2026-01-26
Essaouira
Fishing Port
via 90% offshore
to
Lanzarote
marina
| Vessel | A Perfect World | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission | Touring | |||
| Distance (travelled) | 378 | NM | 3.4 | knots |
| Duration | 112 | hours | ||
| max speed | 10 | knots | ||
| Conditions | between very calm and fresh breeze (7 Bft) | |||
| Skipper | Boran | Crew | Esteban | |
Boran's Notes
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Monday
Leaving Essaouira out of necessity: the Tiki gets slowly ground between steel yacht and SAR boat. Also for the lack of pleasure. While Essaouira is a nice town, the fishing port has disgusting water and the port authority is acting like a dictator. Part of that is systematic, so I can not recommend Morocco as a destiation for sailors and I decide against Agadir for the next stop-over.
Weather forecast is not inviting but possible: two days with headwind, one calm day, two days with tailwind. So we leave around 16:00, tacking out against still high swell. Wind and swell will be increasing plus port authority forbade anchoring behind the island, so our only option is heading out to the open sea.
In the evening Boran seals the two holes for cables in the starboard hull, after removing the non-essential ethernet cable, engine charge cable and starboard navlight cable. Navlight can be “switched” by manually attaching its plus cable to the 12 V bus.
At night and early morning we pass a swarm of AIS targets with names like “ONWA33NT 67%”, with red and white (?) flashing light signatures, very low above waterline. Survey drones?
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Tuesday
Tacking against wind from SW.
Noise in the hulls increases. Sounds like wood under high stress. Likely the steel bolts through the crossbeams. Borans finds that most crossbeams are lifting with wave action. Higher alertness to use the rescue island. We keep speed at 3-5 while still sailing upwind in fresh conditions.
During the night excellent electric charging with wind power, from 46% to 58%.
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Wednesday
Still tacking in moderate SW wind now. Magnificent and ultrasoft swell from NW.
Wind turbine spins very slowly now. Probably no harvest from this source. Careful monitoring of 12V capacity during the night, which turns out to be sufficient for all components including autohelm.
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Thursday
Calm and sunny day.
Boran installs a bungee “breathing” line in foresheet, which takes in and pays out the line gently when windforce in the sail oscillates between zero and something. Saves sail from stress and recuperates propulsion energy.
Solar charging with the big mobile panel. Solar cooking couscous with onions, tomatoes and raisins.
Boran shows the loose beams to Esteban, who examines the state in all lashings. Consistent pattern: outside lashings tight, inside lashings loose. Must have been stretched in the days of hard sailing from Gibraltar and now recently from Morocco.
Boran tightens portside inside lashings based on the SUP, with support from Esteban on deck. Last one getting difficult due to stronger wave activity.
Noise of stressed wood in portside hull much less, in starboard hull similar. Confirms that beam motion is the cause of that moise.
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Friday
Efficient sailing with half wind.
Windspeed increases in the afternoon, propels the boat to 9 knots. We drop the midsail to reduce power and stress for the still loose starboar lashings.
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Saturday
Just after midnight: Michel monitors our AIS track and messages Boran while we are heading at Playa Francesca. Michel notes that the anchorage requires prior permission, and such permission requires (like every arrival to Canarias) official check-in at a Port of Entry.
We change course to Arrecife.
Research confirms Michel’s warning, and the fact that a compliance-check-in is necessary in the marina. No visit from police by Q-flag.
Arriving early morning in the marina lanzarote. Police is not open during the weekend, but we can stay for a night and obtain the requied paperwork this way, for handing it in to the police on Monday.
Meeting Minhti just 2 boats away on the same pontoon!
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Sunday
Changing to anchor is the bay just South of the port.