The Atlantic Crossing started in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, as you have read, then stopped in Mindelo in the Cape Verde islands for a week then continued on towards Port Louis, Grenada for another two weeks. Half the yachts planned to go direct from the Canary Islands to Grenada but in the end only two wet direct. The rest stopped for either fuel pick up or for the week at Cape Verde islands. We were very glad that we had elected to stop for a week as we had some repairs after the first leg including a bent boom! The only disadvantage was the chance of catching covid – as happened to three boats – and getting delayed.

I have split this blog into three sections since it is quite large:

Part 1 General

Part 2: Birds, fish and the GOES Project

Part 3: the best from the rally blogs

Departing the Cape Verde Islands

Activities

You may ask what we do for fifteen days at sea except sailing, eating, sleeping, and reading, but the days seem fairly full. Activities also depend on the weather. The first couple of days were fairly windy( see photos under weather) so other than sailing not much was done, whereas the last week was very relaxed, even the Chief Engineer was catching up on his rest.

While there are all the routine activities like cooking and washing, they are slightly different from ashore. We are lucky to have a big cockpit so offshore all the washing can be hung up there instead of on the foredeck!

We have a roster for night watches and share the cooking for dinner – other meals depend on the availability and variety of food. We have done very well so far and by day 12 the only items we are running low on were fresh salad vegetables (out), cooking vegetables (will be out today), fruit (will be out tomorrow), pre-cooked dinners, and pre-cooked lunches (still two days supply). The only staples we are getting low on are butter.

We run the generator every day to top up the batteries, and since we are lucky enough to have a water maker and a washing machine, we run one or another or both while the generator is on. Usually, we make water every day and run the washing machine every second day so we do not get a backlog of dirty clothes or linen. Pete has definitely decided that a washing machine is on the agenda for his yacht when and if he gets back to NZ.

Maintenance

There are many/endless maintenance jobs for the Chief engineer.

Not everything goes according to plan. The second day out was a major when we decided to end for end the spinnaker halyard as it was looking raggedly. He was up the mast issuing instructions which the crew did not entirely manage to get correct. Step 1 was to cut off the chaffed end. Got that right. Step 2 rethread it which was not going well – kept jamming.

That took so long (as far as he was concerned) he came down, looked at the rope, and told the crew to chop the end off as they hadn’t taken enough off so the line was still fat. Which we did but then he realized that it was the new end. It was just that the line was going the wrong way. This caused an African war dance but then – he had to splice another loop before going back up the mast.

In the end, all was fixed. As Pete says ” All will be right in the end and if it is not right it is not the end”

We also need to adjust the spinnaker/code 0 halyard each day so it does not chafe through in one spot. We are seriously considering getting another halyard put on at the next boatyard stop as a spare.

There are engine belts to check and, in some cases, tighten. Then there is engine oil and filters to check and steering fluid to check. Then we lost another freezer pump which regularly die but we did not really need this to happen at the beginning of a long voyage.

Weather Updates

We regularly download the weather, the weather routing, and the GPS tracking of the fleet from Predict Wind. When we decided to do the Atlantic crossing, we were really expecting constant winds (the trades) from one direction at a steady speed. On this trip, we have had nearly everything. High seas, flat seas, high winds, no winds. Mostly dead astern so the only sail that will really work for us is the spinnaker and the main is so large that it blankets the spinnaker so we cannot run them both at the same time. Running with just a spinnaker also makes for much smoother sailing and no concern over the noise and activities of the boom.

We have also had the assistance of ‘Met Bob”, but despite his best efforts the wind that we have all been waiting for does not seem to want to arrive. We are just grateful that we are finally at 15kts again today. With the spinnaker up we can achieve a boat speed of about half the wind speed, but below 10kts it drops down to about 3 kts – not going anywhere fast, only enough to just keep the sail inflated.

Then there is matching the forecast to the actual conditions which are not always the same!!

Mid Atlantic Swim

On day 8 when we were slopping along at 3 kts we decided we had to go for a swim. Dropped the sail and left Hew on board to guard the boat while the rest of us went swimming. The depth was 4250m. Deeper than Mount Cook is high.

