Setting Sail from Las Palmas, Canary Islands

Sunday, leaving Las Palmas, going to sea

The time set to cross the start line is 1:oopm. I wake up at 7 am in order to top off the water tanks as there was a rather nasty rumor that the fresh water supply would be shut off at 8:00am, which proved not to be true, however we couldn’t take any chances. The rest of the crew got up after 8:30 and 9:00 and then we were all off and racing around doing last minutes chores to make the boat ready to go to sea. We pulled the engine off of the dingy, and stowed it and then pulled up the dingy tight to the davits. I washed down the decks, and everybody had lots to do. At 11:00 a marching band showed up and walked the docks playing for all of the boats which only increased the level of excitement. We managed to get everything done in time to leave the dock at noonish, and then we joined over 250 boats milling around in the harbor jockeying for position and waiting for the starting for the start gun.

At the start it was incredibly busy and many captains were trying to be showboats and putting up spinnakers etc. One boat next us threw up his spinnaker but was completely out of control and his boat kept weaving from side to side, while practically being knocked down by the force of the spinnaker. We barely make it across the start without incident and then we were in the open ocean and were experiencing 10 to 15 foot sea swells, with 20 knot winds. It was quite lumpy.

Mostly I did ok with only moments of queasiness. Wendy was not doing so well and has been sick since we left.

By the evening the winds increased some and Lee made the call to reef in the main and jib. Wendy executed the jib reef flawlessly. In order reef the main we had to change tacks and take care not to have an accidental jibe. It was quite a scary maneuver and the boat was bucking and rocking even more as we headed up wind. Eventually we put two reefs in main for rest of the night. By now it was dark.

I cooked a pasta dish with salad dinner and it was much appreciated even though Wendy and I had trouble getting it down. After spending an hour in kitchen I was feeling quite sick. After dinner I went to bed until awakened at midnight to start my 3 hour watch. At the time that I came on watch we were in the wind shadow of the Canaries and Wendy had brought in sails so they wouldn’t luff and we were running on the engine. But, within an hour of coming on deck, the wind picked enough that we could set the sails again and douse the engine. Lee set the sails and we turned on the autopilot , and then all I had to do was go out every 15 minutes and look around, notice where other boats were, if any, make nobody was too close to us, check the radar for those same boats and any I might have visually missed, set the timer 15 minutes and repeat.

After my watch was over I spent some time in the head looking for my contact lense case and eventually got my contacts out and made ready for bed. However, apparently I spent too much down below, and mal de mer set in. As soon as I laid down I was immediately very sick and barely made it back to bedroom to be sick. After that I finally admitted to needing to take some bonine, and did so, then had some water and crackers and eventually went back to bed for the night.

While in bed, you can hear all of the noises of the boat. Since it is very rough you can hear water crashing ferociously against hull and the boat would lurch wildly. When the boat is surfing down a wave then sometimes the sail would catch a particularly big gust, and then you might hear the crashing of the boom straining against the lines of the sails.

By the time I got up in the morning I had my sea legs and have not experienced any more sea sickness. This morning by, noon, we were all having pancakes that I made. First, Sebastian did the last night dishes in sea water, and I rinsed them in fresh water. We are all experiencing large appetites as a result of our bodies dealing with the constant motion of the boat. We are having to ration water because we have NO watermaker. The four of us have to get through as many as 3 weeks, but hopefully only two weeks, on 100 gallons of water. That means NO SHOWERS! We must be very careful not to waste even a drop of water. Drinking water was purchased but even so, we must carefully watch how much of that we go through. The rule on board is that each of must drink at least a litre of water per day in order to avoid dehydration, which can be a major health issue on a passage such as this.

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Saturday before setting sail.

After arriving about 8:30 on Thursday evening, we spent Friday doing provisioning and boat chores. Wendy had spent the previous 2 days at the grocery stores rounding up some of the various food items we might need, and then we spent 5 more hours on Friday at the stores and still we were not done. And, then of course we must find room for all this food somewhere and get it stowed. Imagine for every item whether it is a fruit or vegetable or cheese or eggs etc. having to decide how much you might need for 4 people for maybe as long as 3 weeks. It was a very time consuming and exhausting process. And, there was no margin for error, because there are certainly no 7-eleven’s in the middle of the Atlantic.

On the dock where we are moored there is much excitement and anticipation. All day long, people will stop by and visit. They are from every part of the world, and are very interesting characters, indeed. Cruising World Magazine stopped by and interviewed Lee, for an article they are doing on alternative energy and then took pictures of us around his solar panels. The dock where we are, is being used exclusively by those people on Cataraman’s. All of the monohulls are in the main harbor.

The weather here has deteriorated from its usual sunny and warm. Yesterday was quite breezy and a cold front blew through giving us several small showers in the evening, Friday. This morning it is cloudy and windy still. While talking with one of the other crew members from a neighboring boat we were told that very likely we would encounter some large seas on Sunday when we head out. Oh Joy…….

Las Palmas is a pretty large and cosmopolitan city with large department stores similar to Macy’s and a very giant grocery store. Even Ikea is here. There appears to be plenty of European money here and terrific shopping. The biggest grocery store is set up to accommodate cruisers, with delivery’s to the boat. I can’t imagine having to provision for a trip like this from Mexico or the small Carribean islands where the stores are very small and stock of any one item is limited. There are up to 1500 sailors here for the ARC, flooding the stores, trying to gear up for the passage, so it is big business for the local economy.

Today should be another busy day with more last minute boat chores and provisioning to be done. Lee will be attending a Captain’s meeting at noon where he will be briefed on procedures for starting the race, checking in on the net etc.

There are four of us on the boat. Our 4^th crew member is Sebastian. He is from Sweden, retired Navy, married with children. He has a very low key and calm manner and is in the process of getting his captain’s license. In order to get here his flight made 2 stops, one in Mallorca, and somewhere along the way his luggage was lost and has yet to be found. So, he has been living in the same clothes since Thursday and will very likely spend the afternoon shopping if his luggage is not found and delivered this morning. At seven on Saturday evening his luggage had arrived at the airport and he had to go it, twenty miles away.

That is all for now.