20 June 2023
Our trip started with a somewhat minor frustration when my glasses broke about 1 hour out of Sydney. I do have a backup pair which are quite old but do the job. There was more to come.
Two days ago our tender broke free from its attachment to the yacht and drifted on to the shoreline which was a line of cliffs. We watched as the dingy was bounced against the rocks and for a while it seems to remain in tact. After some time it was apparent the dingy was breaking up and was probably unrecoverable.
A local delivery chap, Juan-Carlos turned up in his boat to see what could be done. Juan-Carlos had the physique and complexion of a bronzed Adonis. He was in the business of delivering food and wine to yachts. Juan-Carlos collected our captain and headed to the shoreline. He got into the water and climbed into the wreck of our tender. Nothing could be saved and the tender was too full of water. The motor and other parts had started to separate from the boat.
The Adonis returned to his boat and bought our captain back to Wyanga. He returned to his local harbour and promised he would be back when the sea has calmed to retrieve the pieces of the tender for an insurance claim. We lifted the anchor and headed for Palma, an eleven hour trip, sans tender.
As always 20-20 hindsight kicks in and there is lots of speculation on what could have been done differently. The big take away was no one was injured and no one made rash decisions that put people at risk. A good result.
Back to the days before the loss of the dingy…
We have been sailing and motoring around the islands of Ibiza and Frontera. The cliffs are spectacular. We have been in the company of other Oyster yachts and while we are 60ft long we are regularly dwarfed by 100ft vessels. We have met yachties who have just crossed the Atlantic and those who have plans for an 18 month circumnavigation of the world. Clearly we are not in Kansas any more.
A Traveller's Tale 