The next day we had another swim and Neville managed to photograph a 50cm long clear Arrow fish, a Plankton eater.

Blogs- Predict Wind and Website

We also write the mini blog on the Predict Wind Tracking site, as most of you will have seen. https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Eleuthera. Additionally, there was also a rally blog participants in the rally could see. This is really interesting to see how all the yachts are going each day and their headings and speed and whether their track is better than yours. It does not directly relate to conditions as some are using motors and some are not, and there is a big variety of sail wardrobes. The pick of the sails if you can afford it is a parasail for these conditions – but very costly if it shreds itself!! We found that the yachts behind us seemed to collect all the bad weather. We seemed to miss nearly all of it on this leg. We had left two days behind the main group but by mid-way had caught up with all of them except the front runners.

The main blog items for the web page were left until we arrived as most had to be done via the web. When I was initially writing this blog it was day 12 and I was sitting down sorting through all the photos to get some sort of order before we arrived so that we could post immediately on internet availability. Unfortunately, activities took over and I am only onto it now. There may also be several updates as other photos and videos are found.

The Final Few Days

It took another 3 days of downwind sailing to get to Port Louis. This is really the cruisers’ dream – downwind under spinnaker and steady winds. In the end we managed nearly a week under spinnaker with the crew relaxing in the cockpit usually looking aft at where we had been.

Finally, we did have some lovely sunsets and these photos will show you the best of them. It was time to relax on the foredeck and have a drink. Often the dolphins would be there at that time of day as well. We were so lucky.

We arrived at 3 am to a warm welcome from Carlota and Oliver from Viking Explorers and then the Grenada Tourism Authority https://www.puregrenada.com/ with a gift basket and rum punch. The crew from two of the other yachts also turned up for a welcome rum punch and then champagne as we celebrated our arrival as the sun came up.

It was a great feeling, and Port Louis is a beautiful marina with very lush growth around, small buildings, and a lovely swimming pool for everyone to use. More like a beach resort than a marina. https://en.cnmarinas.com/marinas/port-louis-marina/

Part 2: Fish, Dolphins, Whales, and the GOES project. https://kiwiflyingfish.com/2022/02/atlantic-crossing-2-birds-fish-and-dolphins/

GOES Project

The GOES project is about gathering planktonic and plastic data on the deep sea areas of the world’s oceans. https://www.goesfoundation.com/citizen-science-project/ . Many of the yachts in the crossing took regular GOES project samples at midday and midnight and then analyzed these about 4-6 hours later.

The sample is checked 3-4 hours after being taken. Then the analysis may take from 30 minutes to 3 hours depending on the observer. Mark decided that the holes in the filter should be marked to keep track of the photos. But the ink he used leaked all over the slide which was not good when you are looking for black spots on the filter from out of the ocean. Instead, you got ink residue as well.

All the participants in the project obn the various boats have been finding lots of black bits (unknown origin), plastic threads, and plastic pieces. Far too many plastic pieces to be good for the ocean. What we all agreed was that although the project is fascinating it is also frustrating as the microscopes do not quite give you the resolution you need to find all the copepods and other tiny sooplankton creatures.

Also zooplankton and phytoplankton. The most interesting being miniature shrimp-like creatures.

Since we had a microscope, Neville then transferred his attention to the Saragossa weed floating past and found miniature shrimps in that as well.

Fishing

In Las Palmas, Neville spent many hours with the other yachts advising on fishing lines and lures. He even took some of the yachties to the fishing shops to help them buy fishing equipment. For the first half of the trip, we caught nothing and several other yachts that Neville had helped were catching fish. Life was getting desperate for our fisherman!!. Pete caught the first fish of the trip on the second day but we threw it away because it was too small.

Then on the 6th day, we saw a Thresher shark trying to kill/stun Neville’s lure on the end of his rod that he also had behind the yacht. This was very funny but did not provide any fish to eat.

We had four hand lines out every day and sometimes also Neville’s rod. The crew suggested that he had too many lines out, but Neville was sure we were at the wrong speed – too fast or too slow!!

