November 2005

November
This is our last web page before the Atlantic passage on 20 November. We left Lanzarote in bright sun and no wind for a restless night at anchor in a bay to the south of Isla de Lobos. A three day sail down the south coast of Fuerta Ventura followed with two nights in harbours and another restless night at anchor - oh, that Atlantic swell!

Fuerta Ventura is very barren and weathered with long stretches of sandy beach. Best Navtex message on route was to be watchful for plagues of locusts coming off the coast of Africa - that could certainly ruin your day! The last passage to be made was from Morro Jable on the southern tip of Fuerta Ventura to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. 57 nautical miles of fast Trade Winds reaching as a day sail. We filled with fuel and settled in to our ARC berth. First pontoon party followed next day - great neighbours!

The tasks that face you in the last two weeks before departure are enormous. One day of main engine maintenance. Two days for the generator. One day for checking all the rigging - always cold and windy when you have to go up the mast. We have two fixed GPS receivers and the first of these failed in Madeira. Having replaced this the second set failed in Las Palmas and has also been replaced. While this could be expensive bad luck, at least it happened before we started across the ‘pond’. Hopefully all the engineering work is now completed unless Murphy has other plans for us... Aloft everything remains greasy and dirty because of forest fires in Northern Spain and Portugal but we have done our best.

We managed to join an organised ARC coach trip to see some of the northern sights in this large island. It was great fun and a good break from the hard work in the marina. Aruca had a cathedral like local church made from volcanic stone in gothic style but with a very simple interior. Teror was the old island capital and is probably the best preserved old style Spanish town on the island. A feature is the wooden balconies on the old buildings.
There was a good Canarian lunch and a visit to the Botanic Gardens too.

The last major tasks here have been attending seminars and the huge issue of provisioning. Feeding a hungry family of four for for the crossing with a large margin of error for light winds or losing a mast is a military logistics exercise. We started with all the dry goods at the cheapest local supermarket and moved up to the gourmet delights from El Corte Ingles. They also vacuum pack and freeze meats and pre-prepared foods for delivery to the boat on the last day.

The last part is fresh fruit and vegetables from the central market. It cannot come from El Corte Ingles as they keep fruit and vegetables in chiller cabinets and this shortens its storage life on board. Stowing all the food is a nightmare and one cabin is already given over to storing storm and light weather sails. We have to assume that the we may get mechanical failures in fridge/freezer, generator or watermaker and plan accordingly so that we don’t succumb to hunger or thirst. The boat’s waterline is steadily sinking as we speak and we have two more crew to arrive yet!

Race (flour and water fight). There are a few more evening events and before we know it Sunday will be here all too soon. We are anxious but as well prepared as we can be. The sextant has been dusted off. So bye for now...