Bye bye Palma! We are leaving the dock for the first time in a month. I'm glad. We have a guest from Canada on board too! I hope we'll do some sailing today in our forty-three foot sailboat. I would be sad if we weren't coming back because the first person I've met that isn't an adult and speaks English is here in Palma de Majorca. Since we are going to come back I am glad we are leaving.
I love traveling to different places and seeing different things. We have been away from Canada for eight months and all that time we have been traveling, traveling, traveling and more travelling. I've liked all the different places that we've been to. My least favourite spot was probably where we got the boat ready to travel for 2 years in the Mediterranean. It was so windy for so long making it so hard to do school since you're rocking all the time. Stop daydreaming, I chastise myself.
Yesterday we decided to leave Palma de Majorca, Spain and head for a small port called Porto Cristo. Our guest, Katie, wants to know all we've been up to since we left Vancouver, Canada, our hometown. Well, of course, we caught her up with things quickly. With all of us putting in our own bits, she learned that my mom, Karalee, my dad, David, my two brothers, Kevin and Allen, and I, had left Canada on the twenty-ninth of June last year. We flew to London, spent ten days there, then took the Chunnel Train to Paris, France, rented a car and cruised France and the surrounding countries, for five months. Then, in December, we launched a Jeanneau boat, a forty-three foot Deck Saloon, to be exact. That's where we're going to live for a little less than two years. It was weird telling our own story to someone. It sounded like something that could only happen in a movie.
Well enough babbling. Once we'd left the very busy city, Palma, we put up the sails. Boy do I love the sails and sailing. It seems like you're a bird that's soaring over the clouds, going up and down, up and down. I love going in my room and watching the waves hit my window and the sound of the boat slicing the water. When the engine's on all you can hear is a loud booming noise. It's sort of like a really loud car motor. You also loose the sensation of sailing. I don't like it as you can probably tell. But sailing's a different matter altogether. I think Katie likes it too, well at least, as long as we aren't heeled over thirty degrees, which isn't hard to do. It's really sunny and nice, a perfect day, especially for SAILING even though a little more wind would be nice.
Whenever we are traveling I usually don't talk much, I mostly just listen to the sails. It is really nice. It also gives me some time to take in all that we've done at that particular port. We have gone to so many places I sometimes like to just remember everything so I won't be as likely to forget what we've done.
After we'd turned the boat through the wind, or tacked, we had to put down the Genoa and turn on the loud booming engine because the wind had died. We passed all these limestone cliffs, which seemed like a person that looks totally innocent, yet for some strange reason you think that they could cause damage. They had holes in then like an angry person had punched them but not enough to make them shatter.
After six hours we arrived. There were these forty foot cliffs that were lining the entrance. Right before we arrived at the port we saw this really nice beach that I hope we'll visit tomorrow.
My dad just read on the Navtex, the main weather source onboard Dragonsinger, that this good weather is supposed to hold. That means that we will be able to do lots of travelling. My nine-year old, brown-haired, brown-eyed, brother, doesn't like traveling so he is saying "BOOO!" He likes the shorts and T-shirt weather and as long as we're motoring he's fine but it we put up the sails he complains a lot! He doesn't seem to get it. We have a sailboat. We are supposed to sail it! He also doesn't realize that good sailing weather doesn't necessarily mean it's sunny. My other five-year old, blond-haired, blue-eyed, brother always follows Kevin so of course he doesn't want to go either.
Whenever we come into the new port the usual routine is, we tie up, and then talk to the captain's office. In Porto Cristo the marine people where already there when we came to park, but they didn't catch our attention fast enough so we had to back out and then start to come back into the spot. It was then that Katie woke up and said groggily "Where are we?" We were all busy tying the boat so we didn't hear her.
As we were backing in for the third time, I was fending off on the port side and Kevin the starboard. "Harder, it's a tight fit but compared to the summer this is nothing. That's it! Now Kevin you take the anchor line to the front and tie it," Dad commands.
Once the boat was secure we were in good spirits. It was nice out, just the right temperature at 20 degrees and no clouds. What else would we do except go for a walk? Dad and Kevin stayed behind but the rest of us headed off.
