Showing posts with label de. Show all posts
Showing posts with label de. Show all posts
Thursday, 20 April 2017
San Jose and Almeria – Sailing the Costa de Sol of Spain
We cast off from the fuel dock at Garrucha with a full tank of diesel which was a very good thing as we again had to motor sail along the coast to San Jose as the wind gods still didn’t want to play the game. We did put the mainsail up and got a little bit of a lift out of what breeze there was but with just over forty miles to cover trying to go by sail alone would have never got us close within daylight hours. We were getting a bit tired of the sound of the engine but that’s life.
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| We couldn't leave the mainsail in the bag any longer. |
We saw a few flying fish along the way which was nice. They’ve been few and far between in the Med and it’s always very entertaining watching how far they can glide over the waves before splashing down.
We also spotted a huge, development onshore that had been very obviously stalled for quite some time and now well and truly plastered with a huge ‘Ilegal Hotel’ sign that covered a number of floors. It was out in the middle of nowhere and daubed with all sorts of graffiti including one sign saying ‘DEMOLICIAN - YA’. We’ve heard all sorts of tales of buildings going up without anyform of planning approvals and could only guess there was an interesting story behind this one too. We’d loved to have known the facts but given the size of the massive resort it’s a fair bet to say some bank somewhere that financed it has taken a serious hit to their balance sheet.
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| Maybe this was Christopher Skase's final project. |
We rounded the headland and entered the shelter of the bay at San Jose in the late afternoon. It was a very attractive little spot with an interesting looking town stretching away behind the beach. There was a small marina but as we expected conditions to stay reasonably calm for the night we elected to anchor outside near the beach. As we began to relax with sundowners in the cockpit we counted 34 small boats come out of the marina in a one hour time space and headed all over the bay fishing. We couldn’t believe so many boats could fit behind the breakwaters in the tiny marina but it was obviously a bit bigger than it looked. About 8.30pm someone must have sounded a dinner bell because all of a sudden they were all coming back in at once creating some serious peak hour traffic at the harbour entrance.
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| San Jose looked like a nice place to explore. Next time hopefully. |
On Sunday we had planned to have a look around the town but after checking the forecasts we decided this may not be a good place to be in the 15 to 20 knot south-westerlies predicted for the evening. It was time to go so San Jose went on the list of places to stop at on the way back east next year. Up came the anchor and we set sail to Almeria. Yep. We actually got the white bits up and had a fantastic sail around the cliffs of Cabo de Gata and then right across the big bay all the way to just off Almeria itself. The wind strengthened and turned through the afternoon and we were able to go with it only needing to tack out from shore at the very end. With the wind now sneaking up above 20 knots we were getting a bit overpowered. We could have reefed the main to reduce sail but as we were only a mile from the harbour elected to simply drop it and motor the rest of the way in.
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| A great sailing day to Almeria had us all smiling |
Almeria is a very large commercial port with a lot of big shipping, particularly large ferries. There’s a marina just outside the inner harbour but when we rang them asking for a berth they at first said OK then a minute later decided they suddenly had no room. This was despite us being directly outside the entrance looking at empty berths inside. Apparently they primarily cater for permanent berth holders and aren’t too keen on casual visitors. We must not have seemed important enough for them.
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| We cheekily anchored between the marina and inner breakwater. |
By now the wind was gusting in the 25 to 30 knot zone with quite a lumpy sea so we had no desire to be heading back out in it. No anchoring is permitted in the inner harbour but we decided there was room between the inner breakwater and the marina so we simply dropped anchor there, made sure we were well hooked in and let out plenty of chain. We were very happy to be behind the protection of the main, big breakwater. but even so, a fair size swell was finding its way around its end making things a little less comfortable than the marina would have been but such is life. We were dancing around a bit on the end of the chain but at least we were safe and this was free. We just hoped no one came along and told us to move on.
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| With 30 metres of chain out we swung in a 60m arc but there was room |
Fortunately the wind dropped out a little after midnight and Monday morning dawned nice and calm with clear blue skies. It was time for a day ashore checking out the city. First stop was the Vodafone shop to get Marc and Karen’s internet data topped up. Marc goes into severe withdrawals and may be found in the foetal position whimpering if he can’t download his London papers each morning while Karen’s IPad has all our weather forecast apps on it so this was definite priority.
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| A beautiful morning in Almeria harbour |
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| Almeria is a very attractive city to wander around |
We then wandered the streets and checked out the excellent fresh food, meat and seafood markets in the city centre before settling in for lunch at a very cool old restaurant/bar. Eventually Karen managed to get us out the door and off on an ABC tour (Another Bloody Castle). Her tourist guide said that next to the Alhambra in Granada, the Alcazaba of Almería is one of the main castles in the south of Spain. It was constructed in the X century by the Califa Abderramán III. It offered shelter to 20,000 people at one time so we had to have a look.
