Return to Menorca

We had been studying the weather and saw that there was a 3 day respite forecast from the strong NW Tramontana winds that blow out of the Gulf de Leon.

These were due to be replaced by an inactive low pressure system sat right between Sardinia and Menorca. Our plan was to sail NW initially using the SW wind to our advantage then as we got closer to the centre of the low the wind would die and we could have a gentle night motoring until we reached the NW winds on the far side.

Leaving Sardinia

It was a good plan but as always the weather had other ideas. We had a glorious sail for the first 10 hours and spotted our first turtle, then as predicted the wind died and we motored. Instead of the planned 8 hrs motor this dragged on for 30 hrs as the wind just evaporated…….very frustrating.

Life was pretty difficult on board as there was still a rolly swell and Mark somehow damaged his back as we left and was barely able to move around or even sit comfortably.

There were few ships around so we watched a couple of dvd’s and stopped the engine at one point to set a new Off soundings skinny dipping record our previous best was 600m which we thought was pretty brave today however was 2650m, which might take a while to beat !

Mark 2650m!!

During the second night Amanda woke me (at midnight!) to say the wind had risen to 10knts, so we unfurled some sail and finally gave the engine a rest.

However the wind continued to build until we had a good force 6, our speed increased and it meant a night time arrival at our chosen port of Formells. (we had arranged to meet some sailing friends here)

Looking so keen to go on my night watch after 1.5 hours of sleep

As the night moved into the small hours I became more concerned as the wind and waves were hurtling us towards the unforgiving rocky northern coast of Menorca. This is a perilous 50 mile stretch of coast with only the 200m harbour entrance of Fornells for shelter. Although the harbour entrance is lit, it felt a bit like threading a needle in the dark, we only needed something to break and we would be driven straight onto the rocks.

After some debate we decided the most prudent action was to alter course for Mahon on the SE corner before we got any closer to land.

About 0800 after a pretty rough night we safely entered Mahon harbour and dropped anchor, had some breakfast and went to sleep for 6 hours…………..Zzzzzzzzzzzzz