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steamgoat · 27-03-2009, 15:50

Well Hi all, I have been lurking for a while,getting old and starting to think about sailing 'again'!
My sailing experiances some may find amusing ! Back in the early 70's I and a LARGE bunch of friends went to the Canaries for a holiday,to a newly [or nearly !] built resort called Puerto Rico [we were from UK] In the part built marina were several various european boats about to go transatlantic, we befriended several and did a lot of drinking!! After the holiday [oct 74] three of us decided to buy a boat. By jan 75 we bought a 32ft sloop, iroko on steel frames built by Frans Mass in the early 60's, did some refitting and painting,launched in early summer,a fourth friend joined us. One of us had sailed out of sight of land !![to Ireland, 70 miles] He was the expert. We left North Wales in June and 13 days later arrived in Tangiers! The plan was to go to Gib but we could not make it against the wind and current, so the tack we were on took us toward Tangier so thats were we went!! A few days later we headed to Gib, problem was a thick fog came, it was very scary ! we could hear ships but see nothing, our 2cyl [albin?] didnt work too good, one guy stood below ready to start it if a collision was likely, one on helm and two on bow looking out! We were semi lost! Mid afternoon someone looked behind us and , miracle, there was the top of Gib sticking out of the fog, the current had swept us right past into the Med. Anyway we turned around and found our way into the Destroyer Pens,a commune of rafted up cruisers back then, Shepards marina was mostly ex services boats with live aboards, wasnt till after customs had been on board, and left that we realised some 'Tangiers Hash' was in a bowl onthe table!
Hey, i'm rambling, if anybodys interested I will continue tomorrow,[ we do cross the 'pond', eventually]
PS , I have no clue what AIS is, but it sounds usefull,
Regards Bruce.