Transatlantic on a Gunboat 68: From the Azores to Toulon
A week in the Azores brought the rudder repair to completion — a new rudder case fitted, and a rudder blade borrowed from a sister Gunboat 68 flown in and installed. Fully repaired and back in sailing condition, but the forecast for the final leg into the Mediterranean wasn’t cooperating: a short stretch of usable breeze, then a lull, then the notoriously changeable wind pattern the Mediterranean is known for once the boat got that far.
Mid-Atlantic and a change of scenery
Twenty-four hours and 300 miles out of the Azores, conditions flipped from cold and grey to warm and settled — 8 to 12 knots of breeze, sailing comfortably at 7 knots of boat speed through the middle of a high-pressure system. Sea life picked up noticeably on this stretch: a pod of dolphins working the bow, plenty of traffic in the water generally. Less welcome: a run-in with squid and jellyfish overnight that left the trampoline worse for wear.
The looming concern was the Strait of Gibraltar. Early forecasts suggested a manageable transit; by the time the boat was closing the distance, that had shifted to 50 knots forecast through the strait — well past anything worth attempting. The call was made early: hold back, find shelter, and wait for a better window rather than push into conditions with no real margin for error.
Small failures, kept in perspective
A cast stainless steel lock bullet on the J2 failed underway, taking that sail out of commission for the rest of the passage — the boat ran on J3 instead, and if anything, moved faster small and pressed than it had on the larger sail. A freshwater leak kept the bilge pump cycling through a night, and a handful of electrical gremlins needed managing along the way. None of it dramatic individually — this is simply what a long passage on a hard-worked boat looks like, a running list of small problems solved one at a time rather than a single crisis.
Waiting on Gibraltar, then committing
The strait held at 30-plus knots baseline with gusts into the 40s and occasional 50s for longer than hoped, forcing a pull-in to wait it out. Once conditions eased into the 25–30 knot range — still properly uncomfortable, but genuinely doable — the transit went ahead: past Barbate, toward Tarifa, back into open breeze, running through waters known for orca activity in that stretch of coast. At 11 to 12 knots of boat speed and moving around consistently, the boat wasn’t an attractive target compared to the slower, heavier cruising boats also making the same transit — speed itself functioning as a form of risk management. Reef three came in as wind settled into the low-to-mid 30s, everything held under control through to clearer water on the other side.
Into the Mediterranean
From Gibraltar it was a fuel stop in Alicante, then a fast, clean run across toward Ibiza and the Spanish mainland — 9 to 10 knots of boat speed in 9 knots of true wind, the kind of light-air performance that’s become the theme of this entire delivery. This is where a boat like this earns its reputation: not just looking capable in 30 knots and white water, but actually covering real distance when the wind barely shows up at all.
The final approach into Toulon brought one last obstacle that had nothing to do with weather — a live French naval exercise running target practice at the harbour mouth, requiring some genuine zig-zagging to clear safely before the boat could finally tie up, delivery complete.
In the Members Library, the full breakdown of this Gunboat 68’s clutch systems and deck padeye layout goes deeper into the hardware that got this boat through 3,000-plus miles of everything from dead calm to 50-knot gusts.