We left the port and walked all the way around the huge harbour, then all the way back up the other side, enjoying the walk. Talking all the way in excited voices we looked around. This was a tourist town. Shop after shop after shop of tourist things, which was just what Katie was looking for. Still happy and energetic, we entered a shop.
"Hola, English?" is Katie's first question. "A little," the shop-keeper replied. After a little shopping and our money bags a little lighter, Allen, Mom, Bobby and I said in unison "Gracias. Adios." "Adios," the lady replied. We got some fresh bread then headed home.
As we came in the door Dad yelled "We're leaving tomorrow at nine. This good weather is going to hold for another few days and then a huge mistral is going to blow."
"Why?" everyone that'd just come in the boat cried, their moods starting to darken. We'd talked about all we wanted to do and now we'd spend the day travelling, probably motoring the whole way.
The only person who wanted to go was Kevin. He replied to Dad's announcement with a smile and "Yeah! I want to go. It's boring here anyway."
Then Mom replied, "Well if you would have gotten off your butt and come with us you would have had fun, but instead you decided to mope around here." Seeing this was going to turn into an argument I ran off the boat yelling "I'm just going to the washroom! Be back in a sec."
Tomorrow is here. I don't want to leave but I guess we don't really have a choice because usually what Dad says goes. Anyway he's the most experienced with the boat and reads up on the ports so we follow his instructions with few complaints.
We had a few problems leaving when we got stuck on an anchor line, but after sorting that out we had no other problems. There was a nice breeze so we put up the sails. I liked sailing but it got a little rough when the wind started to pick up. I looked up and saw that the sky was starting turning black.
"Oh no," I cried, "Look at that storm approaching. It looks like an angry herd of stampeding animals running full out at us. It's scary. We have to get to a port and quick!" But in just ten minutes the storm had hit. I asked Dad why we were starting to head away from Majorca. He said that it would be really dangerous to try and enter a port with the huge waves. With the storm the skies started crying and we got pelted in tears.
After ten minutes the waves were really big at three to four meters and everyone was feeling very sick. Katie had come out of the V-berth looking a ghastly pale colour. Everyone had to be outside because if you went downstairs you were sick. Tension was so thick that you could almost see it.
An hour later, there were five meter waves! The boat was jerking and pounding. Mom, Kevin, Allen, and Katie were hysterical, screaming and not doing anything to stop the boat from going the twenty-five kilometres an hour that we were. Everyone was nauseous. We were trying to heave to but nothing we tried worked since we hadn't practised it. Instead we decided to try and loose most of our speed and try not to get anywhere near land.
I didn't know what to do but I did know that I had to help dad since everyone was freaking out. Dad told me to furl the main so that's what I did. Dad released and I pulled the furling line as the sail disappeared into the mast.
"Tell everyone that we are going to have to do shifts tonight and we'll keep switching until the storm blows it self out," dad commanded me. "Whatever you say," was my response. I told everyone that we'd do four hour shifts during the day and three hours during the night.
The first day of the storm I was really sick. I still helped dad as much as I could since everyone else was scared spit-less and not doing anything to help dad. I wasn't scared anymore, but I sure wasn't feeling great! By night time I was starting to get my sea legs and wasn't sick anymore.
The first shift that night was Mom's and mine. Mom still hadn't gotten over her fear and was just sitting at the helm and not talking. I knew that I had to look after the boat since mom wasn't being a great help. I was watching the radar, making sure there were not too much sail out and all the other things you need to do to make sure the boat's ok. I was also hand steering most of the time to make the motion of the boat smoother. I hadn't ever looked after the boat by myself at night before but I had for like 10 or 15 minutes during the day so I knew what I was doing. By the end of my shift I wasn't really scared anymore and I was starting to relax a little when I saw a freighter heading right for us. I had to totally change our course. That shook me up a little!
It seemed like one minute, but was actually three hours, when I had to drag myself out of bed and go back out on deck. Mom was out there too. We had to spend three more hours in the cold, windy, dark weather. It wasn't nice.
