Our mast is going off (#10)

After a wonderful evening in Portimão, we left for Vilamoura in the morning as soon as we were ready. It was approximately 3,5 hours of sailing so we would arrive there around lunchtime which was perfect because we had an appointment with the rigger at 1:00 p.m.

Sailing to Vilamoura …

The wind wasn’t strong enough that day to get us going so we motor-sailed to Vilamoura. It was a smooth ride on a sunny day. The reflection of the sun in the water was blinding so Sven wore three pairs of sunglasses on top of each other to be able to see if there was anything in the water in front of us.

Half an hour before we arrived the wind picked up, a little too late. It was very busy at the entrance of the Marina, lots of windsurfers and small sailing boats. We had to back up when entering the Marina to avoid running over a windsurfer that had some trouble going in the right direction. Also at the waiting dock and the marina office it was crowded so we had to manoeuvre the boat around while waiting for a spot and Sven had to stand in line a long time to get us checked in. Meanwhile, the boys and I enjoyed watching the sailors and surfers enter the marina while we had lunch on the deck. The weather was great that day.

Docking, stressful as usual ...

Until now we always had to dock sideways at the end of a pontoon or at a long pontoon but this time we were assigned an actual berth. This meant we would have to back up to ‘park’ the boat in the designated space, making sure we didn’t hit anything on either side or in the back. Luckily there were enough people to help with the lines and give instructions. Unfortunately, the wind had picked up which made it somewhat harder to get in the berth. It was quite a challenge our first time berthing and it didn’t go so smooth… we made a scratch because we hit the corner of the pontoon which had no protection. It was only a small scratch but we felt bad for damaging our new boat. After all the stress we went to the supermarket and let the riggers do their job. The crane to lift off the mast wouldn’t be able to get there before the weekend, so the riggers prepared everything for Monday and we got to spend the weekend in the beautiful Marina of Vilamoura. We enjoyed the sunset on the front deck with some tapas and a glass of white wine. A superb end of the day!

The weekend ...

Besides the everyday chores, we spent most of the weekend at the beach. While Sven and I enjoyed watching our boat neighbours kite surf, the kids went for a swim. They didn’t mind the water being cold.

Our neighbours were fellow Belgian sailors with the same boat as ours (s/v Ohana). We had already met earlier in Porto. It’s always fun to spend time with fellow sailors and especially the ones with the same boat as ours. We learn a lot from other’s experiences and advice.

The mast ...

On Monday morning the kids had time to do their schoolwork before we moved over to the boatyard around 2:00 p.m. We docked the boat alongside a high concrete wall without any problems. While Pete and his rigging team prepared everything the crane arrived. It was amazing to see how structured and professional they worked and it no time they had everything ready for the crane to lift the mast off. A bit of an anxious moment I must say but everything went smooth. We were no longer a sailboat at that moment… what a weird view. We moved the boat back to our berth for the day.

The reason we had the mast taken off was to replace the tubes inside, some of the tubes were loose and made an unbearable drumming noise whenever the boat rocked. They ended up replacing and tightening all of the tubes.

While the kids made their schoolwork Sven and I walked over to the boatyard to check on the works. We were told the mast and rigging could be finished by the end of the day so we went to the marina office to get us checked out. If everything was ready before sunset we would start our trip to Gibraltar. At 2:00 p.m. we sailed back to the boatyard where they put the mast, the boom, the rigging and all the lines back on the boat. Meanwhile, I prepared everything inside to start sailing and as soon as the riggers were finished we set sail to Gibraltar. Thank you “Pete Keeping” for the fast and professional work. It was fun working with you guys!

The sun was already setting when we left so we sailed into the night.

We were happy to finally leave for Gibraltar. Our initial plan was to arrive there in early November. We succeeded in reserving a berth in the marina of Gibraltar even though we were told it was impossible to get a berth there on such short notice. So we were bummed because of all the delay we had on our trip there. First, we were stuck in Porto due to the weather, then we discovered the problems with the sail drives which took longer to repair than anticipated and finally the mast works in Vilamoura. All together it caused us a delay of more than a month. Luckily they were very understanding in Gibraltar and we didn’t lose the reserved berth. After all, I’m not unhappy with the delays, it resulted in discovering some beautiful places that we probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

Read all about our trip to Gibraltar next week, it was quite a challenge… we got caught in a storm and experienced the worst sailing conditions we had been in so far.

For more pictures keep an eye on our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/SailingNohma

If you want to receive a notification when a new post is online or want to leave a comment, please log in on the top of the page (bottom of the page for mobile users).