Hallberg Rassy 44. “Orca Alley” Strategies from Porto to Gibraltar. Sailing Breezy Ep 10 4K
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ธ.ค. 2024
- We sail to Porto to fuel up prior to a planned sail through Orca territory. The reports of sightings and actual attacks on sailboats is more frequent than I initially thought and Orcas.pt website and the Telegram chat group proved invaluable as we transited down the coast of Portugal. Based on most recent attacks inshore, we decided on an offshore route adjacent to the shipping lanes. This was also my preference as the tuna netting can be as dangerous as the Orca in disabling a sailboat. The weather was fair but sea state was rough and it was fairly uncomfortable on board due to the excessive rolling. Fog and mist led to zero visibility at night and the radar was an essential supplement to the AIS as the shipping navigation lights could not be seen. Once around Cape St Vincent, my excitement heightened as we approached the Strait of Gibraltar. Although predictwind forecasted fair winds through the strait, the winds were head on and increasing. As a result, the undulating swell led to increased slamming and Mark suggesting we do an about-face and head for Cadiz. It was the best decision ever. We found shelter, beer and rest, while another boat we were communicating with continued slamming into the Strait for an entire sleepless night. They were forced to seek shelter the next morning in Gibraltar as all crew were frustrated and exhausted. Our transit through the Strait was breathtaking as we hugged the southern coast of Spain with fair winds and a following sea. We sailed past Cape of Trafalgar and Tarifa and reflected on the history of the area as we floated above countless wrecks; a graveyard to ship and sailor. The Rock came into into view over lunch and we cooked up store bought frozen pizzas from Sweden. Not bad, but nothing tastes bad after 20+ days at sea. The transition from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean was noticeable with a gentle following current and a sense of accomplishment and relief. We made it.
Dates of passage: June 22-26, 2024
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 91 | คู่เอก "คมอาวุธ vs อเล็กเซย์"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/V0RkEfYFsgM/mqdefault.jpg)
![Our Life Is About to Change 👶… and We Sail 400 Miles to the Boat Show [Ep.73] The Bohemian Journey](/img/n.gif)
You're learning keep up the good work sailing will soon become natural and remember you have a halberg rassy you have nothing to fear but you will break before your boat does 😊
Thank you for watching. It was an amazing trip. You are right about the boat!
Thanks for showing sailing on a sailing channel and not t&a on a cat under motor or here's a 30 year old laser we're doing up over 5 years. Well done. 😊🇦🇺
Thank you! 😊
Another great video! Nothing beats having a boat that will look after you,and you are spot on with the night sailing and poor visibility how it plays tricks on you.
I was very happy to have radar data to back up the AIS when I could not see that tanker at anchor. Zero visibility conditions were very concerning. The thing that really got me at night was hearing the sound of blow holes. Of course I thought it was orca and had that flashlight going continuously. I’m not even sure if I was hearing blow holes or maybe it was dolphins!
Thanks for sharing. It is nice to have some material about the actual sailing and not the being in anchor stuff like many youtube channels post. You have nicely captured the feeling of sailing in the dark and in long waves from the back.
I am liking your boat more now seeing you sailing it - and I suppose you are learning how you need to manage her to get good performance and comfort. I think the HR works better in the long waves than the choppy baltic and north sea. It is a surprise that it bangs so easily but I think you just need to learn more about the behavior to avoid the banging.
I have a 37 feet boat and I have been next to HR44 couple of times. It surprises me how wide the HR is and it really looks more of a 50 ft than 44 ft when you are next to it and looking it from the front or back - the volume of the hull is great.
One tip for the main sail. When you have the problem that the furling main is a bit fluffy on the top, you can use the rodkicker to get the top more flat or move the fat part of the sail. I have selden furling main like you and sail with the full battens. Often with a light wind you want the outhall loose and then the top tends to be too loose - so when you tight the rodkicker just bit it will bring the boom down like 5 cm from the back and it will tighten the back of the sail and it will not flap. This reduces the performance like few % - but it will keep your sails in good condition.
Thank you for that advice. I did learn a lot about the boat over the summer. I will try the trick with the kicker! HR did a nice job with this one. After arriving in the med it was a lot of anchoring and more motoring than I would like. The boat is quite comfortable to live in.
Those Orca's eh? Quite remarkable how a single family has taken to this behaviour. I went to Gibraltar once, and frankly found it a bit sh1t. I say that as a Brit because the last thing you want to see abroad is chintzy British nostalgia, and the apes are just a pain and quite aggressive, and half the land area is just a concrete runway. Given the immensely more interesting history available in virtually every neighbouring territory, I wouldn't waste any time there. Interesting point about the boat slamming - does that only happen at quite specific wavelengths? Thanks for sharing.
