Oil slick off Spanish coast

[Silver]

I had intended to sail my new yacht to Gibralter/Med in February (weather permitting) from the Hamble. I am now concerned that sailing through the area contaminated by the Prestige oil tanker could damage my boat. Does anyone have any advice/experience of this?

 

[webcraft]

If this worries you, then maybe you should think twice about a Biscay crossing.

It's messy out there . . . stay in the marina near those nice fresh water hoses.

[And stop trolling . . . ]

<font color=blue>Nick</font color=blue>
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[PaulJ]

On November 30th someone called "Albatros" made a long posting re the sinking of the Prestige and the resulting polution. I assumed that he came from the Galicia region .... maybe you could contact him through this forum and he could advise on the state of things at the moment.

 

[Guest]

February, weather permitting, is for those latitudes an oxymoron.
By April almost certainly no trace of pollution at sea.

 

[Paulka]

I (rather my boat) suffered twice oil pollution. The first time into a harbour, where the water was covered with 3-5 cm. of fuel for nearly one week!
The hull didn't suffer any damage, except for a black "water line" which disapeared spontaneously within a few weeks.
The worse inconvenience was that the mooring lines were that impregnated with the mess that the only solution was to replace them.

A second time, at sea. We just discovered in the morning, after a night crossing, that the deck and foresails were spotted with black "paint". A few more spots were seen on the hull as well, but didn't last to the next harbour.
Cleaning the deck (teak) with some gazoline was an easy task. One sail still shows some spots, 10 years or so later.

In my opinion, the worse the weather, the better for the boat, as the oil will not adhere on a wet hull/deck, and the more emulsified the oil is on the water, leaving only very small balls of oil which will be washed away by the next wave.
The sails are then the most exposed, and will show for a long time what happened. I think it's less harmfull to the sails just to mop them up with either gazoline or diesel oil, than to wash them with to strong washing ... anything.
I prefer a black spot than a hole in my sail.

Go for it, come to the Med!