Atlantic Crossing

We crossed over the start line around the middle of the fleet to find ourselves in a strong wind acceleration zone of around Force 6-7 between the islands where we had to reef and our speed went up to 9 knots surfing on top of breaking waves - very un Kika like. We heard later that an Australian boat La Rochelle had accidentally gybed and broken the gooseneck attachment from the boom to the mainmast necessitating a return to Mindelo, really bad luck. We also heard a few days later from Adela with James on board  that they had lost their back stay in the same blow. They managed to recover the situation and rig a replacement which must have been difficult.

Starting over the line

Soon after crossing the start line we felt the seas build

We love balancing the boat!

yes, they're still floating

Colin gets her back on course for St Lucia

Waves high enough to hide in!

We watched the speed run wild

Winds to take you hat away

In the evening the opposite happened and we found ourselves in a 20 mile wind shadow from the islands and we eventually had to use our engine to get out of it. 

Thursday 21 Nov . First night at sea and we had the usual problems sleeping and getting used to the roll of the boat. The trick is using a Lee cloth and then restricting your space to roll around by wedging yourself in between bags and cushions. The Aries wind vane is operating perfectly which improves our power consumption at night considerably obviating the need to run the engine just to charge the batteries.  We got two fishing lines working today and in the late afternoon there were simultaneous strikes. Atlantic Dorado  seem to hunt in schools and can travel at great speeds of up to 25 knots. Joe had two fishes on his line and I had a big one on mine. Joe landed two and mine wriggled off just before it came in the boat. After gutting and filleting rather inexpertly done by the skipper. Joe marinaded them in Soy sauce, Garlic lemon and Chilli and cooked us a fried fish supper with a rice risotto and fried peppers- you couldn't have dined better in the poshest of fish restaurants.

Joe reels in the dorado

..and carefully prepared for Marco the chef

Friday 22. November . Satisfactory progress last night with 150 miles done in 24 hours. We got a noonsite sextant fix today recorded at exactly midday local time by taking serial sextant observations at Greenwich mean time plus 1.hours 56 minutes for our longitude west of 19 degrees. Nick,Louise and I all agreed on the angle rising then stabilising before finally dropping. Getting the lower rim of the orb of the sun to just touch the horizon requires a bit of practise on a pitching boat. 

Has he any idea where we are?

Matching anti sweat shirts from Joe

We gave the parasail an airing today and took down the main as the wind dropped.  Colin noticed some chafe on the mainsail where it had been lying against the lower shroud and also fractures in the mainsail battens due to our in advisable technique of reefing it under downwind pressure. We need to heave to next time to reef . Colin expertly bound up the battens with electrical tape ,and covered the area of chafed sail with sail tape.

Joe cooked us another cordon Blue dinner tonight of chicken risotto, and as things were calm we considered leaving the parasail up overnight. Big mistake as it got twisted in the dark. Getting a parasail sorted or dropped at night means major foredeck aggravation , and setting up a main and poled out Genoa is also difficult in the dark. The parasail is definitely a day sail.

Sat 23 Nov. lighter winds of around 12knots which do not really favour Kika so hoisted the parasail all day. Joe is getting good at fishing, we caught 3 dorado today, our filleting technique is improving and we had them fried for dinner-delicious. Louise made a tartar sauce with mayonnaise lemon and capers all mixed up and Joe did the chips by slicing the potatoes cold ,salting them and then covering with olive oil and baking them in the oven. Who needs a fryer!

Dorado with home made chips, but we do miss the corn beef hash!

During the day the boat is a hive of activity. Cleaning ,cutting off bits of chafed rope ,re whipping, fishing, operating the water maker, baking bread , the SSB radionet,and sail changing keep us fully occupied during the quite short 12 hours of daylight.
We then have dinner together and settle into a nighttime watch system. The stars come out with Venus very bright in the west. Later the moon rises astern and we see Orion high in the sky whereas at home it always sits in the South. With steady 12-14 knot easterly trade winds the boat ploughs along at a steady 5 knots in balmy air with our ever present friend the Aries Wind Vane doing all the work steering and consuming no power. It doesn't lose concentration like a human helmsman and doesn't accidentally gybe. the watch keeper is alone with his thoughts or in my case struggling to get good reception for our nightly download of  information on the SSB radio.

