New Year 2001 in Gib'

Well, here we are nearly at the end of February and I’m finally getting back into cruising mode.  Before the update on our most recent voyage I thought I had better tell all about our antics at Christmas and New Year.  

Much to the astonishment of many, my family in particular, most cruising yachts have an oven big enough to hold a small turkey!  Hanna and Jochen invited us to a second Christmas dinner (minus the pudding which was just too much!) with them on the 25^th.  An offer we just couldn’t refuse!  The next day however, was a mere taster of what was in store for us on Christmas Day.  It started to rain and a westerly breeze began to develop. 

Presents were bought and wrapped, Safeways was raided for the second time and a new Camping Gaz cylinder purchased just in case!  Christmas morning dawned, cloudy and windy but fortunately no rain.  We headed over to Lycka for our 1100 rendezvous and tucked into a vast continental style breakfast, two boiled eggs, rolls, ham, cheese and coffee.  This was supposed to be light in order to leave room for the bird that was sizzling away in the oven!  Meanwhile the presents were opened and the rain began to fall.  Chris carved the turkey at around three o’clock, by which time the wind was lashing the rain down onto the decks and I was thankful we were in the more quiet and steady depths of Lycka’s saloon than our rather lightweight Beneteau, whose motion in such weather is not conducive to the consumption of a large roast dinner! 

Since this was supposed to be a traditional Christmas Day a post turkey walk was in order.  Being a hardy bunch, we climbed into our oilys and set off!  It wasn’t particularly cold, just very wet and extremely windy!  At one point, as we rounded a corner, I could just lean into it at what felt like a 45 degree angle!  Dripping wet we returned to the marina, astonished that a Mediterranean Christmas managed to provide for us such amazingly English weather.  A further treat was in store for the evening.  We had hired a DVD of Chicken Run to watch on the laptop, an evening film being another custom to be upheld.  Chris and I were concerned that Jochen was not enjoying the film as he paced anxiously back and forth from the nav-station to the saloon where we were comfortably snuggled in front of the screen.  He eventually revealed his concern - not the film but the increasing wind force.  Marina Bay, here in Gibraltar, is Med. style mooring with an aft line picked up and two forward lines to the fixed pontoon.  Lycka was lying stern to the wind and was relying on the stern line alone to prevent her from hitting the concrete pier.  Jochen, Hanna and Chris dragged their wet oilys back on and went out into the stormy, black night to figure out a method of sending an extra line from the pontoon behind to Lycka, whilst I had the enviable task of occupying our newest crew member, Giblet, the ship’s cat! Some two hours and an ingenious method involving fenders, knotted string and a winch handle later, Zephyrus and Lycka were doubly secure, Chris and Jochen were soaked through and Hanna and I had seen gusts up to 49knots indicated on the anemometer.  It was certainly a Christmas night to remember, for all the wrong reasons!

Boxing Day morning was a little calmer but by lunch time the rain was pouring again and the wind and swell returned.  The pattern of strong winds and heavy rain continued for nearly a week and I was feeling distinctly queasy and fed up with the struggle of getting on and off a pitching yacht.  It’s one thing having bad weather when you live in a house on terra firma and another completely on a boat!  I know the British are supposed to be fanatical about the elements but since setting out on our adventure I’ve become totally obsessed by it!  The sun finally put in an appearance and many of us spent the last day of 2000 back in shorts! 

