Leaving Tamarit

I’ve had an opportunity to sail Onawind Blue with her new rig on all points of sail but in very light airs. I couldn’t get her to sail herself efficiently in these conditions but going so slowly it hardly matters. I’m very pleased with OB as a yawl and with the smaller rudder, though I now think that my issues with the previous rudder may well have been solved (to a degree) by a balanced yawl rig. She’s still short of sailcloth but maybe that’s a good thing given the gung-ho situations she gets herself into.

After last week’s successful and immensely enjoyable cruise to Tamarit and back I’ve come down with an intense bout of daydreaming. Blissing out on the anticipation of adventures to come my plans take me all over the western Med. And while food burns in the pan as I stir it, I merely smell the dying embers of a beach campfire, lie back and let my eyes drift across the heavens. At this stage my family has to pick me up off the floor and rescue lunch, while I explain that I’m fine, absolutely fine, just thinking…you know…‘bout my boat.

Here is a short video of Onawind Blue leaving Tamarit cove last week.

As so often happens in films and photos, the sea doesn’t look quite as large as it seemed to me from in the thick of it. My experience of rowing out that morning was almost certainly intensified by worries about how the sea would develop over the day and how I would manage the journey home.

The unsightly fenders tailing behind are used to move the boat on the beach. Were I to pause to stow them before I started to row I’d quickly find the waves pushing me up against the beach and flooding the boat. Towing the fenders also thoroughly de-sands them.

I’m grateful to Pep for filming me, for getting right out there on the rocks to do it and for finding such a good angle. It’s good to see the castle coming in to shot as I forgot to get a photo of it myself.