 winds in the straight. That is up to 46 knots of wind! Wind guru suggested their might be a lull in the wind and Barbate was looking deceptively calm. We went for it. At 9:30 at night Tony and I set off as did Steve, Claire and Michael in their 50 foot yacht.
At about 11:00pm we aborted. We were making 2knots headway fighting F7/F6 easterly winds. If we continued at that rate we could end up facing Gale conditions in the morning. We put our nose out the marina and went right back in. Once turned around we were making over 6 knots. I’ve also left out bits about fishing, nets guard boats and the starter motor failing but you can only have so much excitement in one night.Here is a taste of the wind strength two days later. Just click on the picture above for some shots of Barbate, the deserted beach, the sand dune built up by the winds and finally a video clip which you can access here. It was an interesting night and we made some great friends in the adventure.