Portimao to Tarifa

Hi everyone,

This was a passage of two parts.  Before the Strait of Gibraltar, and in it.  The first part was a very pleasant sail.  The second was challenging.  The Strait hadn't got the memo and decided to blow 20+ knots from the east instead of variable winds to 10 knots.  And we arrived at the start of the foul tidal current.  In the Strait we copped red dusty rain from the rainstorms - presumably Saharan dust!

Sunset astern - heading east!

Here are the plots...

Track

Arrival Track Detail

Graphs

And here are the vital stats for the passage…

    • Distances/Speeds

        • Route Distance = 158nm

        • Logged Distance = 147nm (log still under-reading)

        • GPS Distance = 181nm

        • Duration = 37.5 hours

        • Average speed over ground = 4.8 kt

        • Minimum boat speed = 4 kt

        • Maximum boat speed = 7 kt

    • Weather

        • Minimum wind speed = calm

        • Average wind speed = 15 kt

        • Maximum wind speed = gusts to 30 kt

        • Apparent wind angle range = 40 to 160

        • Seas up to 1.5m

        • Swell up to 1m

        • Cloudless before the Strait then cloudy with poor visibility and showers

    • Engine

        • Total = 10 hours

Day 1 was very pleasant with lightish breezes but mostly enough to keep Zen Again moving nicely.  We only motored for an hour during a very light patch.  Overnight we played cat and mouse with several AIS-less fishing boats which appeared to like staying within a mile of us regardless of our changes of course.  Our new radar was very helpful in showing their range.

Sunny Day One

At midnight we gybed east as the wind veered into the NW.  By dawn the wind had swung into the NNE and then died.  We motored on and off all morning.  As we entered the Strait of Gibraltar we started to feel the adverse W current.  And we were dodging rainstorms over the strait.

Approaching the Strait

Our track and graphs below tell the story.  The first 'zig' north was when E winds started.  We briefly considered pulling in to Barbate but the 20 knot wind decreased to 15 knots and we decided to press on. Once SE of Barbate of course the wind kicked back up!  For several hours we had over 20 knots of breeze.  The WindPilot handled it perfectly.

Track in the Strait

We tacked E into the foul current.  Zen Again loved it. And once we saw the boat was handling it well we were OK with it too.  Very like sailing south down the Western Australian coast, but with a foul current.  The Strait's shipping lanes greatly reduce manoeuvring room, forcing us to short-tack along the north side of the Strait.  And the nasty shoals W of Tarifa didn't help either.

Graphs in the Strait

As sunset approached the wind was decreasing rapidly.  We decided to anchor in the lee of Tarifa for the night, hoping the wind in the morning would be kind!  Tarifa is 18nm WSW of Gibraltar and an excellent place to shelter from the Strait's frequent E gales.

So we're nearly in the Med, and we avoided the Orcas!  See the Iberian Orca web site here.