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| Off for our ABC Tour (Another Bloody Castle) in Almeria |
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| Ameria's cathedral started life as a mosque before being christianised. |
It was a fair walk through the streets, past the cathedral, up the lanes all guided by Karen’s IPad’s maps to get to the base of the hill. Here we found a sign proclaiming the castle open 10.00am to 8.00pm on weekdays. Cool. It was only 2.30. We could see a set of closed doors ahead so deduced that the entrance must be up the steep road that ran beside the castle and off we went.
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| We went right up to the top of the Alcazaba of Almería, on the outside. |
Reaching the top we discovered another set of locked doors so after a short break to get our breath back we set off back down to the bottom where we now found the doors open. A bit weird but what the heck. In we walk and straight to the ticket window manned by a man in uniform who we ask for three tickets. ‘No tickets’ he says. We immediately think it must be free but our illusion was shattered when he followed his opening statement up with. ‘Is closed’. It was now five past three. Go figure. So much for the sign outside proclaiming opening hours till Eight PM. Oh that’s right. This is Spain.
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| It looks nice from the entrance, which was as far as we got. |
Sergeant-Major Karen, then marched us back through the streets down into the old town where the troops mutinied and headed to a cafe for a bottle of wine. As we were finishing our tipple we noticed some very ominous looking dark clouds appearing over the ranges so high tailed it back to the boat in case the approaching thunder produced any nastiness. On our return we found another yacht had joined us in our little anchoring spot and we immediately started calculating chain lengths and swing room making sure we had clearance. Our wild experience in Santa Ponsa on Mallorca was still fresh in our minds so we were more than happy as the storm rolled by to the west without as much as a spot of rain falling on us. Another bullet dodged.
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| We're a bit gun shy when we see skies like this since being belted in Santa Ponsa |
For more about our travels and lots more photos check out and 'like' our Dreamtime Sail facebook page at
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Sunday, 16 April 2017
Design 1292 C1 Palawan II and Ile de Feu
Samarkand - ex-Palawan II
Two beautiful boats were built to this design, which was prepared for Thomas J. Watson, Jr. This was to be his second Palawan. She was constructed by Abeking & Rasmussen of Germany of wood using typical S&S scantlings and was launched as a sloop in 1958.
Palawan's sister, Ile de Fleu was built by the Shipyard Rameau of Etal, France and launched in 1962. She was designed and launched as a sloop. From the notes it looks like her lines were altered slightly from those of Palawan. From what I can tell Watson had his Palawan converted to a yawl based on Ile de Feu's successes. Here she is in a very dramatic image.
Ile de Feu - Image Courtesy of Beken of Cowes
Here are the plans. Both sloop and yawl sail plans are shown.
Principle Dimensions
LOA 54'-6"
LWL 37'-0"
Beam 13'-3"
Draft 5'-3"
Displacement 43,000 lbs
Ballast 13,000 (outside) 500 lbs (inside)
Sail Area 1,309 sq ft (sloop) 1,284 sq ft (yawl)
Ile de Feu - Image Courtesy of Beken of CowesSunday, 26 March 2017
Attikamekw Têtes de Boules Paddle
With the bark canoe essentially complete, I figured I'd make use of some free time making a paddle to go with the boat. Given that it is based on a solo Attikamekw (Têtes-de-Boules) Hunter's canoe, it was only logical to carve an Attikamekw paddle with it.
The blank was cut out of some yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis) stock, the off cuts of which had been used to make the permanent thwarts in the canoe a while back. Adney documents a sample Têtes-de-Boules paddle in Fig.102 of his book. It's a pretty no frills blade design with a round tip and gradual straight-lined taper to the neck. Pretty narrow blade as well, I made mine 4-3/8th inches at the widest point. Adney documents two alternative grip designs, neither of which I've found confortable in my paddle making experience so far, so I stuck with the elongated grip I've begun to favour for my style of paddling. Some decorative notches were added to the base of the grip as well.
Adney's Plan; My version; Grip Closeup
As for decoration, I wanted to experiment with some native-inspired scroll designs to go with the designs I may etch into the canoe's winter bark in the future. I checked out a great online resource - Frank G. Speck's Double-Curve Motive in Northeastern Algonkian Art (1914) available through Archive.org. In the end I settled on a Naskapi Cree double curve pattern (Fig. 12.) because the book source didn't have any documentation on Attikamekw patterns but stated that there was similarity between tribal groups of this region
Double Curve motif
From this basic pattern, a mirror imaged design was set up and burned onto the blade. Normally, such designs would be etched on, but I'm not confident enough with my chipcarving skills to tackle that. Pyrography also allows you to add some shading, and yellow birch is a great wood to take advantage of for subtle tones. One the grip, I burned some other free hand scroll patterns and designs.
Blade pattern; Grip decoration; Whole Paddle
Being a one-piece, I'll be oiling this one rather than varnishing but will likely do that once the extreme windy weather in Toronto settles down a bit.
Nov 29/09 UPDATE - A leather wrapping has been added to the shaft of this paddle which so far is my favourite design for solo paddling.
Thursday, 16 March 2017
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