Passage to Rabat...? (Or NOT) 4th - 12th September

A Happy Snap to keep the avid readers content.
Now for the exitement...

The trip began in calm winds through which we motored. As soon as we had slipped we tried turning circles and reversing to get the boat speed log to work. It was then necessary to empty the forward locked of all the food supplies to take it out and clean it of growth. This is the second time it has been done (even though the electronic anti fouling should prevent it from happening. Since the sensor is below the waterline it means there is a time lag before the locker can be repacked into its’ dry home. I took the opportunity to rationalise the boxes and have made even more space to store food.
The winds kicked in and we began sailing most of the trip was a broad/beam reach. Minor sail adjustments were needed to cope with the vagairies of force 2 to force 5. The seas were BIG and we had a couple of brief showers of rain.
We almost had the MPG out again—but after checking the halyards etc and freeing them ready to use the wind had increased and we needed to start reefing. Still everything is ready IF we get a chance again on this trip.
The Aries Wind vane has been doing sterling work helming which saves electricity. The only hang up is that it goes haywire in winds less that force 3, which does mean that you need to be keeping an eye on it. This seems a small price to pay for a third crew member who works for free and doesn’t complain at all.
I must mention my first passage as a working crew member, yes now that I take Stugeron (25 mg) I no longer get motion sickness and can do sufficient to give Malcolm 5 hours of sleep. My watch is 9 p.m.’til 2 a.m. I had prepared hot meals for the first 3 days so there was a minimum to do below deck in the rolly conditions. After that we took the meal preparation in turns.
Highlights of the trip were Dolphins cavorting around the boat and a lone turtle making an ocean voyage.
About midway we decided that the waves would probably prevent entry across the sandbar at Rabat so changed course for Portimao. This has the bonus that we can get a few more jobs done before we move further away from civilization.
On approaching the separation zones off Cabo San Vicente for traffic to and from the Mediterranean, we began to see lots more shipping. We were going to cross roughly at right angles to the general direction of shipping, several miles to the north of the separation zones but our AIS was showing such dense traffic that we knew we were in for a tense time. The AIS was showing 3 potential collision risks at a range of more than 20 miles but I assumed that with that much notice, the ships would keep well clear of us. Eventually one of the ships became a serious collision risk, so I started calling him on the radio. Only on the 5th attempt did they reply and grudgingly agreed to change course to pass astern. In fact, they only altered course by 5 degrees and to my mind remained a collision risk. In the circumstances, we started the engine but even with our increased speed, the ship passed within 1000 feet, which was too close for comfort. Twenty minutes later it was a great relief to pass into relatively empty seas again.
The remainder of the trip was non-eventful if fast. We sailed into the harbour and anchored after the second attempt. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and catching up on sleep.