Recent Articles in Logbook
In which we tell of our adventures under sailSome Canary Islands Anchorages
by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 16th of February 2010 in Logbook • No CommentsGiven in good faith, but not to be taken as gospel.
These brief notes cover a mere handful of anchorages, commencing in the north-eastern corner of the archipelago. (more…)
Racing Passage to Cape Verde
by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 19th of January 2010 in Logbook • 5 CommentsThere were three ships went sailing out, went sailing out, went sailing out,
There were three ships went sailing out on Christmas day in the evening.
On passage again, at last!
It was almost four months ago that our aged sails fell apart and our engine parted company with the gear box. We still haven’t solved the first of these problems; the salvaged pieces of the roller furler were straightened and reassembled, and the old rotten sails were cobbled back together, but our efforts to invest in a brand new set of wings went awry. More on that subject another day. After we finally got the boat back into a state where she could put to sea the Ship’s Engineer then spent two full months re-designing and rebuilding the transmission system. And then, after a few other bits and bobs had been fixed, we were almost ready to leave the Canaries. (more…)
Cruising in the Canary Islands
by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 22nd of December 2009 in Logbook • 1 CommentGiven in good faith, but not to be taken as gospel.
Herewith, some general notes for the benefit of other visitors.
The information is arranged in the traditional form, beginning with a few paragraphs concerning such matters as history and flora. If you deem these things to be irrelevant to your needs as a yachtsman, just scroll down the page. Eventually you will find the nitty-gritty: an appraisal of the local winds, and a few words regarding local customs… (as in Customs and Excise). (more…)
Catastrophe strikes the Mollymawks!
by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 8th of September 2009 in Logbook • 4 CommentsAfter a couple of months of to-ing and fro-ing between England and the Canary Islands the Mollymawks were more than ready to say goodbye to Las Palmas (Gran Canaria) and head for somewhere a little more relaxing. To be exact, we decided to head for La Gomera. (more…)
The Prize Ship
by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 7th of September 2009 in Logbook • No Comments
What do you think of our new dinghy? It matches the mothership quite nicely, doesn’t it?
There we were, one quiet afternoon in the anchorage in Las Palmas. Or at least, we were being quiet; the anchorage itself is never very quiet because it is part of “the busiest port in West Africa”. Ships come and go; tugs rush up and down like terriers off the lead, and pilot boats speed to and fro officiously. Besides all that, this was a sunny Sunday afternoon, and so the adjacent town beach was thronged with screeching kids, and hollering mums, and rowdy dads. (And some quiet ones, too, I suppose… but it didn’t sound that way.)
Regardless of all this, we, personally, were having a quiet afternoon, and we were about to sit down quietly to a late lunch when the skipper happened to pop his head out of the hatch. And he said, “What’s the French boat doing?” (more…)
South to the Canaries
by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 28th of April 2009 in Logbook • No CommentsThe dot-com officer having been busy with his A-level studies, the Mollymawk website has spent the past few months lying unattended on its moorings. Not so the vessel herself – or at any rate, not quite so much so.
This very belated report describes our passage south from the Mediterranean port of Melilla down to the Canary Islands.
People often write to us asking, “What special skills do you need in order to go cruising?” Well, herewith, in Part I of the report, you have your answer. Like the rest of life, cruising is a hotch-potch of sunshine and squalls. If you want to cast off from the shore and put yourself beyond the helping hands of mechanics, medics, and law and order, you need to accept the fact that, thereafter, you alone will be responsible for your fate during the squalls. Preparation is one part of the answer but it seldom provides the whole solution. Essentially, the key skills required by the offshore sailor are clever thinking and the ability to bodge something up out of whatever is to hand. Indeed, now I come to think of it, a boat drifting about on the briney would be the ideal venue for one of those ascetic self-sufficiency courses beloved of business men and other such folk who are never ever going to need to be self sufficient… (more…)
Port of Melilla
by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 13th of January 2009 in Logbook • 2 CommentsGiven in good faith, but not to be taken as gospel.
Port of Melilla
Melilla occupies the northern part of a large man-made harbour which is shared between Spain and Morocco. The space between the two ports seems ideal for anchoring, and indeed, we spent quite a bit of time here. If you plan to do likewise, be aware that the anchorage is directly in front of the gaping harbour mouth and is therefore completely untenable in a strong easterly. We have seen breakers five feet high rolling across this whole area in an onshore gale.
The marina lies tucked away behind its own, secondary wall and is safe and snug in all imaginable conditions. It forms the first of three basins; so, effectively you just enter the port, turn right, and then immediately turn left. If you give the marina a call before entering then someone will probably come and take your lines.
