Spaggia di Guilaloca - 21/22 October 2021
We’ve had a challenging couple of days. All was well as we made our way back to Spaggia di Guilaloca, a bay we had carefully selected as it gave protection from the forecast wind. We knew that the mild conditions we experienced when we arrived would not last. By the evening, the wind had come round to the south west and grown in intensity. It was particularly gusty, and as a result the boat was swinging on her anchor and corkscrewing.
By morning nothing had changed and we sat it out rather uncomfortably, filling our time with chores and reading, while regularly checking that our position was not changing. We were the only boat in the bay although we saw some rented day boats come past. Why anyone would have chosen to rent a boat that day, I’m not sure. The wind continued to increase and gust.
During the morning, we became aware that the jib had started to unfurl slightly. Usually the jib (front sail) is rolled around the forestay and quite safe. Sometimes the prevailing conditions when you furl it determine how tight the roll is, and it had been light airs when we furled it, so it was relatively loosely wrapped. We saw that a section of sail two thirds of the way up, was flapping, and this is bad news for the sail. We have seen other boats whose sails have flapped themselves to pieces when this has happened. So, despite strongish winds and being at anchor, we unfurled the sail enough to reach this bit, and then rerolled it straight away. The result was a very tight wrap, which gave no further trouble, but it was a bit exciting while it happened.
At times during the day we could hear a grinding noise, and we spent some time looking for the source, without much success. It seemed to be coming from the bow area, but we could see nothing amiss.
In the evening we sat eating our meal on deck, watching a spectacular moon rise and the seabirds. It seemed bizarre. We were rocking and rolling, pulling hard on the anchor, while the seabirds seemed to just sit in the same place without any effort. We speculated that they must secretly put down anchors as well, but we have never seen them do it.
This was our fifth successive night at anchor, and food supplies were diminishing fast. We had good supplies of breakfast, but no further evening meals and only an improvised lunch available. We needed to leave on Thursday.
The strange noise continued, and seemed to get worse. Eventually we were both woken at about 2:00am by a particularly loud grind. Our cabin is in the bows, which seemed to amplify the noise. We were both up and out on deck looking for a problem and to check again whether we had moved. still nothing was apparent, although we made a couple of adjustments which seemed to help. I decided to stay up for a while monitoring what was happening. The instruments confirmed that we had not moved. At about 5:00 some of the electronics stopped working, but the noise was a bit less, and we still hadn’t moved so I went back to bed.
In the morning, Tricia was up first, but woke me with the news that the cooker would not light. Investigation revealed that the boat's batteries appeared to be flat, which was a surprise even if we had used the instruments for a big chunk of the night. We put the generator on and power was restored enough to boil the kettle and make tea. Another disaster avoided.
Still it was concerning that the batteries had discharged so quickly and we still had this odd noise to contend with, plus the strong gusty wind. We checked the weather forecast and decided that we did not want to arrive at Balestrate before 4:00 because there would be a strong cross wind that would make mooring trickery. So we sat and waited all morning. I was anxious to move, concerned about several unanswered questions, so tried to distract myself with anything available.
Eventually, after lunch it was time to leave. All was going well, with the anchor about a third of the way up, when the chain went taught, and the anchor winch stopped pulling it in. We let it out and pulled it back in a couple of times, but it consistently stopped at the same place. There was nothing for it but to go into the water to see if I could see what the problem was. I’d been in to check the anchor when we arrived, but the water was murky and nothing could be seen. This time, despite the rough conditions above, it was clear below. Once I swam out to where the anchor was it all became clear. As we had swung around when the wind changed direction, the chain that was lying on the seabed had wrapped around a rock, and there was a lip on the rock, which prevented it from lifting. The anchor itself was a few metres away, and lying perfectly for the direction of the wind when we first arrived. The noise we had been hearing was the anchor chain grinding on the rock, being transmitted up the chain. Knowing which way the chain was wrapped, we let out as much more chain as we could, to allow us to swing the boat round to the other side of the rock. While not being an easy manoeuvre when the wind is trying to stop you, we managed to do it, the chain came free and we were able to winch it in.
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| First time the flippers have had to come out... |
Still worrying about the electrical systems, we headed to Balestrate and the wind died down a little as we did. It was still a tricky parking manoeuvre but we were in with no further problems. Once we had arrived we were able to diagnose the electrical issue, which turned out to be a loose connection on one of the battery terminals. A great relief all round, as each of the solutions had been achievable once we knew the cause of the problem.
Ironically, having had various negative impacts of the weather, and having had to sit and wait for it to relent enough for us to move, two hours after we arrived at the marina, it was a glassy mill pond, with no wind at all.
So now we are back in Balestrate, with a day to prepare before our son arrives. Food shopping will be a priority. Early to bed as there was some sleep to catch up on.
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