From Monaco to Barcelona is quite a distance and because of that we did not arrive until 16.00 hrs. today. When sailing from Monaco you follow a Southwesterly course and have to cross the Golf of Lion. This is the area of water in the curve of the land between Spain and France. This is an area where the weather can be very bad. Even in the summer. If a depression is sitting under a right angle in relation to the land.
On our voyage down to Barcelona we just skirted the Gulf. But if you go to Marseilles you have to sail through it.
The name is a bit strange but it comes from the mists of time, 13th. Century, and seems to be derived from comparing this area to a roaring lion because it can be so bad. On occasion the Tramontane or the Mistral comes roaring down from the mainland valleys and then whips up the sea in a matter of minutes into a cauldron of “excitement”. Similar to the Tehuantepeccer which can be found on the west coast of Mexico near Huatalco. I have extensively blogged about that one as well in the past.
Because it is a valley wind, a weather front only has to move a little bit, to get the right angle onto the valley and the wind starts blowing. As it is a funnel wind it keeps increasing in strength while goes down the valley and then suddenly that enormous wind push arrives on open water. Very nasty. Normally the weather forecasters are good in advising this phenomenon but sometimes the weather system does not follow the forecast and many sailing ships and fishermen have been very unpleasantly surprised. Even for large ships it can be an issue and freak waves can built up on occasion. One hit a cruise ship a number of years ago with considerable damage and injuries.
This morning we had less of an issue, but still there was a strong wind blowing. While Monaco and the Barcelona area were wind still; the Gull of Lion was still generate a good wind force 5 to 6. That amount of wind does not really affect the ship and with sunny skies it was still good cruise weather. Most cruise guests did not pay much attention today as they were getting ready to go home and had to go to the Mariners Society Party. On these cruises nearly everybody is a Mariner and thus the party was well attended.
If you do not want to get wet, plug the hole with wedges.
I had the crew also in full swing as today was a practical damage control drill which I normally organize on each ship that I visit. Damage Control means patching up holes in the ship’s hull after a collision or grounding, or shoring up bulkheads and things after an explosion or fire. As I am not allowed to create a real explosion or a fire, I have to contend myself with ingress of water, lots of it if possible, which we can safely do on a ship by building a mockup ship’s hull with a few holes in it. It is quite amazing to see how much water can come in through a hole of 1 foot by 4 inches as long as it is deep enough under water. If you have a hole that size and it is 7 meters under water (the normal draft of a cruise ship is about 8 meters) then in one hour 200 tons of water can enter the ship. That is 4 swimming pools full.
So I built my wall from wood, rigged up fire hoses behind the holes and let everybody have a bit of fun while at the same time they had to figure out what the best way to plug or patch the holes.
Navigation Class on the Bridge. What they learn here is way beyond and above what is being taught at school.
Once that was over, the training class attended a Navigation Class given by one of our Fleet Captains Darin Bowland who happened to come on board for a quality assurance visit. (A Fleet Captain does on the bridge, what I do off the bridge that is why my function is called Travelling Master to keep the two disciplines apart) After that they had a session with the Security Officer and they got shown the equipment which we have to keep suspicious boats away from us.
We are now 14 days into the class and I am putting more and more practical items in. Tomorrow they have to start preparing for giving training to the crew on board, without help from anybody as that is what they will have to do a month or so from now, when they go out into the fleet. Only now they still have the benefit of my presence for coaching and providing the tricks of the trade.
We are staying overnight in Barcelona and tomorrow is change over day for a lot of the guests. Weather should be nice, sunny and little change from today.
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