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Refuel diesel and sherry in Gibraltar and Cadiz

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Having reached the impressive hill of Gibraltar, we steer among a fleet of freighters to refuel our diesel tanks in the English port. There is no need to  check in at customs and it’s easy and unbureaucratic to fill up around 1600 litres of tax-free diesel. We have booked a berth in Puerto Deportivo de Alcaidesa, on the Spanish side of the border to Gibraltar. We dock and are welcomed by  a crowd of strong, athletic women and men, competing in weight lifting. If we hadn’t changed the washing machine already, this would have been the place for it.

We take a walk to Gibraltar, where we meet people whose families have been living there since the 16th century. Gibraltar is a beautiful town and it’s hard to imagine how many battles have been fought here on the threshold to the Mediterranean Sea. After one night in the harbour, we anchor on the western side of the bay of Gibraltar, so we can have our regular morning swim.

Gibraltar

Early Monday morning we sail from the Bay of Gibraltar along the Strait of Gibraltar to Puerto Sherry. We are a little bit nervous. This time there are no
submarines that awaits to attack us, the danger in the water comes from orcas and the area from Gibraltar to Cadiz is one where the most frequent attacks have been reported. Since Summer 2020 there have been several interactions between orcas and sailing boats, where the orcas, also known as killer whales, have been slamming into boats and pushing the rudder. Some boats sunk after the attacks, so we take precaution and go close to the coast in shallow water. Luckily there are no orcas in sight.

                            Lighthouse of Trafalgar    

Puerto Sherry in the Bay of Cadiz is a magnificent Marina where we will leave Yaghan while we fly home to Gothenburg for a wedding and birthday celebrations.  With a lot of joyful memories after two weeks of quality time with Annika and Ben onboard, our ways sadly part for this time.

Busy Bay of CadizPuerto Sherry

Our first month onboard

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The first month with Yaghan has been filled with amazing moments on and in the water together with family, friends, dolphins and medusas. We have sailed from Valencia via Denia, Mascarat, Alicante, Isla Tabarca, Torrevieja, Isla Gros, Gabo de Palos, Calabardina, Cabo de Gata, Agua Dulce, Motril, Herradura, Benalmadena, Puerto Banus to Gibraltar.  355 exciting nautical miles on the hot but rather calm Mediterranean Sea.

Gibraltar

Luckily there is a lot of space on and under deck.

 

 

 

 

And if not, there is always some more space in the dinghy or in the 30 degrees warm Mediterranean Sea.

The winds have been fair so far and even though we had to motor a bit, we could sail gently most of the time.

The light and all reflections on the surface awakes a lot of thoughts and deepens the understanding of life.

The high, rough cliffs of the Spanish easterly coast bring contrast to the smooth water. The ever-changing shapes are a delight for the eyes, especially the hidden white cliff of Cabo de Gata.

 

On Monday the 14th of August Joaquin drove down to Denia to give us a proper farewell with Champagne and it was time for us to sail south. Twelve days later we reached Gibraltar. It was a very special moment for us to reach this impressive landmark of Europe.

Care, share and repair

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When we arrived to Valencia, we moved from the southern Marina, Valencia Mar, to Marina Norte, where our friend Holger from Rivercafe was waiting on the quay. It was a happy reunion with Karin and Holger since we last said goodbye in Antigua in December 2021. So many stories to be told and advices shared.

 

 

 

 

 

We learned to know about the new anchor, Ultra. After a quick research we learned that the Ultra anchor is standard on the new Hallberg Rassy boats, so to be safe on all places on the journey to come, we ordered a new anchor and got help to install it from Gerard.

 

 

 

A day without repair is very unusual for sailors.  Some repairs are a heavier hassle than others. This time we had to change the washing machine.

With some calm preparation, using the lines from the mast and with the help of Magnus, we hove the new Hoover onboard. Without a single scratch. With a weight of 60 kilo, bulky as an elefant, the old washing machine could serve as an anchor…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long term sailing is provisioning in new places. In Valencia, there are excellent bike tracks and our small and strong bikes takes us to the local market in Cabanyal.

