OW N E R R E P O R T
We had been looking for willing volunteers/crew for the Atlantic crossing in November and, as most of my friends are climbers, we needed crew that knew how to sail. In the end things fell nicely into place and we met up at St Katharine's the day before departure with the aim of spending a week together sailing the boat to Camaret in North West Britanny. We were also lucky to have Duncan Bush from Oyster as far as Falmouth. He had commissioned the boat and was a great source of detailed knowledge as well as a Yachtmaster Instructor and helped us enormously. He was also great fun to be with! Although our plans were loosely formed, Trish and I decided that as we were so close we should officially start our trip from the Greenwich Meridian. We pushed aside the hordes of other tourists and took a photo of our feet either side of the meridian. We also tried to get a photo of our GPS read-outs showing 00.00.00 but could only get 00.00.02! The first few legs of our trip took us from London to Camaret, La Rochelle, Lagos and then on to Gibraltar where we had the option of crossing to the Balearics Islands to join the Oyster Regatta at the beginning of October. But despite the obvious attractions of the regatta, Trish and I decided to spend some time in Morocco having read an article by Liza Copeland, which we followed up with research on marinas and ports along the Atlantic coast. Everyone we spoke to had enthused about the country, its diverse countryside and landscapes, its friendly people and its ancient towns and cities. A week long Levanter kept us in Gibraltar longer than anticipated. These easterly winds create a large cloud cap over the west side of the Rock, keeping everything in the shade while everywhere around is under blue skies. They also create an accelerate zone, making leaving and entering port difficult. We finally made the crossing to Tangier only to find that the tiny marina was full and the port authorities unwilling to find another berth for us, so we made a hasty change of plans and sailed on to Asilah on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Although the pilot book warned against taking larger yachts into many of the por ts, we were surprised to later find that a number of new marinas had been built since the book was published and we were able to use
the brand new marinas in Smir and Rabat, leaving Curious for extended periods to explore inland. The pilot book shows that Asilah is a small fishing port where it is possible to anchor but there is a sand bar at the entrance and also the depths inside need carefully monitoring as you enter. In our experience there was no wind and very little swell so entry was quite straightforward. However, there is little room for a boat of our draft and we had to search out the best spot on a falling tide. We still had to move closer to the entrance either side of low water and even then felt the boat touch the sandy bottom once or twice. As it was, we decided not to prolong our stay and left early the following morning in order to avoid the next low tide. The forecasted NW winds did not materialise and with a 1 knot south going current, we motored the 95 miles to Rabat at an average of 9.5 knots under clear blue skies and flat seas. Is the Atlantic supposed to be like that? We passed fishing boats large and small along the way and even tiny wooden rowing boats miles out at sea. We were also stopped by a coastguard cutter who asked where we had come from and where we were going to, all in a friendly manner and were then sent on our way with a wave and good wishes. We arrived at the entrance to Rabat and called up a pilot boat as both the charts and the pilot book shows the Oued Bou Regreg to be un-navigable due to silting. However, they have dredged a channel up river and built a brand new marina complex. The only danger was from hundreds of children swimming across the river as you motored by with no room to motor around them. The guy in the pilot boat shepherds them out of the way, all done in good humour. We felt safe leaving Curious in the marina whilst we explored the two cities either side of the river Bou Regreg, Rabat on the south bank and Sale on the north bank. Now the capital of Morocco, Rabat has its own long history and much to see in and around the old Medina and Kasbah. Situated on top of the hill overlooking the river, the minaret is all that is left of what was the second largest mosque in the world. As well as the mosque, there is also the tomb of King Mohammed V the grandfather of the current, young reforming king Mohammed the VI has introduced many changes to the country including universal suffrage, school education for children up to the age of 15 and a programme of > w w w. o y s t e r m a r i n e . c o m
35