We didn’t stop in Gibraltar. It was just fine floating by. I am easily excited by these landmarks and places with historical significance. I’ve heard that the monkeys are quite bad in Gibraltar. That’s a good question about the actual wavelength. It’s probably a bit shorter than the length of the boat. So my guess is 30 to 40 feet. The seas in the Skaggerak during our upwind slog loosened my fillings, but didn’t seem to affect the boat despite some heavy slamming.
"I'm thinkin' store-bought frozen pizza," LOL.
Everything tastes great at sea! 🌊
20 days? You’ve basically done a transatlantic 😮 Horrible weather and vis. Interesting to see you go out to the TSS rather than keep to the 20m contour due to the most recent reported orca activity. Nice to see you encountered none 🙏🏻
‘Funny’ to hear someone explain Trafalgar. It’s the equivalent to a Brit to explaining Gettysburg or Iwo Jima 😮 Not sure about Spain ruling the sea pre-1805. Britain had large parts of the Caribbean, India, the Pacific, Aus and NZ etc. Trafalgar was ‘simply’ the start of the end of Napoleon and finishing-off the Spanish fleet. A job that was finished at Waterloo 😊 A _lot_ of history wrapped up in all this 😊
Very true. Thanks for watching and for the clarification. I knew as I was going through this video that I was a bit off with that statement. I’m a huge Patrick O’Brien fan and am halfway through the canon. I faintly knew that the British dominated the seas well before Trafalgar but have been reading more about it. Fascinating hard times back then with such dedication.
Be careful if you go into Gib @@sailinghaldis. You’ll meet all these ‘Spaniards’ … as they speak perfect Spanish. Woe betide you if you suggest they are Spanish! I once nearly made that mistake and learnt you will never come across people more resolutely British than Gibraltarians! More British than the Brits🙂 And long may they remain so, if that is their desire
Yes @@sailinghaldis, 1066/The Battle of Hastings, Trafalgar and Waterloo are three battles pretty much everyone in the UK will know about. Sort if imprinted on the national psyche at birth 😉
I cannot recall my Islander 36 slamming no matter what the seas state. Do you still have the Islander?
I do. She’s in a cradle in Duluth. I never took her out in anything super rough but I don’t think that that hull shape would slam either.
Enjoying your HR experience immensely. Why did you decide not to get an outboard lifting arm for your dinghy engine?
I wanted to keep the back as clean as possible. So no pole, no big solar array. I found a good place to mount the Starlink on the rear hatch window with suction cups. I downsized the 100lb Tohatsu 9.9 engine to the Honda 6hp. I can lift this one on and off the dinghy pretty easily. Now that I’ve been on the boat for extended period of time I wish I had more solar capability. I also wish I had the European electricity input to charge my batteries when in the Marina. The current solar is not adequate to charge the batteries with the fridge and freezer going so I have to run the Genset every few days
great vid, on a completely different matter, Do you have or have you considered a canvas closing on the dodger? We have this on our sprayhood. It gives so much more protection. Obviously sailing off season in Europe this is a must but even in the Tropics with squalls and during our Atlantic crossing we kept it up. just a thought...
I have a Bimini that covers the entire back. We kept it up in the Mediterranean. It was essential under the hot sun ☀️
More videos please 🥰
👍🏼
Are you in Sotogrande now?
San Tropez
What is your sailcloth?
They are elvstrom EPEX sails
Ah, EPEX @. The look _wonderful_ ❤️
If you were on a broad reach, your sails appeared to be wicked over trimmed they must have been stalling like crazy.
Which time clip are you looking at? What could I have done better. Very interested in learning.
@
I was looking at the period after you left Porto and you mentioned that you were doing 6.8 kts but 8 over ground with the current. Then you said the wind was about 20 over the stahbid quahtah. The camera caught the main and jib and the boom was pretty much above you in the cockpit and your ensign indicated that the wind was blowing from the stahbid quahtah. In that case you should have run the boom out much further down wind and I noticed you jib was also too tight. Its sheet should have been slacked so the sail had lots if curvature in it, it was flat. I noticed that you had reefed your main so perhaps you couldn’t tell that it was stalling, but it was. If you added telltales to both sails you would easily detect stalling. Do a search for telltales and you’ll see what I mean. They’re very handy fir sail trim, especially in light air which you’ll have a lot of in the Med. Is she laid up in the Med for the wintah now?
I was thinking the same thing and no preventer either. Is that something youve chosen not to rig up? Thanks in advance for the insight as I learn more about offshore work.
Porto (one of the oldest cities in Europe, with remains of buildings over 12,000 years old) is just opposite New York. Welcome to Portugal (the second oldest country in Europe, the oldest being Monaco! Thanks for sharing.
I loved Porto’s energy. I felt it even though I was only there for and hour.
@@sailinghaldis The river divides two cities, Porto on the left and Vila Nova de Gaia on the right (for those travelling upriver). In reality, they are cities founded on two villages of different Celtic tribes, very much enemies. Even today there is a lot of animosity between these two populations!
Super cool! Thank you for that. I need to visit Porto again for more than just fuel.