Thursday 23 May 2019

We are berthed in the Real Club Nautico de Palma, the largest and oldest yacht club in the Balearics. The marina is huge, with just under 1000 berths, for boats of all shapes and sizes. As previously mentioned, our berth is not as convenient this week, but we are much closer to the rather grand club house, and the swimming pool, which would be great if it was filled. They are currently performing maintenance work on it and I guess it will be in operation by the start of June.  The club is a proper yacht club, with a substantial fleet of dinghies. There are large numbers of youngsters using the facilities and learning to enjoy the water. I counted a fleet of 16 safety boats to support this activity.  It is great to see yacht club working on every level.  When you look beyond this marina, there are 5 or 6 others, with some very substantial yachts to see.

Today was a crew change day for us, with Dave and Sue going home and our friend Laurence arriving later. We were sorry to see Dave & Sue go, we have had a great time with them. Inevitably this means that the chores take up a big part of the day, and Tricia was off early to get the clothes washing done. The French family who had visited the hypermarket in their tender inspired us to go to the same shop. It was at the edge of town so we got the bikes out and cycled 3 or 4 km along the seafront on a cycle path for most of the way. We knew that there was not enough time to arrange for a delivery of food, so we carried as much as were could. I was pleased to be able to get a set of adapters for the water hose that we use. It seems like every marina has a different size connection to the tap, and in some places it is not even consistent throughout the marina. I had borrowed the adapter from our neighbour to be able to fill our water tanks, but feel much happier now to be self-sufficient.

The French family were preparing to leave, when the marinaro came to say that the next boat was waiting to come in, and that they had overstayed their time.  The parents, with the support of the children had been working on the boat all morning, although this did include giving 2 of the children a trip up the mast after the dad had finished the maintenance he needed to do aloft. They finished getting ready as quickly as they could, and then, with all the children helping, slipped out of the berth.  They were replaced after about 10 minutes by a Dutch registered boat owned by an American guy.  We chatted and exchanged details and experiences, plus passing on recommendations of places to go, in the traditional fashion.

Laurence duly arrived in the early evening, having had a slight delay en route. The transfer at the Palma end was smooth, and we were soon enjoying drinks on the sundeck while we caught up on the news. Later, we were walking around the marina, and passed an ocean-going rowing boat.  We got chatting to the crew and their trainer.  They are preparing for the annual rowing race across the Atlantic.  One of our former race crew has not only participated in this race, but he also won and set a new record for the crossing, although I think this has now been beaten. This lot were going to be a team of 4, 2 Brits and 2 Aussies. They will be doing various acclimatisation processes over the next few days, including sleeping on the boat.  The boat is designed to have 2 rowing and 2 sleeping, so I think it will be cosy for them to sleep all 4 simultaneously while they are in the marina. I asked the trainer, why people would sign up to spend up to 50 days in an 8 or 9 metre boat, with 3 others, while performing hard physical exercise. He said it appealed to the sort of people who had tried Ironman Triathlons, and found them a bit tame, and wanted to test themselves against the elements in a boat.  And some of friends think we are crazy….

Move exotic boats going past

Distance covered today	0	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	563	nautical miles
Distance covered 2019	563	nautical miles
Steve (and Tricia)