This morning we set off in lovely weather along a beautiful coastline with Sun Dog making really good speed – almost perfection. The forecast was for the wind to reduce to almost nothing as the day wore on, and we were quite happy if this was the case to trundle along and simply enjoy our run down to our planned stop over in Barcelona.

Here is a shot of the coastline.

Further down the coast we passed Fenals beach where we had so much fun on our recent break ashore with Keira Brett and Aaliyah. The wind was, as forecast, next to nothing (F1/F2) and it was baking hot.

Our route to Barcelona from Palamos was about 52 NM but with about 18NM to go, the wind swung round to the east and got stronger and the sea state increased rather quickly. We kept going but with about 12NM to Barcelona the sea state continued to increase quite markedly. At this point I had to consider what it would be like after another couple of hours had passed.

After pondering this I decided prudence was key, and as we were just short of Mataro marina, I got on the radio and was pleased to find out they had a berth available. Quick change of course and in we headed with the wind and waves directly behind us. It was a bit rolly turning into the marina entrance, but once in Sara quickly got the fenders and lines ready (despite her sore rib cage) and with the marina staff already waiting for us on the pontoon to assist it was all pretty straighforward.

Next major action was getting the kettle on for a well earned cuppa, and as we sat enjoying our coffee the wind continued to climb, and a few boats had decided on the same course of action as ourselves and came into Mataro for shelter. One Spanish boat that came in and parked alongside us, had left from Barcelona and was saying he was taken aback at the speed the sea state had changed, and in his opinion looking at weather forecasts is a bit of a waste of time as it’s never what’s predicted……………………now how many times has that been said/heard?

With only a couple of hours left to reach Barcelona I was still questioning myself on our decision to abort but it was the right decision and let’s face it – there’s always tomorrow.

I’ve e-mailed the Raymarine agent in Barcelona, so hopefully when we get there he can sort out our wind instument issue once and for all, as it’s now stopped working completely. Not essential you might think but being a motorsailer it’s handier when steering from inside the wheelhouse to know the direction and strength of the wind. This problem has plagued us for some time and I really do hope we find the root cause.

So that’s about it for today, next stop Barcelona.

Love to all.