Gale at Sea

Yngmar

Yngmar

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Had a bit of an adventure last year in May coming up the Costa del Sol and getting caught out by a gale. Wrote about the whole tale here: https://sdfjkl.org/blog/2019-04-09-gale-at-sea/

Having thought about this quite a lot, I feel like we did the right thing, getting to shelter a short distance away even though it was an awful ride, rather than turn and face a long downwind sail in uncertain weather conditions. Or should we have risked following the fishing boat into Adra?
 
Having thought about this quite a lot, I feel like we did the right thing
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It's quite 'normal' to revisit ( and revisit ) a crucial decision, to learn what can be. You can't know what might have been.

You recognised the problem. You made the best decision you could at the time and in the circumstances. You then made it work for you.

That's all you can expect..... or wish for. A nod of approval is warranted.
 
"The forecast had suggested a day of light airs"

The forecasts in the med can be fickle, it's sometimes better to use several different forecasting models to see the bigger picture, and then make your decision to move on or to stay.
 
BigJoe said:
"The forecast had suggested a day of light airs"

The forecasts in the med can be fickle, it's sometimes better to use several different forecasting models to see the bigger picture, and then make your decision to move on or to stay.
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Might be interesting to have a look at the gfs gribs round about then, see if they came up with anything last minute? When was this Yngmar? I've gribs saved to google drive 4 times a day which cover up to that area.
 
Uncertainty is wrong by definition. A gale can develop to a full storm anytime, where you have good chanches to loose various things from an old winch handle to your life.

For me the only question here is the route to that safe haven. That might be riskier in certain situations than heading to deep sea. If the prevailing conditions allow, no brainer, safe haven+nice warm dinner for me.
 
Yngmar said:
Had a bit of an adventure last year in May coming up the Costa del Sol and getting caught out by a gale. Wrote about the whole tale here: https://sdfjkl.org/blog/2019-04-09-gale-at-sea/

Having thought about this quite a lot, I feel like we did the right thing, getting to shelter a short distance away even though it was an awful ride, rather than turn and face a long downwind sail in uncertain weather conditions. Or should we have risked following the fishing boat into Adra?
Click to expand...

That was just where I got battered last October. We were going east and decided to miss Adra - didn't know entrance. Looked at it a couple of weeks ago by car and think it would have been ok. Decided to go to Almeria and broached continuously the whole way there.

My feeling is that the mountains affect the wind locally. Forecast was for F4 with gusts of F6. Wind was way above that.
 
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