More on the J/42 JAYWALKER and Bill Stellin's cruising adventures around the globe. In a recent note from Bill, he said, "Stuart: here is an excerpt from one of my journals which I wrote over the 8-9 years we were cruising. It is called SEATREK. And many of the later blogs/journals can be found at: http://blog.mailasail.com/jaywalker. The earlier journals have been compiled into two self published books which can be found at: http://www.blurb.com. Search for "SEATREK: A Passion for Sailing" by Bill Stellin or William Stellin. Best, Bill."Bill's excerpt: "Casablanca, where did this stop come from? We know it was never in our plans, but nevertheless, here we is. The reason is horrible weather on route to the Canaries. ( Named after very large dogs that were found on the islands, Latin for dog is canis). Now back to the weather. As we were sailing, motoring, sailing, motor-sailing, whatever, we had a line of very high clouds to the west of us for over a day. At night they were lit up with as intense lightening as we've seen in a long time. A little scary when it kept up for hours on end. The line never moved, but the lightening would race along the line from horizon to horizon. By morning, the clouds were still there but now the wind and seas kicked up from the southwest, directly on our nose. Cloud tops so high they are in the clouds. This line ran along side of us for 175 miles. At night they were filled with lightening.
The wind was moderate and sailable, but the seas started coming from every direction and they were huge. Swells sometimes were 12 feet or more and wind waves breaking onto the bow as well as the beam. We were getting the you know what kicked out of us but good. We decided to alter course for Madeira to the west, (500 miles) but then we were headed for the cloud line with rain and higher winds under them. Finally we changed course again more on a southerly heading for Casablanca. We had no pilot book on this port and no paper chart. Our electronic chart plotter did have detailed cartography on the port and it was still daylight so we felt confident to enter. Trouble came when we closed with shore, a rainstorm hit and made visibility poor at best. When we got inside the break-wall, I radioed Casablanca radio and told them we needed a berth. Harbor control told me it was impossible because there were no facilities for private yachts, only monster commercial ships. This came as no surprise as I was expecting only commercial ships could enter so I already had rehearsed a reply which if need be would include hysterical crew who were afraid of the sea. I had already told Judy of my plans, so if need be, start crying if they tell us to leave. She was game for it and was already dabbing her eyes in preparation. My reply was, "find something because we were treating the port as a harbor of refuge". It worked and they directed us to a commercial wharf if we promised to leave the next day...." Read more on Bill's blogs or SEATREK. Very entertaining and informative reading.
