The sailing season this year for us began with our first shakedown from Lagos on 10 May and ended with arriving in our winter port in Lisbon on 12 September, 126 days. Our overall route, from Lagos, Portugal to the Mar Menor in Spain and back to Lisbon, Portugal took us 1,278 nautical miles in 60 movements. The longest passage was 126 miles from La Linea to Adra.
We spent 50 nights at anchor in 31 locations 14 of which were new to us. Over the course of the season we consumed about 370 liters of diesel fuel running the engine 269 hours and achieving a measly 3.46 miles per liter. This is why it is called the “Motorterranean”. There was also the issue of not having a mainsail much of the time – more on that below. Also this season I took 2,339 photos most of which can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/rick-pic for those of you with too much time on your hands.
We experienced no severe weather this season. There were the expected number of hot days and there was less dust and smoke than we saw in 2023. In the Med, the heat is made bearable by the availability of swimming – except in marinas such as Cartagena where it can be stifling.
Now for the technical section. This may be interesting to people who own boats or are predisposed to engineering, other may want to skip it. (more…)
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