Leg 1 Gibraltar to Tenerife

Before setting off the rally had two weeks of 'preparation' in Gibraltar. Most of the time was spent tackling what seemed like an endless list of jobs intersperced with shopping and stowing of stores. However there were opportunities to take a break from the graft and get in some culture. Sue and I made a trip to Ronda, high up in the hills above Gibraltar where a town is perched on precipitous cliffs overlooking the surrounding country.

Ronda is home to Spains oldest bullring and they are very proud of it! It was very interesting to look round the galleries of pictures, mostly showing the destruction of bulls by matadors but some where the bull came off best - at least in the opening skirmishes. Sadly the result is always the same and it is hard for us Brits' with our sensibilities for animal welfare to understand the attraction of such a gruesome sport.

The town is devided into two parts and they are linked by this magnificent bridge. Sadly no photograph can do justice to the height and architecture of the construction.

We made another excursion, along with most of the participants in the rally, to smir in Morocco. We sailed across the straits and overnighted in a very nice marina with a coach laid on to take us to the town of Tetchwan (probably not the right way to spell it!) Where we started off visiting the Bazaar with its mass of noise, colour and smells.

Next stop, the obligatory carpet warehouse, where we had to sit through the sales patter and have a selection of carpets laid out and removed even though almost nobody was wanting to buy carpets at the start of a two year voyage.......

We were also taken to see the tannery where skins were being cured by repeated washings before being dyed with natural ingredients. It is just as well you can't smell this picture!

Finally a Moroccan dinner was laid on with some excellent food. As it was during ramadan the promised belly dancing was not allowed but this toothles gentleman made a prety fair sight with his dance routine using flaming candles, sometimes balanced on his head, whilst he leapt, twirled and rolled around on the floor.

For the last week the boats were all dressed overall which made an impressive sight. The weather was not co-operating and we had a week of low cloud and quite a bit of rain but we created plenty of colour with all our flags..

Then, on the 30th October 2005 at 1000hrs the circumnavigation commenced at the start line formed between a naval boat and Europa point. There was absolutely no wind at all, but as this is a cruising rally, not a race, we all motored gently across the start line. My picture shows us alongside Gipsy Moth IV as we cross the line, and we feel suitably privileged to be setting out for this voyage of a lifetime in such famous company. 40 Years ago she made a circumnavigation, going East about and via the Capes with Sir Francis Chichester at the helm. This time, crewed by dozens of volunteers from acros the UK she sails West about through the Panama and Suez canals, to rewrite history.

The trip down from Gibraltar started badly with all the boats running into a sudden storm during the first night. We recorded gusts of 40kts but like most, came through 'shaken not stirred' as someone put it in the following days roll call. There then followed a period of three days with very light NE winds which were pleasant but slow, before a strong NE'ly coming up during Thursday night, blew the fleet quickly down to Tenerife.

Now we are all preparing for the first of the 'big legs' crossing the Atlantic. I hope to be off next Monday (14th November) with an ETA before the 6th December when Sue will fly out to Jolly Harbour in Antigua to meet us.

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