Danger in Spain

Danger In Spain

Mar 26, 2020

This wasn’t part of the plan. Four months ago, I was in Miami. A friend of mine, a fellow Canadian, had bought a boat and was planning to head out around the world. Given that she had absolutely no sailing experience, she asked me to come along. She didn’t have clue about sailing. Worse, she didn’t know what she didn’t know. She knew nothing. I have over 40,000 offshore miles under my Dubarrys. I have a clue what I’m doing. She actually asked if we could share safety harnesses. Yea, that dumb. 

Imagine this; you’re teaching someone to fly a plane. At the appropriate time, you suggest that they should put the landing gear down. Their response, “I don’t think we’ll need it.” Really? Yea, that’s what I was dealing with. Yea…really. We got the boat put together and left for Bimini. 

We had a great rip across the Gulf Stream. On our final approach, the wind started to build. I told her to head straight for the channel at Bimini. The plan was to hit the channel right at sunrise before the wind built too much. I went off watch for a couple hours thinking she was heading straight for the channel marker.

Captains LicenseWhen I came back on deck, I noticed that we hadn’t moved. Apparently, in her severely limited wisdom, she decided that getting close to land in the dark was scary. We were still six miles offshore. By the time we hit the channel, it was blowing 32 knots on the beam. She lost control entering Bimini, hit a sand bar and ripped the rudder off. That was the end of the tour. I nursed the boat to the dock on the remaining fraction of the rudder. Then, I bought a bottle of rum and a plane ticket back to Toronto.

So there I was back in TO in December. I’m not fond of winter. Then I reconnected with an old friend in Spain. They say Spain is pretty though I’d never been. But, according to Elton, Daniel says it the best place he’s ever seen.

In Spain, you must have a Captains license to charter or skipper any boat bigger than a Hobie Cat. Getting a license here involves a two week course and a couple grand in fees and course materials. Alternatively, you can get the Canadian Pleasure Craft Operators card. Yup, that course that you can do online in ten minutes for forty-five bucks…that qualifies. I don’t know if my friend in Bimini has her operators card yet as that would likely involve months of studying in her case.

The plan was to sail in Spain. I met some nice people at the BCN Marine store where my friend Jen bought a new Gill sailing jacket. (Do I get free stuff for plugging brands?) They have a beautiful 1929 12 metre that they run charters on. Jen and I were given the royal tour of this beautiful boat.

We’re hoping to sail on La Spina when this whole virus thing is over. There was also an all-carbon 190-foot turbo sled tied up nearby. They have cool boats here. The TP52 Super series is supposed to be here in June. There will be lots of sailing adventures but, for now, I’ll have to settle for sitting in the hot tub with my silly straw hat on waiting for the quarantine to be lifted. Stay safe, wash your hands and consider using rum to kill the virus.

Danger out.

D. Mitchele at Shellbacks Foredeck Union Commander and longtime Canadian crewmate and pal D. Mitchele, aka D Danger for obvious reasons, has left reality to pursue his dreams here and there around the world. Seen sharing adventures with Shellbacks, Fall 2019

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