An hour later I heard something on the radio. "Hey Mom listen to this I said happily," thinking it was the weather. I was hoping that the storm was blowing itself out. As I heard the message my face changed. "Mayday, Mayday, Bluebird in trouble, at ten degrees, five minutes west, and thirty-five degrees, six minutes north," the radio blasted.
Mom it's a mayday," I shout and run downstairs. I checked the charts and as I'm running back up-stairs I shout, "It's only about ten minutes from here. We have to go help since we're probably the closest people for many miles!" The first thing Mom did was go and get Dad. Then, without second thoughts, we altered our course toward the boat.
In ten minutes we saw the boat. The boat was sinking! I wasn't sure what to do but neither was anyone else so I made a suggestion. "Maybe we should radio them and tell them we're here and what they want us to do," I suggested.
"That sounds like a great plan," Mom and Dad said in unison. So that's what we did.
"Dragonsinger answering mayday, Dragonsinger answering mayday," Dad spoke into the radio.
Thirty seconds later a man answered, "Bluebird to Dragonsinger, Bluebird to Dragonsinger, over," the radio spoke.
Dad's reply was "What do you want us to do, over?"
"If you come to the port side I can hop on your boat, over!" the person told us.
"That'll be our plan over," Dad said to Bluebird. We headed toward the boat's port side. A person was standing on the boat with a few things in his hand, waving at us. We helped him onto our boat and gave him a spot to lie down. Instead of lying down he dropped his stuff and said that he wanted to go outside because he was feeling sick.
Right before our shift ended the computer broke down. Now we were really in trouble! We were charted to where we were and the computer was the only charts we have. We could be anywhere in the Mediterranean and we wouldn't know where we were. This didn't really help Mom get over her fear, to say the least. Gary was going around saying, "If only I'd my charts from Bluebird," in a sad voice.
After getting over the panic of that we asked how his boat had started sinking. He was a very positive person which I realized as he told his story. He started with "My name is Gary." I left La Rapita this morning and got stuck in the storm like you. I was trying to heave to when I hit something. I got a huge gash in the side of her! Then she started to fill with water. That's when I sent out the mayday. I wasn't expecting anyone to answer so I'm mighty glad you showed up. By then I'd gotten my most prized possessions since my home was on the boat. I didn't keep anything on land. It was all on the boat." Gary said the whole story really calmly. I definitely couldn't have if I had just lost everything I owned in the world. He really surprised me.
After the story he asked if he could stay with us. "Of course! I mean you can't really go anywhere else," Dad exclaimed. We were joking around when I realized how lucky we were to have found someone that's from England and speaks English instead of having to try and communicate in Spanish.
The storm blew and blew and blew. After what seemed like many millenniums the storm started to slow. We decided to put out a little more of the sails so we'd rock a little less. I released and mom pulled. When dad said to stop we did. We must have put out a little bit too much because we started going really fast. Dad was yelling at us to pull in the sail. When it was almost in I heard a huge SNAP and a rope flew at the dodger. It went straight through and everyone just narrowly missed the line. I was horrified with the sail flapping and making so much crashing and booming noises. Now we could only use the main sail.
An hour later, I was still on watch. I saw a black bit on the horizon. "LAND AHOY!" I shouted. Everyone came running out on deck looking at the black strip. It was weird that we hadn't seen land for four whole days! We thought we were so lucky that we hadn't gone far from Majorca, or Menorca, in all that time. We really didn't know exactly where we were since our charts broke down on the second night. After a few hours I knew that the land wasn't Majorca at least since it didn't look like it.
We still headed toward it. I mean where else were we supposed to go? Once we'd docked we went to the captain's office and everyone started speaking a weird language. We knew that it wasn't Spain or France, to say the least. We asked the person behind the counter and they said, in halting English "Italy, you are in Italy." At that time we paid and went back to the boat.
We talked it over with everyone. Gary said he didn't have insurance on the boat, so it didn't really matter to him. He said it in a voice that made me admire him because he'd lost everything that he'd owned and he seemed to have mostly moved on. I couldn't have done that. Katie said that it was up to us. We all talked it over and since we were planning to go to Italy anyways we'd just stay there. Now we'd be ahead of what we had originally planned! That just goes to show just how unpredictable boating really is.