The fish we did see a lot of were flying fish. They often landed on the deck at night and Nev even tried to put some on the lines to see if he could attract any other fish!! That was right up until I wanted to take some photos then it was only the tiny fish and no large ones and they would not jump onto the deck!! Therefore we took a short video so I hope you can get the idea.

The lack of fish was getting desperate, more pressure was coming on for fresh fish and Nev started to lose interesting his lines. We were catching more sargossa weed than anything else. He then began fishing for shrimps out of the Saragossa seaweed!! Instead of cooked fish, we may be having shrimp cocktails!! See the shrimp above (under the GOES project photos)- he would have had to catch many many more!!

Finally, on day 8 he caught a mahimahi. This is a beautiful fish in the water and sad to see it die but it is also very good eating. Poisson Cru for lunch and fried fish with coriander corn fritters and mango salsa for dinner. We needed a change from pre-cooked meals and Neville learned a new recipe.

Dolphins and Whales

We have seen dolphins almost every second day, Atlantic common dolphin, Atlantic spotted dolphin, and the striped dolphin. Two very large pods and 3 small pods. Then two days out from Grenada we also saw four very small dolphins that we believe to be spinner dolphins. unfortunately they were not spinning – they just traveled past the yacht and did not stay. The second video is from a Gopro with a very wide angle so you can see the dolphins coming in from all sides. The video is not embedded,due to the length, just follow the link if you are interested.

Large Dolphin group on Gopro…….will be posted shortly

We also saw a pod of whales but fortunately or unfortunately they kept their distance. One of the other boats had hit a sleeping whale the day before luckily with no damage. The only shot I could get was of the water spout in the distance.

Birds

Tropicbird

Since day 7 we have also had visits from tropicbirds every morning and they are getting more regular. Day 8 -1, day 7-1, day 8 – 2, day 9 – 5, day 10 – 3. When there are two of them, they squawk at each other continuously. A lone one does not make any noise.  There are two varieties a red-billed tropicbird and a white-tailed tropicbird. They fly very fast and dive from great heights. One was definitely the red-billed tropicbird. The others may have been the white-tailed variety but identification is difficult. The tropicbirds move fast and the yacht is pitching ad rolling as well.

We bought an extra camera lens in Tenerife which has been excellent when you are on land. When the boat and the bird are moving it is often easier to use the mid-range lens for a quicker focus. we missed having a good identification book. Using internet ashore for identification is so easy that you forget there is none and sea and need downloaded books for identification oplates. A must for future passages.

Booby

On day 12 we awoke and the GPS was showing 450 miles to go to Grenada. Shortly after we saw the first Booby we had seen. Great to see a lovely soaring bird with all its pinions displayed.

The next day we saw three together we so thought we must definitely be getting closer to land.

We arrived into Grenada in the dark at 3am so did not see any of the bird life down the coast as we got closer.

After we had arrived we found that Grenada is full of birds and the ones I loved most were the minature humming bird. See post First week in Grenada. …….

Atlantic Crossing Part 3 Blog Exerts

Nearly all the Viking Explorer group left together. Sadly one yacht got a positive covid test and all aboard had to isolate. A second yacht had a medical issue and needed to postpone for another year. Two further boats delayed their departure to wait for lower winds.

We departed expecting 25-30kts from NE and we got 30G40. Seas 2-3m. The ride was a rough but exhilarating roller coaster for the first day. Max wind was 40.6kts and max boats speed 20.2kts – the fastest we have ever gone and that was with 2 reefs on main and similar on the Genoa. Over several hours we were regularly getting 16-18kts down the swells.

All was good until we needed to gybe and, unfortunately, it was a bad one. We did not know how bad until dawn the next day when Hew was looking at the boom under the mainsail cover and saw the dent/ bend.

We reduced to a third reef and then after further consideration dropped the main and continued hull winged on Genoa and storm jib. A good combination and a good ride downhill.

Later in the day, we were visited by a large pod of dolphins who had a great time jumping and during in the waves. About 50-50 individuals with babies but the pod did not hang around close to the bows but rather darted in and out across the bows and down the waves.