The fish market is full of sea treasures and delicious squids, mussels and gambas.

It’s easy to deliver to the boat. In Mercadona, we just fill the trolley and the next day we get a swift and friendly delivery. In the hot spanish summer, we need a lot of water.

Its finally time to say farewell to our dear friends and all-time helper, Joaquin and Nieves.

Back to sea level

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Farewell dinner with Joaquin, Nieves and ClaudiaFrom the high mountains of Klosters, we are now returning to the wavy, open landscapes of the sea. It’s 524  days since we after more than 18 month, one Atlantic crossing and two seasons in the Caribbean, disembarked Ydalir II in Antigua. On the 19th of July we embarked on Yaghan in Valencia with the intention to make it our primary home for the next years  to come and we sense it will become an important milestone.

 

 

Our first one thousand miles(+} sailing Yaghan with Valencia as base

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Since the spring of 2022 we have used most of our spare time to prepare ourselves and Yaghan for new long haul adventures.

We have sailed her, mainly on Costa Azahar, Costa Blanca and around the Balears  for weeksends and a some vacations weeks and after around 1500 NM we start to feel a bit more familiar onboard.

In the meantime we have done some upgrades of equipments onboard:

  • We replace the KVH and the Iridium Pilot satellite systems, with faster Irdium Certus 700, with which have good experience from our previous Atlantic Crossing, on SY Ydalir II.
  • We have very recently installed the maritme version of Elon Musk’s Starlink and are now enjoying internet connections upto 300+ Mbits/s – cursious to see how well in will serve us across the oceans
  • We have replace all 12 and 24 V batteries with faster charging MasterVolt batteries
  • We have serviced engines and winches, got the rigg checked and serviced the lift raft and other safety equiment
  • We changed the VHF to Vesper Cortex, with build in AIS, collision advoidance, anchor watch etc.
  • We got a new, Highfield Ultralight 340 dinghy and the gelcoat is now polsihed and vaxed
  • Last but but not least we found an electrical induction stove fitting the space after the Force 10, with only minor adjustments.

Yagahan’s electrical supply – Change to MasterVolt lithium

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Yaghan has three principle electrical systems, two DC 12V and 24 V and AC230V. AC charing of the batteries are either through shore power or via an Onan 18kW generator. While running the main Volvo Penta engine, we also get both 12 and 24 V charging via two alternators.

The main power bank to supply electricity under sail is a 24V battery bank placed under the bed in the master cabin. This was until recently consisting of twelve 950 Ah two-volt cells connected in serious. This system have served previous owners well. We did however build our own experience with lithium batteries when we converted our previous boat, at we got very impressed by the robustness, the computerised monitoring and especially the very fast charing. We therefore decided to make the effort and investment to convert Yaghan to MasterVolt lithium and as we wanted to have the installation made as professional as possible, we agreed with our friend Hans Rutgersson, former CD Bilradio AB in Gothenburg, now MD of HR teknik AB, who have given us so great support in the past, to make the installation. Hans spent a few days onboard in the autumn of 22 to explore and design. We agreed to order six 24V 200Ah batteries for the main power-bank, one 12V 200Ah battery for 12V supply and one 12V lithium start battery. In addition we two 24V 200Ah batteries to be connected in series to supply the bow thruster with 48V and being charged by two DC-DC chargers

In addition we order new alternators, regulators and two MasterVolt Combi Ultra 24/3500, chargers and inverters and an extra separate charger thus permitting as to charge with 300A and giving us 7 kW 230 AC from the inverters.

By pure luck, the size and physical format of one 24V litium batteri was more or less identical to two two-volt cells, which ment that we could very easily fit the and fasten them in the same holders. We reduced the weight of 24V power-bank from 960 kg to 270 kg, ie close to 700 kg less.