The Trafalgar trick: Rota-Puerto de Conil-Tarifa

We stayed one more night than planned in Rota to let Ludo the time to change the oil of the engine and solve the problem of the leaking water tank at the bow of the boat. On September 4, 2pm, once everything is fixed we leave the harbor. The weather forecast announces a W F3-4 wind but it once again it won’t last, and foolishly we expected to reach Tarifa in the evening… there’s nothing to do but leaving the Trafalgar Cape on the horizon and divert to Puerto de Conil [only 25M away from Rota!] and drop the anchor for the night. It’s a small fishing harbor at the foot of yellow cliffs. Short historical note: yes, as the name says, it’s around here that in October 1805 French fleets and their Spanish allies who were planning to invade Great Britain got their ass kicked by the smart Admiral Nelson. Napoléon’s dreams were destroyed forever and Great Britain re-established its supremacy on seas for the next century.
We anchor right in front of a small beach next to Conil harbor, thinking that at least we’ll have a good night sleep and be refresh for the next sailing day. The problem is that this beach is exposed to the S-W, right where the swell will be coming from all night long. On the top of that, the ground is full of rocks on which the chain and anchor will be rubbing and hooking with awful noises, even with ear-plugs I didn’t manage to sleep…
It’s with backache, very tired and grumpy that we take off again the next day at 10:45am, decided to pass the Trafalgar Cape and reach the Mecca of windsurfing. We even think it’s going to be a sportive sailing, the navtex flatters us with a “Force 4-5 occasionally 6 SW-W wind”! And that’s the Trafalgar trick, just like in the battle in 19th century that’s the lack of wind that beats us! The wind won’t get up in the entire day, despite the fact we are in one of the windiest place in the world (300 days of wind over 30knots per year, hundreds of wind mills everywhere!). Happily dolphins will cheer us up and stay playing with the boat for a good hour. We will have to cover 25M with the motor.
And in addition, just before we arrived in Tarifa we’ve been taken away by the strong current of the strait and we passed dangerously closed to Bajos de los Cabezos, a bank where waves break even by nice weather and where there’s a collection of wrecks. It’s been really hair-raising. At last around 9pm we settle in the small bay near the harbor of Tarifa. From here we can have a close look on the monster speed boats which link Tarifa to Tanger in Morocco in only 35min.