The following is rather long and unfortunately no music yet but the video shows some of the antics of the dolphins in the later afternoon. https://youtu.be/c1HXg6gdcUU

Day three and the wind was decreasing to we ran the spinnaker all day and night. Very pleasant.

No sailing incidents but Hew decided to be the cook for the night and during the preparation managed to fire the Pyrex dish out of his hands and down the stairs ensuring a spectacular explosion of glass pieces everywhere!! So much for a quiet night!!

On day four the wind dropped slowly all day. We had to drop the spinnaker and motor-sailed half the day with the Genoa and then with the dying wind dropped the Genoa as well.

It was a lovely day and all were relaxing and doing the washing and tidying up. I had sent an update email to the yacht Copepod to say all the water sampling was going well and we must catch up at the next stop.

The next minute Mark comes in with a very sheepish look on his face to say he had just thrown the sampling tube overboard!!!!! Adding to the plastic waste in the ocean. It has a hook to attach it while you are collecting the water but he decided not to do that grrrr. No more sampling until we can get a new one. His new nickname “Dr. Dolittle”!!!

Next, another pod of dolphins turned up – as soon as some got here others rushed in from as far as you could see. This time they all hung close under the bows of the boat and jostled for the price positions. Very unlike the behaviour of the other lot two days earlier.

They departed after about 30 min and it was lunch. The fisherman has been very quiet but he has had three lines out every day and only one nibble. Anyway out he goes after lunch to find he had lost a lure and never even heard it!!! Problem with bungee cords on nylon and no steel trace. … No more fish seen that day 🙁

That night we decided with one day to go we should all watch a film with dinner so sit down to Bohemian Rhapsody!!

The next day we were all relaxing and suddenly Mark yelled “fish”!! Pete lept up to make sure it was true, Nev came rushing up out of bed, cameras came out – in case it jumped off. It was a beautiful blue Mahi-mahi or Dorado as they call it here. It is so beautiful in the water it is sad to see it caught.

Anyway, it was lovely to have sashimi for entré and fried fish for dinner, then poisson cru the next day.

Tuesday morning we were within sight of land. Petrels were the first bird we saw then the 3 local gannets kept us enthralled watching them catch fish in front of the yacht, including one flying fish.

We arrived in the harbour just after 1230 – it is littered with wrecks and some derelicts. We berthed at 1239 with marina assistance and met the local representative Stev, plus the marina staff. Next were the health authorities to look at our vaccination certificates and PCR test results. Followed closely by the rigger to look at the boom.

We sat down to lunch while waiting for the office to open. Then later we removed the mainsail and boom.

Next, I went to sort out the marina. The staff were all lovely, smiley faces, very friendly and helpful. The whole atmosphere of the marina is very casual snd reminds us of Fiji and the Pacific.

Followed by a meet-up at the bar.

We all needed local SIM cards so that was handled in the marina office by a phone lady

The riggers returned to pick up the boom which required a lot of manouvering around the office.

Finally, we could relax with beers and a Mojito!!

The next Viking yacht did not get in until about 8 pm. They were also looking at repairs as they had blown their Genoa apart!!

The festive season is truly that, a season of parties. The first party was hosted by the Swedish group and it was great fun with special hats and Swedish delicacies. There were Swedish Christmas lighted hats, Viking hats and Santa hats. The party was held at sunset on the dock https://marina.palmasport.es/ that we were all attached to which was crowded, and many of the yachts had Christmas lights!!

Christmas Brunch

Eleuthera invited the Viking group for a Christmas brunch of champagne and strawberries. Very good turnout to the point where the aft end of each hull was 10cm underwater! We had the traditional New Zealand summer Christmas celebration of champagne and strawberries, a tradition which was quite foreign to most of the group, but they all loved it. A very happy cheerful gathering.

Christmas Lunch

Although the brunch ran on until 1 pm there was just enough time for Pete to cook roast lamb for lunch. Herman and Ute off Thetis joined us for a very relaxing and enjoyable time.

Pavlova had been cooked the day before but had not been cooked through as the oven turned itself off when the chief engineer was checking his generator and shore power dropped off for generator power.

