11th May - Rota

Soundtrack: The stern line is creaking regularly as it stretches when the boat moves back and forth in our berth in Rota marina.

High Point: Getting under way at last.

Low Point: It’s hard to say which episode in the last 24 hours was worst – J’s abrupt and unexpected departure; running aground; or getting a line caught around the prop. There have been hard lessons to learn from them all. If trouble comes in threes, we should be OK for a while – maybe……..

Sunday, the day set for our departure from Ayamonte dawned grey and blustery. Our 25kg Bugel keeping us anchored in the face of the wind and the spring flood in the Guadiana river gives us real confidence in its holding power. Five days off-grid anchored in the river waiting for a westerly in the Strait of Gibraltar has given us many insights about living within our carrying capacity for power, water, etc. J’s expertise on battery management, RE generation and so on is extremely welcome, but it’s clear that his and Leighton’s approach to problem solving is very different. We didn’t realise this was getting J down until he suddenly announced much to our surprise that he wanted to leave the boat immediately in Ayamonte and fly home. No amount of persuasion would get him to change his mind. We’re upset and very sorry he feels this way, because he has worked so hard to help us. Much of what’s been done could not have happened without him, and we’ll miss him.

We feel pretty emotionally drained as we say farewell to him and Niels (who’s putting him up on his boat for the night) and unprepared for the 95 mile overnight passage to Barbate which we’d planned. But we reckon moving on is going to be the best way to put the upset behind us. The pair of us are downbeat as we cross the bar of the Guadiana river one last time and we decide to sail instead to Rota, 65 miles away.

The SW3-4 gives us a gentle passage overnight with the light of the full moon for company. Picking our way through the Cadiz fishing fleet in the early hours, we decide to go on to Barbate after all. But by first light, the wind’s gone round southerly and we’re motorsailing into it. Rather than continue we turn back for Rota only 7 miles away to the north.

Because we’re tired and we’ve been into the harbour many times before, neither of us checks the state of the tide and we don’t even turn on the depth guage. I’m on the helm as we grind to a halt on the putty close to the seawall that forms the port hand entrance to the marina. We soon realise it’s still ebbing. Oh dear. Despite giving her full revs and unrolling the jib to give us an extra push, we’re stuck fast, and despite a call for help to the marina, they can’t do anything for us either. We look out anxiously for the high speed Cadiz ferry which will have trouble getting in to the harbour with us in the way.

Help comes in the form of a small fishing boat with a couple of good Samaritans onboard – a fisherman and his lad. After several fruitless attempts, eventually our combined efforts pay off and we float free. The lad drops the towing line overboard by accident and seconds later – kerchunk! – the engine stops as the rope wraps itself around the prop. The wall on the other side of the marina entrance is getting perilously closer and closer as we slowly drift downwind without power. Leighton is poised to drop the anchor but our fisherman friend - confident his tiny outboard will pull us out of trouble - persuades him to throw another line instead so he can take us in tow. He is not to know we weigh 14 tons! He makes no headway to begin with, during which time I’m imagining the boat smashed against the wall, a total loss, us homeless. It seems like an eternity before Makarma’s bow comes round and slowly we begin to inch towards the shelter of the marina.

Coming alongside downwind without the power to stop seems a trivial matter after the ordeal we’ve gone through. The smiles of relief say it all. We crash, shattered, into our bunk and sleep for an hour. Later Leighton dives down to untangle the rope, and once it was clear he found both prop and shaft undamaged – phew!