Still I live in hope to see the Holy Ground once more!
Day 2,851, 00:58
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Published in United Kingdom 
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by
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by Elvis Trout
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPDxdsnnZnU
I set sail recently aboard the Sincerity, an 88 ft ketch built in 1928 by Frix in the Clyde shipyards. Quite the fancy boat, the Princess of Monaco honeymooned in her, and she was featured in a short film with Jude Law. In the lounge where I slept there was a bullet hole in the wood panelling, whether from accident or argument I don't know.
Valued at £1 million you'd think the owner could afford a decent crew, but you'd be mistaken, my friend the skipper put out a call for volunteers and I responded eagerly, jetting off to Gibraltar to meet him.
monkey I saw leading some ducks around a secret military base, probably giving them a tour
Gibraltar is a weird place, most of the people seem Spanish, speak Spanish, but the enclave is proudly British. Whilst waiting for the boat to cross the Atlantic my companion and I explored, drank nice red wine and swam on a roof top pool in the middle of the night sipping whiskey.
Finally the call came in and we high-tailed it to Tarifa, a town some believe to be the origin of the word 'tariff' as it was well placed for taxing incoming merchant ships.
We set off in the middle of the night and quickly settled into the routine. 3 hours on watch, 9 hours off. Mine was 3 until 6 so getting sleep was difficult, too hot in the day and curtailed slumber at night. Watch meant helming the boat, watching for ships you might collide with and filling out the log book. In the day other duties included swabbing the decks, lashing things down and cooking. There was a crew of 10 which meant cooking enormous meals in a tiny, swaying kitchen in the baking sun. Fun times on the high seas!
After Tarifa we visited Aguadulce (sweet water), where the main order of business was the ship's laundry by day and the local fiesta by night. Muchos tequila and narrow streets leaking with bars and dancing.
After eating a heroic amount of Spanish sausage (ello sailor) it was time to set for Ibiza, a few days voyage but the promise of all kinds of earthly delights pushed us on.
It was approaching Ibiza that we got our first hint of what was to come, a bloody great waterspout pootling about in the sky.
After successfully avoiding getting sucked up into the sky and thrown into the heavens we docked in San Antonio, Ibiza and set about getting a good old drunk on, visiting strips clubs (totally by accident as it happened but still quite the experience) and the good old captain finally got his end away with a strapping young nurse from Bristol, huzzah!
'Twas a beautiful place, sadly ruined by British louts and racist bouncers, who maced the Antiguan member of our crew simply for being brown. I had to enlist the help of passing strangers to stop him killing the bouncer and we bundled him aboard with heavy hearts. We set sail for Majorca, and this is where the real fun started.
A huge lightning storm chased us all the way into port, I would love to be able to furnish you with pictures of the magnificent tempest, the crackling fingertips spreading across the sky in all their majesty, but by the time my watch ended we were in port. That's right lads, Elvis helmed the boat through the lightning storm.
We lay in Port Andratx nursing our wounds and after checking the weather forecast decided it was safe to head for northern Spain.
Nope. Nope nope nope.
Big storm, jib blew clean off, mainsail tore. Up all day and all night in soaking clothes, 50 knot winds and monstrous huge swells that threatened to capsize us.
Got plane home as soon as we reached port.
Hurrah for boats, and Hurrah for staying alive! Hope you enjoyed hearing about it
I set sail recently aboard the Sincerity, an 88 ft ketch built in 1928 by Frix in the Clyde shipyards. Quite the fancy boat, the Princess of Monaco honeymooned in her, and she was featured in a short film with Jude Law. In the lounge where I slept there was a bullet hole in the wood panelling, whether from accident or argument I don't know.
Valued at £1 million you'd think the owner could afford a decent crew, but you'd be mistaken, my friend the skipper put out a call for volunteers and I responded eagerly, jetting off to Gibraltar to meet him.
monkey I saw leading some ducks around a secret military base, probably giving them a tour
Gibraltar is a weird place, most of the people seem Spanish, speak Spanish, but the enclave is proudly British. Whilst waiting for the boat to cross the Atlantic my companion and I explored, drank nice red wine and swam on a roof top pool in the middle of the night sipping whiskey.
Finally the call came in and we high-tailed it to Tarifa, a town some believe to be the origin of the word 'tariff' as it was well placed for taxing incoming merchant ships.
We set off in the middle of the night and quickly settled into the routine. 3 hours on watch, 9 hours off. Mine was 3 until 6 so getting sleep was difficult, too hot in the day and curtailed slumber at night. Watch meant helming the boat, watching for ships you might collide with and filling out the log book. In the day other duties included swabbing the decks, lashing things down and cooking. There was a crew of 10 which meant cooking enormous meals in a tiny, swaying kitchen in the baking sun. Fun times on the high seas!
After Tarifa we visited Aguadulce (sweet water), where the main order of business was the ship's laundry by day and the local fiesta by night. Muchos tequila and narrow streets leaking with bars and dancing.
After eating a heroic amount of Spanish sausage (ello sailor) it was time to set for Ibiza, a few days voyage but the promise of all kinds of earthly delights pushed us on.
It was approaching Ibiza that we got our first hint of what was to come, a bloody great waterspout pootling about in the sky.
After successfully avoiding getting sucked up into the sky and thrown into the heavens we docked in San Antonio, Ibiza and set about getting a good old drunk on, visiting strips clubs (totally by accident as it happened but still quite the experience) and the good old captain finally got his end away with a strapping young nurse from Bristol, huzzah!
'Twas a beautiful place, sadly ruined by British louts and racist bouncers, who maced the Antiguan member of our crew simply for being brown. I had to enlist the help of passing strangers to stop him killing the bouncer and we bundled him aboard with heavy hearts. We set sail for Majorca, and this is where the real fun started.
A huge lightning storm chased us all the way into port, I would love to be able to furnish you with pictures of the magnificent tempest, the crackling fingertips spreading across the sky in all their majesty, but by the time my watch ended we were in port. That's right lads, Elvis helmed the boat through the lightning storm.
We lay in Port Andratx nursing our wounds and after checking the weather forecast decided it was safe to head for northern Spain.
Nope. Nope nope nope.
Big storm, jib blew clean off, mainsail tore. Up all day and all night in soaking clothes, 50 knot winds and monstrous huge swells that threatened to capsize us.
Got plane home as soon as we reached port.
Hurrah for boats, and Hurrah for staying alive! Hope you enjoyed hearing about it
🙂
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Comments
Awesome \o/
Great story 😃
\o/
Waw... gotta plane home XD
You should become a treasure hunter!
Felt seasick just reading this! Well written....