The favorite ginger and fresh cherry cake was perfect though.

Shambles but all sorted on the end and a very relaxing afternoon. Needless to say, there was no dinner!

New Year

After our great success on the first day’s dinner at Embarcadero in Las Palmas https://restauranteembarcadero.com/, we decided to go to the same restaurant for New Years’ eve. The meal was a degustation menu and the food was superb and the whole evening fabulous. Brilliantly organised and timed. We were incredibly lucky and had a marvelous night.

After a very festive stay in Las Palmas, we were off to the Cape Verde Islands: https://kiwiflyingfish.com/2022/01/las-palmas-to-mindelo-high-winds-broken-gear-and-dolphins/

The night before we had booked hotel rooms as everywhere seemed full and we felt we only had time to look at one town therefore we decided on the main town of Tenerife-Santa Cruz.

We did look at going to the volcano for a day but could not get transport or tickets on the gondola so gave up that idea.

We checked in at the hotel and had a wander around the grounds.

Christmas Lights

Before wandering around town we decided to book somewhere for dinner and Hew found a restaurant close by. When we got there they could only take us at 10 pm so off we went for a wander around town.

The Christmas lights were still up on every street. The effect was magnificent and cheerful. People were wandering around everywhere and sitting and chatting in cafes. It seemed much more alive than Las Palmas.

Dinner

Park

Between the hotel and the central part of the town is a lovel cool peaceful park.

Palm Garden- Palmetum Tenerife

The Palm Garden and foreshore near it were the city’s rubbish dump. It has now been changed into a huge park and birds have returned. A marvelous effort and shows what a city can do if it is inclined.

https://palmetumtenerife.es/?lang=en

The water park is also a fabulous facility and so cheap to go and use it.

https://parquemaritimosantacruz.es/el_parque/

We returned to the hotel for nibbles and drinks in the bar then went downtown to find a streetside restaurant. Unfortunately, the food was not as good as the night before.

Next morning was a quick trip into town for some last-minute purchases of vinyl records by Pete. Then off to the ferry for the return trip with a quick stop off at the Marina to talk to an old friend – a superyacht skipper- isolating on the boat with his crew due to some testing positive for covid.

Next blog: Las Palmas to Mindelo

Halfway Stop for Coffee

Climbed up and up, and up and up for about 1.2 hrs, taking an “off the main road route! Stopped at little cafe/bar for a much needed coffee, then up and away again.

The houses were sparse and build on steep slopes, it was getting cooler, then we were up in trees and little else.

Cruz de Tejeda

At a key junction, Cruz de Tejeda, at the near top we all piled out. A bar and cafe, a small monastery (now visitor/accommodation place) a little market. Surprisingly selling jumpers???

Off down the hill 5 mins to a little village Tejeda for lunch, beer and good nosh.

Tejeda – Rated the Prettiest Village in Gran Canaria

https://localguidegrancanaria.com/en/tejeda-village/

Lunch

Menu was very good for all apertisers, Pete and Nev tried the local mountain dish of goat meat in a garlic and something source… bones too and chewy but some great flavour.

Firstly a cold beer, and what a beer, ICE floating in the big glasses and the team agreed the beer was OK!

After a long lunch (Spanish style) with local deserts for the hungry and a short walk around the village …

Walk Around

We then discovered that Mr googles map route was closed for the day!

So back up to the road where we had been earlier, turn right and we were on our correct route to Roque Nublo!!!, where we should have been going earlier…??!!????.. As Hew would say “off piste”

Spectacular Roque Nublo and Paque Rural del Nublo

For more information see the following links: https://www.canarirural.com/EN/turismo/gran-canaria/Parque-rural-del-Nublo-ref129

https://www.spain.info/en/nature/pilancones-natural-park/

We arrived at the Roque Nublo (1800 meters) parking and all thought, yes, off we go…a short jaunt to the top…. A great path which started going up, up and up until 40 mins later, we were near the top!!

Across the flat plateau to the base of Nublo which climbs 150ft vertically all by itself. First climbed by the Germans in 1934, still is a rock climbers vertical challenge.

