Is it wise to make a plan?

[sailorgirl]

At least twice in recent weeks we have decided that it is time to move on and make a little more progress towards the Canaries (don't actually want to be there until early December mind you) and each time the weather gods have intervened. Decided yesterday that Sunday's forecast was good for leaving Rabat; northerly winds, little swell so the harbour should be open. Then I looked at Tuesday's forecast.....and we're staying put again. Anyone else out there harbour bound?

 

[NornaBiron]

At least twice in recent weeks we have decided that it is time to move on and make a little more progress towards the Canaries (don't actually want to be there until early December mind you) and each time the weather gods have intervened. Decided yesterday that Sunday's forecast was good for leaving Rabat; northerly winds, little swell so the harbour should be open. Then I looked at Tuesday's forecast.....and we're staying put again. Anyone else out there harbour bound?

We're waiting to go east towards Leros in Greece. We've been anchored on Skhinoussa, a lovely little island, for a week now waiting for strong northerlies to the east of us to die down. Each day we walk to the village and look towards Amorgos (our planned next stop) to see rough seas and lots of black cloud. Hopefully Monday will be a good time to move on. At least we don't have any deadlines.

 

[sailorgirl]

I know exactly how you feel - a walk into town earlier in the week at low tide revealed guys surfing in the breakers within the harbour!

 

[capnsensible]

At least twice in recent weeks we have decided that it is time to move on and make a little more progress towards the Canaries (don't actually want to be there until early December mind you) and each time the weather gods have intervened. Decided yesterday that Sunday's forecast was good for leaving Rabat; northerly winds, little swell so the harbour should be open. Then I looked at Tuesday's forecast.....and we're staying put again. Anyone else out there harbour bound?

Smart move!

 

[Sandyman]

Is it wise to make a plan ? Without doubt, just don't put a time frame on it that you expect to keep rigidly to.

 

[tri39]

Exactly! Altho I missed national service I think of sailing sometimes in the military terms of strategy and tactics.
Your strategy is the long term plan, eg cross the Atlantic to Windies or whatever longer term time scale you choose.
Tactics are how you make progress towards this long term goal on a day to day or weekly basis. As long as you are making
slow progress in the right direction, don't worry about temporary delays, in fact enjoy them.
I wouldn't go anywhere in the N.Atlantic atm, see the current weatherfaxes. The mini transat has now waited nr Brest over two weeks!!
As has Thomas Coville on Sodebo. Plus Spindrift 2 in Portimao.
I've just been up on the roof to remove the ham radio aerial, and we're going to prune the fig tree b4 the maelstrom on Sun night!!
I must learn how to add attachments, it's not obvious is it!?

 

[jimbaerselman]

Good plans have lots of "ifs" and "if nots" built in. Many ways to meet the objective, whatever it may be, in the face of many uncertainties.

 

[KellysEye]

> Is it wise to make a plan?

Given weather, breakages and waiting for spares means cruising plans should be written at low tide in the sand, that was the way we looked at it.

 

[RAI]

Make a passage plan, but leave the date off. Friday might be OK.

 

[SHUG]

Old nautical saying........MAKE FIRM PLANS BUT STAY FLEXIBLE

 

[Ludd]

Old nautical saying........MAKE FIRM PLANS BUT STAY FLEXIBLE

NEVER have a plan----but always stick to it!

 

[Ariadne]

We've used the I think we'll over there as soon as the weather breaks, set off and see where we end up. Most of the time it's where we wanted to go in the first place, but sometimes not. I remember once we set off from Pretty Bay (Malta) heading 15 or so miles up the coast towards the Blue Lagoon, we ended up in Cagliari (Sardinia) 82 hours later!

Plans..........

 

[dazautomatics]

Hi Claire

Don't worry to much on pushing on, Rabat has to be the best place on the coast. Agadir is just a tourist resort and make sure you give the customs 24 hours notice of your departure time + 8 hours as this is roughly how long it takes people to sign out. Safi (from a friends point of view) was very nice but was charges 200dh per night and another 100dh for a minder. Essaouira was very beautiful but the pilot book is out of date and another friend who went in the marina recorded only 1.8m and only 4 berths are available 2+2 Rafted and the surge was dangerous in the harbour with only 2meters of northerly swell. The anchorage was good for holding but even behind the island the swell crept in around both sides of the island and it was a bit like a washing machine.....
As for Rabat I would recommend cleaning any part of you rigging that the sails touch as we have black marks from what looks like soot, possibly from all the 205 diesel taxi's!
Have a safe trip down and maybe catch you for that beer some time in the future

Regards

Darren n Vicki

 

[sailorgirl]

Hi Claire

Don't worry to much on pushing on, Rabat has to be the best place on the coast. Agadir is just a tourist resort and make sure you give the customs 24 hours notice of your departure time + 8 hours as this is roughly how long it takes people to sign out. Safi (from a friends point of view) was very nice but was charges 200dh per night and another 100dh for a minder. Essaouira was very beautiful but the pilot book is out of date and another friend who went in the marina recorded only 1.8m and only 4 berths are available 2+2 Rafted and the surge was dangerous in the harbour with only 2meters of northerly swell. The anchorage was good for holding but even behind the island the swell crept in around both sides of the island and it was a bit like a washing machine.....
As for Rabat I would recommend cleaning any part of you rigging that the sails touch as we have black marks from what looks like soot, possibly from all the 205 diesel taxi's!
Have a safe trip down and maybe catch you for that beer some time in the future

Regards

Darren n Vicki

Re Essaouira: we are there now rafted alongside the SAR vessel and it is shallow but the bottom is soft we recorded 1.4m at low water (we draw 2.1 and are aground at 1.5). It is swelly but not too bad as the SAR is moored to take the surges and we just go with the flow along side it! We too tried the anchorage as was dark when we first arrived - ok until the wind died then we were beam onto the swell and almost got tipped out of bed. There is a pontoon here too but the only possible berth there is along side a 40ft yacht used for charters and its crew are quick to turn away anyone who tries to go along side them. The harbour is also expensive at 244 MAD per night (£18.50) with no facilities for us (13.9m).

However Hassan the SAR captain has made us more than welcome including cooking a huge chicken tajine for us last night and a gift of two live crabs this morning! So if you don't mind a dirty fishing harbour, want to explore a lovely town and meet the locals then it is worth the effort.