36:32N 07:32W Position Update....Still approaching Gibraltar
The Snark on The ARC
Ben Little
Fri 3 Jun 2011 22:45
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Hi folks,
This will be the last night time blog from the deck
of The Snark. We are confident of being in port tomorrow as there is now
less than 100 Nm to go to Tarifa, granted about 10Nm beyond that to get
into Gibraltar but we are motor sailing at 7+ Knots (more motor than
sailing) we should be able to keep that up for most of the night then
we have to contend with whatever current, tide and wind in our face that the
straight has to throw at us. Just now we are getting an incessant pounding
from some wave action surprisingly short and steep seas given the lack of a
strong breeze. I expect it is as a result of the strong winds that
have been coming through the straights these past few days. At least we
are now safely on the inside of the shipping lanes after a brief
moment of fun this afternoon while we crossed them all the major shipping is now
to starboard and well away from us with the coast to port and we can just see
the lights of Faro as we passed (now to stern of us).
It will be great to be in port again and on dry
land. We have yet to find a final destination port so we will be staying
in Gibraltar for a little while before moving on but plans are very sketchy just
now. Perhaps the next holiday this summer will be on a beach or somewhere
new and the Snark will have a little while to rest and recuperate, we have
covered approx 4500Nm already this season, not a bad effort considering it
is only the first week of June. Next job is to see about getting some
flights back to England I can't think further than that at this stage.
Well actually the job before that is to shave off 7 days of beard, not a pretty
sight and more than a little itchy, however I found that with the coider
weather we were getting early on this leg the stubble helped protect against the
wind burn which I suffered badly from on the way in to Horta. In fact
think hair cut, shave and good scrub are all in order to get rid of the salt
etc. The boat needs a good scrub as well.
When we get to dry land and an internet connection
we will post our video montage of the trip, plenty of dolphin footage.
Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the trip was just how much sea life we
encountered, most of in entertaining but we could have done without those jelly
fish.
For those out on the water, happy sailing and keep
in touch,
for those at home in England or elsewhere look
forward to seeing you soon.
Ben and the Crew of The Snark
bentlittle {CHANGE TO AT} btinternet {DOT} com thesnark {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com +44 777 070 4382 (Mobile) +88 1631589195 (Sat Phone) Follow our voyage blog at:
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