Tramontane

We are currently sitting inside our yacht, perched on a trailer (with an alarmingly narrow wheel base)  in a boatyard in Northern Spain. While we sip our Catalan Red wine we are debating how badly injured we will get if things don’t go our way and Vega is blown off her trailer onto the concrete apron of the boat yard, not a conversation we relish, mind you we never thought boats could rock and pitch more on land than in water !

I should explain. We had Vega hauled out of the water yesterday so that work can commence on her rudder (she has a nasty case of water ingress). This morning the Tramontane sprung up, we knew it was coming, but were taken aback by its ferocity. The Tramontane is a strong, cold, northerly wind, which blights Southern France and Northern Spain in winter. It needs a High pressure system in the North Atlantic and a low pressure system in the Mediterranean basin for it to develop its full force. In December one came through the Costa Brava blowing 80 kts. We are counting ourselves lucky this one is only gusting 50 kts. For the mathematicians amongst you the power of the wind increases with the cube of the speed…I will let you do the math.

In short, we are precariously chocked up on a trailer in a boat yard and we are moving around so much that we are more than a little concerned. Our Spanish boat yard managers smile and shrug. The only upside to this situation is that our kids, in northern England, are enjoying blue sky’s and sun courtesy of the North Atlantic high!