...Yesterday we went to Denia for a sail on Laurence and Tony's Yacht. Dave and Pete took us in their car, we got slightly lost leaving the toll road and very lost in the centre of Denia, so once we found the sea, so long as it was on the left and the mountains on the right we were going the right way. Ultimately we found the Marina, parked up and set off with cool box, in which was a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine and a cheesecake Angela made. The intention was to get on board then sail to a cove down from Javier, drop anchor and have lunch - the more daring would be able to take a swim.
We went down the pier to where the boat should be but when we got there it wasn't. Then we realised we were on the wrong pier. Second time lucky we arrived at the boat.
There were two couple we didn't know, Margaret and Phil and Eileen and John. Laurence and Tony did the introductions after we were hailed aboard. The first thing we received was a glass of bubbly followed by a safety demonstration in the "unlikely" event of a 'Man over board' or a fire or us sinking. I took careful notice as I am unable to swim.
Laurence and Tony went into sailor mode and untied numerous ropes, turned the engine on and we chugged out of port to some rousing classical music with just an undertone of that famous viola chord sequence as the shark was about to pounce in Jaws. Did they know something we didn't?
Laurence told us we were not going out with sails flying because there wasn't enough wind speed (music to my ears), but the wind increases in the afternoon so we could get up to 10 knots later under sail (damn!!!). "Do you want to drive Bob?" shouted Laurence. I said "OK, I'll give it a go".
It was alright I quite enjoyed it, I had a tendency to over steer and didn't know my port from my starboard, but remembered to avoid the Ibiza to Denia ferry, and missed the sundry yachts to the right and left (port and starboard I think). "Now Bob aim at that mountain" instructed Laurence (he used to be a Teacher you couldn't tell !!!) "Wouldn't I be better missing it Laurence?" was my naive reply. "We just need to get close, so we can appreciate the views close in, and look at the depth meter, that will give a clue as to how close we are." "Its says 2.9 Laurence". "What" he ran over . "That's the speed in knots you idiot, that one above it tells you the depth and it's 8 meters thankfully, you had me worried then". Oops, well I am only a land lubber what do I know? Tony by this time was at the side of me, being more subtle than Laurence, with the occasional helpful hint, "I think you could turn to sea a bit now Bob" and so I did. Now and again an instruction to Tony from Laurence "Don't get too close Tony you know there are ledges beneath the cliffs" "Its OK Laurence we have 12 meters below us" Tony confidently replied. All the time I am thinking 12 meters is nearly 5 times deeper than I am tall, so if we sink there is no way I could hold my breath and walk it to land.
After a bit I got fed up with driving, so I aimed it roughly to where we were going and pressed the automatic pilot to on and went to enjoy the scenery. However, the ladies who had erstwhile been chatting suddenly realised that noone was steering the boat and started to panic a bit but Laurence reassured them it was safe.
As we neared the cove Laurence and Tony snapped back into sailor mode again and Tony walked to the pointed end ready to drop anchor, whilst Laurence manoeuvred the boat and monitored the depth. The boat stopped, Tony dropped the anchor and we were at our dining place.
Whilst we were sailing, Pete had been on the deck midships lying in the sun. As we stopped he came into the cockpit where we were assembled and sat in the shade advising Dave that he felt sick.
I noted that the water was 12.4 meters deep, which is the depth of water under the hull so i wasn't going to go near the edge. Laurence dropped the rear half door which gave access to a ledge or diving platform. He dived straight into the water like Johny Weismuller. (for the less mature Weismuller was once an Olympic swimmer). Dave and Pete were now in their swimming shorts and Dave instructed Pete to get into the water, as it would make him feel better. So Pete dived in, then Dave (who hates submerging completely in water) followed but went under like a torpedo, much to Pete's surprise who promptly dived after him, dragged him to the surface and asked why he did that. Dave having swallowed half the Mediterranean sea, coughed and spluttered in response. He eventually managed to spurt out "I forgot to close my mouth" admittedly you do not associate a closed mouth with Dave, but I thought he may have made the exception in water.
