Planning for Barcelona

The sail to Barcelona is approximately 300nm…a two nights and three day passage. As we are meeting friends from Sydney on the 4th August, we had a 5 day window to pick a favourable weather window….or so we thought!!!

As most people know, I am obsessed with weather and now living on a yacht gives me endless opportunity to feed that obsession. So planning for our passage to Barcelona was part of the fun. Si even purchased an app to select the best departure date and plan the route. The app even detailed the average and maximum wind speed plus the wind direction. We had started looking at weather windows for the passage about five days in advance. We had agreed on going earlier 30 July, 31 July or 1 August. A traditional weather chart detailed a forthcoming low that appeared to be staying north of our route. This matched the download GRIB weather files. We could expect a maximum of 25 knots of wind. All I can say is never trust a grib file!!

First stop – Bonifacio, Corsica

We commenced our passage west to Barcelona. Clair and Andrew from sailing yacht Orison had highly recommended a visit to Bonifacio. It is a small village located on the south western side of Corsica and is one of the most beautiful natural harbours in the Mediterranean. It definitely did not disappoint. As you approach Bonifacio you are greeted by amazing sand stones cliffs that the old village is perched upon. You are not able to see the entrance of the channel until a boat pops out. Note this is another super yacht destination so you never know what is going to pop out next. The channel is very narrow so you just had to hope nothing too big was coming the other way.

We found the lovely bay that was set up with lazy lines and rings for securing your lines. Mooring would have been difficult if not for our neighbours who kindly picked up a lazy line for us…I like to think that wearing my best bikini might have helped. After that, it was just a matter of Kim going for a swim to shore to secure our lines and pick up a second lazy line. I had to wash my hair anyway as Simon was taking me to lunch :-)

We had a lovely three course meal with champagne…what a treat. After some provisioning, we went back to Aura for some rest before continuing our passage to Barcelona the morning.

Passage to Barcelona

At 06:00 Sunday morning we headed out of Bonifacio. Calm seas and little wind. We motored but Si was not too worried as he knew he had wind on the way. At 14:00 we had the engine off and sails up, by 15:00 we noticed the clouds were building and looked like we might get a storm. Fortunately the storm didn’t eventuate but the winds and seas did. By 03:00 (the next morning) it was gusting +40 knots with waves crashing over the deck. We had earlier furled the sails and were motoring. Aura was riding the waves and at times slamming down the trough of the wave. We decided to shut the companion way (front/back door) to keep the waves out of the saloon and connect the iPad to the chart plotter. We could then monitor our direction and monitor for any large vessels (with the AIS system). It was unlikely that anyone else is crazy enough to be out here so very little chance of hitting anything. Three hours later we woke to continued big waves and wind. It was definitely a day to spend in your pj’s. Trying to do anything was like taking a walk on the moon. You go one way and the boat goes the other. Si even had a coffee free day as it was too dangerous to boil the coffee pot. Visiting the bathroom was more challenging.

A few screen shots - Planning & Actual

The good news is that the winds dissipated by about 17:00 Monday evening and we enjoyed a quiet night of relative good sailing. Tuesday had mixed winds that knocked us south so once again we motored and motor sailed. Highlights included the sun rise, a whale sighting, dolphins and two schools of jumping tuna.

Now we are only 25nm out of Barcelona. We will be arriving at approximately 9pm…bit later than planned due to the storm but better late than never. I’m very much looking forward to an uninterrupted night’s sleep.

A few pic's of the calmer conditions