Winter sailing across the Med - red rain!! | Between The Rock & a hard place pt1 #23
Winter sailing in the Mediterranean! On this video we set out to sail 1645 nautical miles across the Mediterranean Sea in winter without going ashore and begin what ends up being 28 days onboard our sailboat. With no Schengen visa time remaining we cannot enter any Schengen country along the way but we intend to exercise our right of innocent passage through territorial waters in order to keep us safe should weather stop us on our way.
We had sailed to Gibraltar in March 2022 after leaving our winter berth in Portugal, fully intending to stay for around a week however we ended up staying a month. Unending easterly winds down the Alboran Sea kept us there initially and then, after Kate popped back to the U.K. for a visit, we both tested positive for covid and were too unwell to make a weather window. Whilst waiting for another weather window we were hit by a particularly bad Saharan sandstorm - a “Calima” which combined with rain led red rain and mud caking the boat.
We eventually got a 3 day weather window which would allow us to at least make it as far as the Mar Menor - the first protected anchorage we’d identified on our journey, should it be needed - and so we finally left Gibraltar, picking our way through the “bait ball” of huge ships that occupy the Alboran Sea.
We had initially hoped that the weather would allow us to make a 10 day continuous passage but unfortunately more easterlies were forecast around the bottom of Sardinia meaning we would have to head for the straits of Bonifacio increasing our passage time. Then, as we got nearer to land to pick up an updated forecast the wind died forcing us to head towards the Mar Menor and look to anchor until the wind returned.
As we approached under cover of dark we were suddenly blinded by bright white lights and flashing blue lights….
#sailboat #sailinglife #liveaboard #meditteranean #raymarineuk #liveaboardsailboat #passagemaking #sailing #sailaroundtheworld #nightsail #redrain #sailaroundtheworld #passagepreparation #atsea
- https://youtu.be/80QmyE1TMnE
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