Mahon to Cadiz, the old fashioned way

I spent a week on a brig, going from Menorca to Cadiz. She is called the Stavros S Niarchos and is the largest brig (two-masted vessel, both with square sails) in the world.

My first view of the Stavros

Day 1 was spent in Mahon harbour, getting trained on how to safely go up and down the rigging, put sails in their gear (which means get them ready to be used), helm (steer - yes, there's a lot of jargon when you sail, and nearly all of it is pretty important), keep lookout and all sorts of useful things. We left in the evening, set some sails and headed for the south coast of Mallorca.

After motoring north between Mallorca and Ibiza we sailed south again. This turned out to be the most sailing we did - unfortunately the winds were both slight and against us for most of the week. The Captain might be God on board but sadly His powers don't extend to directing air currents.


We stopped off in Cartagena for a day where some of us saw some Culture (Roman ruins, castles etc) and some Nightlife. The Spaniards don't seem to have standard measures for spirits. This is simultaneously great fun and very, very dangerous.

Approximately my 42nd view of the Stavros

Leaving Cartagena one of our two engines wouldn't start. With the winds still against us that meant we had to struggle to make Cadiz - at one point, entering the Straits of Gibralter, we were making only 3.5 knots. That is about walking pace.


It's quite hard work - each of the 50-or-so voyage crew is in one of three "watches" (mine being White Watch, which was the best). You're awoken at some horrible times, but the downside to getting up at 3.30am for a four-hour shift is watching dawn break over the sea, if you're into that sort of thing. Which I am. There's a lot of pulling ropes to make sails do stuff (yes, it's slightly more complicated than that but there's no need to get technical) but then again there's a fair amount of lazing about on the bowsprit (that's the pointy bit at the front).


On the whole though, it's great fun, even if there's not a huge amount of actual sailing. Plus you get some pretty unique moments.