After a while all the swimmers were re-assembled on board and the galley was active, with food being passed from below to the deck, and soon we were all sat there with a glass of wine and food on our plates. Pete sat next to me and I asked if he was any better, he said he was a bit better and maybe need some food. So we ate and we drank and we chatted and had a good laugh. Then Laurence announced it was time to set off back. The lads became sailors again and they dragged the anchor back in and aimed at the sea.
This was to become the interesting part. On the Yacht their are two masts, the one in the middle being the main sale and the one at the front is able to tack. each sail has two ropes to control them and there is an automatic winder for the front sail. Laurence had to turn the yacht into the wind before the main sale could be opened. Once the main sale was opened the front sail could be opened. Laurence turned the yacht to the direction he wanted to go and the wind took hold and we were off.
Seemingly you can't sail a yacht directly to where you want to sail, you have to zig-zag, and we were currently zigging out to sea at 7 knots, and as the wind was hitting the sail from the right, the yacht was by now at a 45 degree angle and I was closer to the sea than anyone, being sat at the stern. I had one hand on a chrome rail to my left side and the other to a steel wire behind me clinging on for dear life. Pete was very amused to my reaction to this sudden rush of activity, The hardened sailors were enjoying the sail, I think Eileen felt a bit like me but was braving it out. Margaret was doing her best to light a cigarette. "Are you ready to jibe" was Laurence's cry after a mind-numbing length of time as far as I was concerned. "Jibe" this was his instruction to Tony to turn the main sail and get ready to tack the front sail. Laurence turned the yacht to aim at Denia harbour and the sail spun to port, the yacht righted itself and it seemed like calm had been re-established. "I could see that was bothering you Bob, so I thought we would go a bit steadier." "What gave the game away Laurence, my constant screaming, the fact my knuckles were white from clinging to the rail or was it just your intuition." I sarcastically responded.
Pete had disappeared below for a considerably long period and when he returned he looked quite green. Having had my swimming trunks on, I took this calm opportunity to get my shorts back on down in the galley. When I returned I sat between John and Angela my wife, opposite was Pete who was obviously in discomfort. Laurence said "Pete I think you should sit at the back, in case you are sick, its better to throw up overboard than on someone or we could start a chain reaction." Pete did as he was advised and Dave joined him for moral support.
Margaret went to get some water and as she left Pete could hang on no longer and he dived to the rail was was not very well... Fortunately the wind was in the right direction, but the boat needed to be turned again ready for our last sail change. Laurence and Tony waited for Pete to settle first. After a while Dave piped up "That's it, he will be OK now, I know Pete just a glass of coke and he'll be fine"
Margaret came up from the galley as Pete was in mid up-chucking mode and she said "Oh no! I just had some water out of the tap and it was awful, now I think I am going to be sick too." Unlike Pete she managed to contain it, and when Pete started to clearly revive the boat was aimed in the right direction and we entered the harbour. "Right all the men to the side please we need you to grab the yacht next to ours when we come along side" Laurence ordered, so we obediently did so whilst Tony got various balloon looking things to make sure we didn't damage our yacht or the one next door. After a few attempts we managed to berth.
By the time we stood on Terra Firma we were clearly ready for it, but it was an excellent day all told. Laurence and Tony are superb hosts and their seamanship appeared to me, the novice, to be excellent too.
Dave drove us home and we discussed the day, Pete said "I didn't feel right after lying on the deck, and the motion of the boat". That was when the boat was under engine power, going to the cove at 3 knots in very calm weather. When I was feeling like the boat trip was reminiscent of a Tera mitica white knuckle ride, Pete was laughing almost hysterically at me, but I did manage to keep my breakfast and lunch down. I thought it was neither the time nor the place to remind him of this, but one day.....
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