Cassini's blog - Cassini blog#158 Marseille to Gibraltar 36:8.965N, 005:21.3W

Cassini blog#158 Marseille to Gibraltar 36:8.965N, 005:21.3W

Cassini's blog

Simon and Sally, Nigel and Catherine

Mon 28 Apr 2025 14:07

Marseille to Gibraltar

As Sally waved us off from Marseille on Wednesday morning, looking forward to a few days at home (especially having seen the forecast for the first 24hrs!!), Cassini started her first return leg via Gibraltar. The ‘Us’ being Simon, Nigel, Catherine, Mark and myself (Liz); the latter 2 being the first case of ‘East meets West’ crew from the 2 Cassini Atlantic crossings.

As promised by Simon and as advertised by Windy (the weather App); we were in for an ‘interesting’ first 12hrs+ with a steady wind of approx 25 knots. This meant sailing head into wind to quite large and stomach churning waves with the odd wave drenching those on deck. On the back of the passing of the Pope, there were quite a few ‘Hail Mary’s’ being muttered under one’s breath as Cassini made way.

Whilst there was not an open competition between ‘East meets West’, Mark ‘won’ the first to be sea sick by a considerable margin (about an hour after leaving port), claiming he just wanted to retaste his wrap as it was so tasty. Catherine soon followed suit to keep him company. I am not sure who won the final tally, but I think it was pretty close. These conditions largely continued until the morning as we crossed the Gulf of Lion into Spanish waters towards Barcelona.

Fortunately the pre-made meals paid off so we only had to cook some pasta and reheat some bolognese for dinner (which once again, Mark tasted twice). Meanwhile, Catherine proved you can survive on a diet of Ginger biscuits alone; reappearing on the odd occasion like a Meerkat, who having popped her head up, quickly disappeared back into her burrow, muttering some more Hail Mary’s (and probably some less repeatable expletives to Nigel).

Not content with having enough attention from being sea sick, Mark ‘snake hips’, whose hips were clearly not quite so snake like in rolling waves, managed to fall off the chart table seat in the dark hours and banged his head on the steps. Myself and Catherine ran to his aid; Catherine using her pharmacist skills to administer paracetamol, whilst I was working out when it was safe to start laughing at him. Unfortunately the bang to the head has not affected his ability to ‘spin dits’! The ongoing investigation has yet to ascertain whether the splinters found on the deck originated from the step or his head.

Given that sleeping in the fore peak was particularly uncomfortable, it was a case of finding a spare bunk/piece of floor to sleep on, as and when you came off watch, so ‘down below’ soon looked more like some student digs than a ‘ship shape’ Cassini - until of course Simon and Nigel resumed ‘inspection rounds’ in the morning.

The passage between Thursday and Saturday was a mix of motoring and sailing as wind conditions typically ranged from anything from 4 to 16 knots. Morale was drastically improved (especially for Catherine) when Simon granted showers on Friday morning (only 48hrs in, which was most unlike him but helped avoid a ship's mutiny).

On Saturday Mark’s attention was somewhat diverted as you will see from the following inject from Mark:

"An obvious zenith in crew morale was reached at 2015 on Saturday evening with confirmation that, by beating Charlton Athletic 3-0, and qualifying to play in the Championship next season, Wrexham AFC had indeed become the only team in the top 5 English leagues to gain promotion in 3 consecutive seasons. As the East/West M&S watch noted ‘this was’t just promotion, this was history’. Readers who have not yet expanded their cultural repertoire to fully appreciate the historical significance of this event should feel free to contact Mark for further detail. Alternatively the 3 series of the documentary ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ can be viewed on Disney+, should a shorter version be preferred."

At sunrise on Sunday morning, as we rounded the headland, the wind strength and direction enabled us to set the sails for the downwind leg to Gibraltar. We had as much sail out as possible, including both the foresail and stay sail to give us maximum momentum. A strong and steady wind gave us a downwind speed of around 7-8 knots.

Simon was so happy with the sailing that he granted another set of showers and took charge of replenishing Cassini with fresh water. Nigel was grumbling, (Nigel - grumble? I hear you say!) on how long the water maker was taking; until Simon confessed to having left the tap on (and the water-maker on by-pass). Perhaps his mind was on the pending Gibraltar ‘run ashore’ whilst practicing his Pontiff application skills ahead of the Conclave thinking he was turning water into wine.

Close to sunset we were treated to a very large pod of dolphins for around an hour, who entertained us to some synchronised swimming, jumping and diving.

The final run into Gibraltar on Sunday morning involved a few more gybes as we tried to make the best course possible and to avoid what was a very large group (30+) of tankers; many of which were hovering outside the Straits of Gibraltar ‘waiting for Orders’ (see AIS picture).

We finally sailed into Gibraltar, with some gusts of 30+ knots, arriving at around midday on Monday after 5 days at sea, and around 700nm. A significant achievement for us all; especially for Catherine, as this is the longest single sailing leg she has done in what was somewhat varied and challenging conditions.

After some of the best marina showers we have ever experienced, a run ashore now beckons so no doubt more to follow.