I was completely surprised over the island of Majorca. It is like a small Slovenia: plains, mountains with two large lakes, rivers and the sea. After three weeks of research, it was time for me to move on. Tony and I meanwhile became friends and he asked me if he could sail with me to Gibraltar, where he would board back on the Artemist boat. Given that we get along well on the coast, I agreed. I explained to him some of the rules that apply to my boat. The next morning was sunny, the weather forecast was excellent and the wind was forecast from the SW, with which we will sail towards Ibiza.
When I return from the toilet to the boat, Tony is already waiting for me in full sailing gear: long pants, high boots, sailing jacket… dressed completely too much compared to today. He makes me smile early on, I ask him if we are going to Antarctica, and he stares at me in amazement. So with a laugh we leave the city of Palma de Majorca and sail towards Ibiza.
But the problems started on the first day of our joint voyage. One of the rules on my boat is that there is no alcohol on the boat. Tony had been feline since the night before. To get from the bay to the point where we would raise the sails, we motorized. I sat on the deck under the mast and peeled my apple for breakfast. It seemed strange to me that we came out of the bay so quickly. I shift into the cockpit and notice that the engine revs are at 3000. “Did you move the lever?” I ask Tony. He convincingly answers me no. Nothing is clear to me, I move the lever back to 2000 turns and seven in the cockpit. I watch Tony, his walk on the boat from cabin to cabin, and every time he stepped out of the cabin, he stuck the lever with those wide glider pants and moved it lower and lower. Well, we have a reason why the plants were so high. I explain to him to be careful, but it didn’t help much until we turned off the engine and raised the sails.
We sailed with all the sails and Tony was all excited to watch the boat glide on the water and jump on the waves without any problems. We sailed at an average speed of 7.4, which he was fascinated by as a small child. The boat he had sailed on before was 2 m longer than mine, but 2 knots slower. But the excitement soon passed him by, weary and tired, he crawled into the cabin in the rush hour. Every two hours he poked his head out the window and asked where we were. My answer was, “On a boat, at sea, and that’s good!” And each time I told him we had another 10 miles to the island. Like when I was a kid, and I kept asking my mom on the way to the sea when we would be at sea. Her answer was the same every time: another half hour.
While sailing, the left five somehow came off, so I set the boat sharply against the wind on the other side straight towards the bay in the northern part of the island, where we will drop anchor. The weather forecast for each bay was predicted to me by a friend from Norway who was a passionate sailor and meteorologist, a very wise man who made his own electric motor on his boat and threw his old Volvo out of the boat. He also participated in a group developing a new type of wind turbine.
As we sailed for the island, the hour was already late and we saw nothing in front of us except the lights from a small village along the coast rising high into the shore of the island. The wind calmed down. I call Tony to show up from the cabin as we are going to lower the sails and since I don’t have exact maps of these bays, he will have to stand on the bow and observe what is in front of us and when to press the anchor winch remote control. When we found a place to anchor in the narrow bay, which was surrounded on all sides by cliffs, it was already ten o’clock. Tired, I headed to bed, and Tony smelled of alcohol again, and since he wasn’t on the boat, he decided to go ashore. He asked me to inflate his dinghy.
“Are you normal, should I pump your dinghy in the middle of the night so you can go for a beer?” I snapped indignantly. Of course he swam away – in that cold water, against the wind, with a huge waterproof bag, he changed into dry clothes on the shore and went to look for the first inn. He returned late at night with a bottle of wine and rumbled around the boat all night.
I wake up at eight in the morning and at morning coffee I observe a calm bay and storm clouds coming from behind the island. I take advantage of the nice weather, climb the mast and pin the five back. Just as I was about to come down from the mast, Tony appeared on deck walking down the barge and honestly rocked me on the mast. Just before the storm we leave the anchorage and sail around the island on the east side, where we encounter hail. We sail with a little genoa and move slowly along the shore. We drop anchor in front of the town of Eieissa, where we will wait two days for a favorable wind, and then back towards the mainland. Due to the end of the season, the place was completely empty and there was nothing special to see. Tony was constantly teasing when we were going to sail. It’s amazing, I think to myself, and I say to him, “When you’re on land, you drink and you ask me when we’re going to sail, and when we’re sailing, you ask when we’re going to be ashore. Then you go for an evening swim! We will go when the wind is right! ”
After two days of boredom, we raised the anchor and early in the morningsailed away as I wanted to be across the shallows between Ibiza and Formentera before the wind started to blow and that was exactly how it was. When we sailed across the shallows, the wind started and we raised the mainsail to another shortening, unwinding the genoa halfway. The sailboat sailed in an orco right towards Cape Cap del Nau, the wind blowing from the cold Atlantic through Gibraltar and rising hour by hour. Tony is in his cabin as usual or wandering around the deck with his baggy pants and asking when we’ll be there. I answer him that we will be quite late today, another 10 nm. Since the sun has already set and the wind is getting stronger, I decide to change direction. I turn the boat towards Dinea, where we enter the marina late at night and moor at the petrol pier. I’m tired, I go to bed, and Tony, as expected – to the city.
I wake up early in the morning and go to see the castle at the top of the city, where I can have a “coffee with a view”. When I return, the police are waiting for me on the pier and poor Tony is not let from the boat to the toilet, saying that it is not his boat and that we did not check in at the marina office. We solve the whole conflict without any problems with a 20 euro banknote, and we set sail from the marina towards the place where Jure Šterk always stopped when he sailed past. This town called Moraria is quite small, with a small anchorage and a smaller town center. We arrive and tie up at the pier. I explained to Tony that our sailing together would end here and that he should take a bus to Gibraltar tomorrow morning. My freedom was put to the test, I felt like a prisoner on my own sailboat and sailing was losing its meaning. Sailing with someone who is constantly missing something and, on top of that, is smart, was unbearable for me. So I decided that this should be resolved in the simplest way before major quarrels and outbreaks occur. It all became similar to a situation when you are trapped in a small space with a person you can’t stand.
While Tony was packing his things, I headed to the skatepark. I trusted Tony and let him go in peace. I wandered around in the beautiful skatepark all day, forgetting about the clock and everything. Late at noon I returned to the boat, which was miraculously tidied up, and the funnel was washed, which he never did. With his way of making coffee, the sink was always dirty. He left me a message on the table that read: Happy journey, favorable wind, etc., and next to it he left a bottle of whiskey with the last sip, which he intended for me. He probably carried it with him all the time…
Ibiza – Alicante
The next morning I headed towards Alicante. The weather was getting colder and nicer, it was raining every day. I wondered where I could leave the boat over the winter and head back home. I sailed along the coast, which is quite populated and full of marinas, at every 30 nm there was some. I sailed from one to the other and asked for the price of a berth for five months. After all, I found the cheapest and best in the city of Torriveja, where I prepared the boat for winter. I locked the boat with difficulty and took the bus to the airport and then home. I stayed in Slovenia until April, worked all day and saved money again, and then returned to the boat with the first warm weather.