It’s was windy and cool (10 degrees), so now we knew why there were jumpers and jacket sellers down below! Stunning views and as it was 5pm the hews and different landscape highlights were spectacular, the photos don’t lie.

20 mins on top and everyone was ready to go, it gets dark here quickly at about 630pm so need to get back. Stunning adventure, not what was expected, always take a wind breaker or buy a jersey!!!

Birds Enjoying the updrafts

On the way down the wind had really risen and the birds were having a great time soaring in the updrafts.

Beautiful views from every where in a national park with spaced trees and lots of benches for summer picnics out of the sun. Fortunately for us they were empty as its mid-winter!!

All happy back at the car, there was a coffee truck with beautiful eyes (and awful coffee) but we were off home, via another scenic routing with Hew under pressure with delayed instructions and missed turned as Mr Google tried to keep up.

Via Terror and Lanzarote , and the same round about a couple of times, but home safe sound and satisfied …. Inland hills were much bigger and better than expected, need to have the right shoes and clothes and walking/climbing bits. Big sleep tonight

Next Blog: Christmas Week

We arrived at 2am into Las Palmas marina and parked on the reception berth. Slept till 6am expecting to have to move but told not to worry until the office opened.

At 9am had all the paperwork done but apparently two boats needed to be shifted for us to get into our berth. 10 am we finally berthed.

The marina has 1250 berths at very reasonable prices and also handles the mooring area outside which is also full at the moment. All those on moorings or in the bay can also apply to the office to get cards for the showers and toilets.

Viking Explorer Seminars

We lept off the boat and went off to the Viking Explorer welcome and first seminar.

Embarcardo Lunch

Having finished the seminars and feeling hungry we adjourned to the closest restaurant – The Embarcardohttps://restauranteembarcadero.com/. At the time we did not realise that it was probably the best in town and we wouldn’t find a better one. Three hours later and many laughs with the Manager we left for a siesta!!!!

Las Palmas Harbour

The harbour is huge with room for marinas, cruise ships – large and small, oil drilling rigs, container ships and the Navy. Fishing boats are all shapes and sizes and all flags: Belize, China, Japan, Korea, Spain….. On land there is maintenance facilities plus an aquarium.

Beaches

There are beaches both sides of the peninsula. There are very nice walkways and cycle ways all along both areas of beach and through town. The first is next to the Marina.

The other one to the north side is good for surf and very touristy.

Also at the eastern end of the beach there are a huge area of sand sculptures

Saint Lucy’s Day – First Party Hosted by the Swedish Boats

Shortest Day Celebration – Saint Lucy’s Day – hosted by the Swedish members of the Viking Explorer group.

Beautiful Old Town Las Palmas

The week of seminars concluded and Carlota who organises the Viking Explorer group took us on a walk through the old part of Las Palmas. The architecture was interesting but so too we’re the shops which are all international labels pitched at international tourists. The total income to the island is 95% tourism. The streets are beautiful to walk around due to the beautifully paved areas and very few vehicles. As you will see from the photos the paving is all different and very effective.

For those who are interested in local prices here are some photos of the local market.

Covid and Rule Changes

For the first week the rules were masks only inside. Week two just before Christmas the rules changed to masks everywhere. They are also giving boosters to everyone over 60 so Hew and I were both able to get our booster vaccination shots here at no cost. Very good efficient service.

The ARC Rally

Even though the ARC rallys leave also leave from LAs Palmas we have not heard much about them until the other day. The news of the November rally losing a sailer and two boat did make it through but more interesting was a discussion had by one of the Viking cruisers with the local chandlery. He was trying to replace a Dan buoy that wouldn’t fit the back of his boat due to the wind geenrator being in the way and was told they didn’t take returns on safety gear. Big signs all over the windows. The reason being that ARC participants must pass a safety test before they can leave – they come in and buy everything they are missing or have to replace. Then when they pass the check they try and return the new gear!!! Unbelievable that some people would pay so much to join a rally then skimp on their own safety gear!!

