Renault Captur steers through the Straits

A rudder kicks up at just the wrong moment on Renault Captur as they cross the Straits of Gibraltar

Hello all, we are happy to be in the Atlantic and to leave the Med and its pitfalls

Our stop on the first night has cost us very dear, and the following night has been very, very slow as we tried our best to use what wind we could find. Finally yesterday afternoon we caught the easterly wind to start going quickly to Gibraltar.

The Strait was splendid with a few cargo ships passing close by, after we contacted Tarifa traffic control for permission, the wind was moderate in the beginning but became very strong by the end of the Straits.

It’s always at these times that everything goes wrong – it’s Sod’s Law. We had just furled the big gennaker and were sailing with only one rudder because the other was up, and that was the moment that this rudder decided to come up too, so the boat luffed up into the wind. Fortunately nothing was broken and it was all quite stable. We just had to put the two rudders back down and to get sailing calmly with the winds at 33 knots, running right on the limit of gybing, to get past a tanker which we were talking with quarter of an hour before.

Hopefully it seems to be much calmer in the Atlantic, we just decided to sail in the axis of Gib to enjoy the strong winds at that time.

All is well onboard Renault Captur.

Seb et Jorgi