At the time of our visit a berth for a 50ft yacht cost 13 € per night. (For comparison – a berth in the marina in La Manga would have cost us 60 € per night in the winter and 110 € in the summer…)
The port has its own wifi internet service. This is frequently out of order – but when it goes down, don’t mope; go and nag the guys in the office. If you don’t nag them, they don’t even know that it isn’t working. On each occasion, when we complained, normal service was promptly resumed.
Marina office in Melilla
We came to Melilla with the specific purpose of slipping the boat. For a vessel of our size this cost 95 € each way, plus 6 € per day in the yard. (Maximum stay 10 days, after which the price rockets.) There were various hidden extras, such as the rent of a cradle, but even so, this was considerably cheaper than any boatyard in Mediterranean Spain. That’s not all; in Spain the boatyards will no longer let the owner apply his own antifouling. They do it for you, and they do it badly – and, of course, you have to pay. (Slipping and painting in La Manga would have cost us well over 1,000 €)
The marina is also the place to take on fuel – unless you will be visiting Morocco or the Canary Islands. The fuel in Melilla is much cheaper than in mainland Spain, but it is slightly cheaper again in Morocco, and significantly cheaper in the Canaries. (Diesel, in the Canaries, is currently around 60 € cents per litre. In Melilla the price was around 76 cents, and in Spain it was 115 cents.)
‘WARE THE WALL!
Approach and entry into the port of Melilla and Nador could hardly be more straightforward, but if you are going to be mucking about within the greater harbour, which is shared between the two countries, then you need to take a good look at an up to date chart, and you need to pay close attention to your navigation and to the buoyage.
The Moroccan port is relatively new, and in the days before its stout concrete wall was built Melilla was open to the south-east. In order to alleviate this problem and make the place safer the Spanish built a stone wall, and most of that stone wall is still in situ, neatly dividing the harbour. So far, so good; a seawall is easy to spot. The problem centres on the bit of the wall that is no longer in situ.
While the Spanish were building the wall of the new marina some clever-dick had the brilliant idea of scavenging the outer 100 metres of the old seawall and recycling it, thereby saving a few pesetas. Unfortunately, whilst the exposed, upper part of the wall was easy to get at, the submarine rocks were less accessible – so they left them there.
The submerged outer end of the old Spanish seawall is vaguely indicated by a cardinal mark. The mark is of the appropriate size, shape, and colour, but it lies about 100 metres off the end of the obstruction. This may very possibly be standard practice, but in this particular situation it is malpractice.
Out in the open sea there is plenty of room to allow a good offing, but in the confines of the harbour the buoy is so far from the end of the wall that it might as well not exist. It sits more or less in the middle of the harbour, and a yacht passing from Melilla to Nador could certainly be forgiven for assuming that it was intended to keep the Big Boys out in the deeper water. Indeed, a yotty passing from one port to the other, engrossed in trying to spot a suitable place to berth, could be forgiven for not even noticing the buoy, it is so far to seaward of the rhumb line between the two ports.
A local resident told us that vessels regularly touch the wall, and some friends of ours hit it hard enough to sink their steel boat.
Another thing to note, if you are intent on visiting Nador, is the Moroccan paranoia regarding unscheduled, or unapproved shipping movements. If you do not want to land yourself in trouble, call them on the radio before you enter their half of the port.
For more information about Melilla, take a look at Jill’s article.
Adiós España
by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 4th of December 2008 in Logbook • 1 CommentWe’ve all been so frantically busy, these past few months, that the Mollymawk website has been rather neglected – and since the pressure is still on, this update will be brief.
Caesar and Xoë have still got their noses to the grindstone, as they study hard for their A levels. This puts the rest of the crew under a lot of pressure too, as it means that there are only three of us to do all of the chores. Most people imagine that the life of a sailor is an idle one, but nothing could be further from the truth; we seem to spend our whole time fixing things or attending to the paintwork. Of course, the fact that we are also still building the boat doesn’t help… (more…)
Farewell and Adieu to Truco
by Roxanne • Published on the 23rd of April 2008 in Logbook • 3 CommentsWe now lose a small but much loved member of the crew. (more…)
Cruising the Mar Menor
by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 24th of March 2008 in Logbook • No CommentsIt was on March 3rd that we finally left the marina. Not for the absolute, last time ever – because it’s the only safe place to leave the boat when we need to go into Cartagena – but for the last time as fee paying members of the La Manga community. We have relinquished the berth which was our home for the previous three years, and we won’t be going back to that lifestyle. (more…)
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