One thing we have enjoyed about our live-aboard life is the camaraderie, there is a real waterborne community, and our New Year celebrations were a perfect illustration.  Some fourteen of us from Britain, Germany and Sweden gathered on a yacht in Sheppard’s Marina to see in the first year of the new millennium.  We sang Auld Lang Sine, waltzed into the New Year, popped fizzy bottles of cava and made a promise to meet at midday with a packed picnic lunch to eat at the top of the Rock!  Chris must still have been drunk because in the morning he was up by nine (only six hours after we had gone to bed!) and was doing the washing up from the night before!  Not unheard of but I hope he started the year as he means to go on!   Giblet, on the other hand, had an adventure I don’t want her to repeat in a hurry.  She likes to jump onto Kasara, a Sarum 28 moored next door, to visit Paul and Anita a couple about our age who have also escaped the rat-race for a while.  On her homeward bound, she didn’t quite make it and plunged into the water.  Everyone lurched into action; Ted, who had been stood on the pontoon chatting to Chris, ran faster than ever before to grab a net from his yacht, I lunged up the companionway with our knotted cat rescue system to dangle over the transom and Chris encouraged her to swim.  And swim she did, right round the bow and down the other side to the stern where she scrambled back on without help!  Clever girl.  She looked a bit of a sorry state and didn’t take kindly to our efforts of rinsing her with fresh water and towel drying.  By the time we were ready to set off on our hike up the Rock she was sat laboriously licking herself clean in front of the fan heater.

It was a beautiful day, blue sky and white fluffy clouds, the complete opposite to Christmas, and ten of us set off in buoyant mood for our picnic.  It wasn’t a race and we were content to stop for photos and wonderful views over to Africa as well as to observe Gibraltar’s famous inhabitants, the apes.  Some three quarters of the way up Hanna revealed that she had not believed that the plan was serious!  But, we were determined and with various levels of encouragement we got each other to the very top of O’Hara’s Battery where, much to the amusement of other walkers, we tucked into our picnics and wished anyone and everyone a Happy New Year!  We took the Mediterranean Steps down the sheer East side of the Rock, quite spooky at times when Levanter mist swirled round the tropical looking plants.  Many of the steps were steep and several of us began to realise that we would ache in the morning!  The blue, lilac and turquoise sea viewed from above reminded us of why we set off from the murky, grey waters of the Solent and for a moment I contemplated the adventures that lie before us.  Exhausted but glowing with the achievement we returned to the marina at about five o’clock for a well-earned mug of tea.  

Kasara and Lycka left Marina Bay around the 3^rd January, but Chris and I still had to wait for Giblet to complete her vaccinations.  The Rock had some interesting boats call in around that time.  “The Race” (yes, the one Pete Goss’ Team Phillips was supposed to be in!) had started in Barcelona at Midnight on New Year’s Eve and within the first few days no less than three of the huge catamarans had to call in to Gibraltar for repairs.  Two of them had to sit out a 48-hour penalty as well as sort out their problems.  Legato, skippered by the irrepressible Tony Bullimore moored on the neighbouring pontoon and he chatted as soon as he came ashore.  Jo even got a hug!  The Race favourite, Playstation, also called in to replace the mainsail.  It was quite an impressive sight, but is apparently no longer competing whereas Legato is!  We were delayed still further because my sister, Viv, had her baby on the 28^th December and I was keen to pop back to the UK to visit her and my new nephew, Jack.  Ian and Jo volunteered to take care of Giblet while we flew back to England on the 9^th for a week’s whistle stop tour of friends and family.  Sorry to those of you we didn’t get to see!

On our return to Gibraltar we set about preparing the boat for moving on.  It never ceases to amaze me that the list of jobs to do is seemingly endless.  Over the next month we completed some tricky overhaul tasks on the engine, fitted the new weatherfax receiver and its aerial, re-thought stowage and fitted new straps in the cockpit locker for the diesel and water jerry-cans, polished the stainless fittings and on our last morning in Marina Bay we finally fitted the portside netting in the saloon, a job which has been on the list since we set off last April!  Meanwhile, Giblet was busy making friends with the other ships’ cats on the pontoon, particularly Lilan who would trot along and call for her to come out to play!  Both of them, at different times thank goodness, fell in again!  Lilan was trying to sneak up on Giblet when she had her 9^th dunking!  Giblet had been looning about and had run at Zephyrus’ plank but skidded off and plunged in for her second!  Chris had to pull her out this time as she swam under the jetty and clung on to a steel support post.  During that time, we also celebrated my birthday, experienced some more horrendous winds and stocked up on tea, hot chocolate, squash and other various “British” things from Safeways.  Our date for departure was February 13^th.  We are not superstitious!