The Gulf of Cadiz
Slowly the night descends over the Gulf of Cadiz and the stars start to sparkle. I had already forgotten how this is out here, on a clear night with thousands and thousands of stars. I'm sitting on our terrace, that's what I call the cockpit of our catamaran Katinka and slowly settle down. The sea is getting gentler and it is almost unbelievable that we are on the Atlantic, but it seems to me as if we are lying on Lake Constance in total calm in the middle of the lake, if there was not this starry sky. Fascinated, I look up and review the events of the last few days.
Slowly the night descends over the Gulf of Cadiz and the stars start to sparkle. I had already forgotten how this is out here, on a clear night with thousands and thousands of stars. I'm sitting on our terrace, that's what I call the cockpit of our catamaran Katinka and slowly settle down. The sea is getting gentler and it is almost unbelievable that we are on the Atlantic, but it seems to me as if we are lying on Lake Constance in total calm in the middle of the lake, if there was not this starry sky. Fascinated, I look up and review the events of the last few days.
On the 19th of August we arrived in Portimao to take over our new Kat Katinka, acquired at the end of July, and to move it to Italy. A transfer by the previous owner could not take place, as he was currently traveling between Tahiti and Samoa. This mean exploring the ship itself and understanding, of course, checking the function of all important aggregates. In addition, there was an engine service performed, the antifouling applied and the sails had to be rigged. The crane was reserved for the 23rd of August. A few night shifts were inevitable, but everything went according to plan and the day of departure approached. The night before, the marina wanted to carry out preliminary work around the ship in order to be able to lift the catamaran by crane at 9:00 am the next morning. When at 6:00 pm still no one come around, I was getting restless and asked in the office. They told me that the previous owner had not paid the demurrage for the last year and that the appointment for tomorrow had been canceled. Great, I loved it! What can we do I asked? If I pay, they told me, the appointment is still valid. What else could I do? We either stay here or pay and come away tomorrow. I paid in the hope the pre-owner stay to his word, which later turned out to be very naive. I'm still waiting for my money today. Then everything went very fast. In the evening, three men, including the boss, arrived and clean up the ship area. The next morning at 10:30 am we dangled on the crane and at 11:30 am we were in the water.
Although the engine was serviced by me and a test run was carried out, the diesel went out in the first hour of operation constantly, but allowed to restart again and again. This was very unsatisfying because the reason was not clearly known, also a certain unrest come up to me and Gaby find it out. However, the dropouts were getting smaller and after 3 hours he ran without problems. Probably it was the long stoppage phase of the engine. To Italy, we had no more problems again.
Gaby came out and we looked for a while in the starry sky. The engine bubbled along, drowned only by the humming sound of the two hydraulic drives in the hulls. Slowly we got hungry and our first dinner at sea was imminent, there was delicious lasagne from the microwave. We discussed our next destination, the Strait of Gibraltar. Gaby took over the first watch, which mean 4 hours of sleep for me. Sleep that I urgently needed and didn't wait too long.
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