Well back to work getting the yacht ready:

Next Bog : Inland Grand Canaria

Day 1 Departing Gibraltar and getting out of the Straits

Well, daybreak saw the Marina with 25kts gusting 35kts. Waves at the entrance and cold though clear day. You will notice that the crew was really rugged up!!

We decided it was time to go anyway. It took considerable horsepower to get off the dock as we had to swing the sterns right out into the wind.

The first stop was the fuel dock in Gibraltar for duty-free fuel. Luckily it was out of the direct wind. They also sell food and alcohol but we’re out of beer due to an Aussie boat that came in the day before and bought all the beer they had!! Pete and Nev managed to go down the road to the supermarket while we were refueling.

Departed the fuel dock and motored across the harbour around all the ships, and into the lee of the hills to raise the sails 2 reefs in main and Genoa.

Then tried to sail for the exit of the Straits but really managed very little forward motion against the wind waves and tide. Did time tacking up the African side then crossed back to the Spanish side. Tangiers VTS did not want us amongst their traffic!!

Finally made it out of the Straits late Sunday. For the first half of the night, it was still windy and rough and we were still motor sailing.

Day 2 Fishing and Dolphins

Neville who is a very keen fisherman had put out two lines to try and catch some fish. He has been allocated one hull to fish in as we knew that it would get very messy. Also because we were traveling fast he was told he had to wear a harness – separate from the sailing harnesses when leaping outboard to bring the fish in. Suddenly one day he caught a skipjack tuna. didn’t have the harness on and was not ready. He hauled it aboard and bleed it all over the back of the hull – as expected and then had to wash the area down. This is a short video of the instant – but we were not ready either – so it is rather jagged. https://youtu.be/cXpBOyjAWAE

Also the same day we managed to get some footage of dolphins, but also on a new camera and very unprepared – hadn’t even read the instructions!!

Very little to report on the way down – for the first two days there was mostly motoring. The second night we were called on VHF by an Italian warship asking for details. Luckily a week before all ships had been warned that there were naval exercises in the Mediterranean and as part of this, they would be hailing boats at random and asking questions. I was not expecting it in the Atlantic though. Never mind they were very polite and gave us something to talk about.

Day 3 Good sailing and rolling seas

We got some good weather and sailed with genoa initially and then genoa and main for the whole day in a 15-20kt breeze and 2m rolling seas – much nicer than the Mediterranean, the interval was 12 sec rather than 4 sec.

Well all good things come to an end and as night was approaching and the wind was increasing and forecast to get worse with larger seas we made the decision to stop at the northern island of La Graciosa and then consider continuing south the next day.

Day 4 – Playa Francesca and Montana Amarilla Walk

We were pleased to arrive at La Graciosa around midnight and anchored at Playa Francesa. There were 7 other yachts in the bay at the time. We went to bed and as forecast, the wind increased overnight. The wind has stayed up for two days now max wind 38kts so we have all been snuggled in inside and getting on with other jobs. Neville and Mark have both been for a swim but the rest of us are waiting got the warm weather!! Air temperature 18deg, water temperature 18.5deg.

Day 5 Departing La Graciosa

We got up in reasonable time and discovered a small yacht had drifted back in the night a long way out of the bay so I sent Hew and Nev to check on him. He was very grateful that we cared but did not want to change anything while he was firmly attached to the seafloor in the current wind! Following breakfast, Neville and Mark have taken up an exercise regime as they feel the food is too good and the exercise too little. So in the morning, they were out on the aft deck doing pushups and planks!!

The afternoon arrived and they felt they must climb the hill so we dropped them off on the beach for a walk. This is the video of the walk https://youtu.be/z_0bb_KYtTE

We decided to stay the night and the next day head off at dawn which we did into a 3.5 m swell and 20kts, much better than the previous day. we had a good sail for most of the way but the wind decreased all the way to Las Palmas until we were on the motor again. The forecast was accurate throughout. A nice video of the conditions.

We arrived at Las Palmas on Grand Canary at 2 am on Sunday morning. Moored outside reception, woke at 6 am changed piers at 9 am, and made the first seminar at 10 am.

More on the next blog

Photos: All the crew Narration: Mark