Sunday 24/Monday25 Nov. Sunday was a fairly quiet day with light winds and the reasonable progress using the parasail. On Monday morning we gybed to go North and switched the engine on to charge the batteries. Joe noticed the engine ignition warning signal come on. There was no oil pressure. Went below to have a look at the sender switch and found oil pumping out of one of the feeder pipes from the new oil filter. Most of the engine oil had been blown out into the engine tray. Interestingly the screw on the sender switch had also come off which helped give us an early warning before the engine heated up- we were lucky! The outer covering of the oil pipe had split and allowed it to come off. Colin and me cut off the damaged bit and secured the pipe on both ends with jubilee clips to prevent a repetition. While we were cleaning up Colin noticed that the water pump belt was 2/3 severed at one point, also very fortunate we noticed it then .So we replaced that as well. The re oiled engine works fine so we charged up the batteries, made some water and had an aft deck shower and clothes washing session which improved crew morale no end.
Today in light condition we tried out twin headsails with the parasail on one side and a genoa on the other. The genoa seems to add about 0.2 knots.

Tues 26nov . Sailed the parasail today on a beam reach which kept our speed up, however the wind died and we had to motor in the afternoon. The Grib files are not encouraging showing very light winds for the next few days. So much for those reliable trade winds!  Louise showed me how to make a dal for a beef curry and after dinner Joe set up a cinema under the stars in the cockpit where we watched Benedict Cumberbatch playing Sherlock  Holmes  with a very bright Venus lighting shining over a calm sea to the west.  We are so far south we can't see the plough and the pole star and Orion lies directly overhead in the middle of my watch from 12-3 am.

Can you see Venus?

Wednesday  27 November . Wind remains light ENEat about 7-10 knots. We hoisted the parasail in the morning only to rip it as we pulled up the snuffler,  We managed to mangle the parasail in the snuffler causing a moderate sized tear in the sail. Louise had spent a week working as a sailmakers assistant during her tall ships training and did a brilliant repair on the rip with tape on both sides with a string attachment for the parasail wing over sown with thread. She inherited a superior needle palm from the sailmaker made of nonslip whalebone which fitted her palm exactly.. It worked well and despite the low wind speeds we were able to progress at 3-4 knots.

Louise needle sharp stitching

We had a lovely relaxed day. The sun shone glittering on the water, we played music relaxed and chatted on a calm sea as we ghosted along. We haven't seen another boat for around 3 days now and their voices on the daily SSB radio call are getting weaker. A sole gannet with different colourings from ours took up station for the afternoon and did a bit of dive bomb fishing. Tonight's GRIB file download indicates virtually no wind for the next 2 days until we get further west so we will probably have to motor for a couple of days. We have just over half a tank left which gives us 2-3 days motoring time allowing for additional time to charge the batteries

The long distance Atlantic Gannet our pal in the sky

Thursday 28 /Friday 29 Nov.  predictably little wind on Thursday so motored into the afternoon when a small breeze piped up from the west and we tacked Northwards after dinner watching a glorious sunset and  a further episode of Sherlock Holmes in the Atlantic Cinema( cockpit). 

Supper at sundown

Friday was halfway day . We motored in the morning and then a little wind arrived from the west . Although we didn't make much headway as we could only lay at 50 degrees to the desired course it was nice to be sailing again as fuel is getting low. At 3 pm we hove the boat to trailed a line astern with a fender at the end of it and we all went for a mid Atlantic swim in two miles of depth. Tried to get to the bottom but couldn't quite manage it. Saw some fish in the water who had obviously laughing at our lures.

Yippee, I've  been swimming in the middle of the ocean

On getting out we all had a wash and fresh water shower. Louise's sister Karen from Brittany had given us some red white and blue bunting which we hung from the Bimini and we had tea and sponge cake to celebrate. The evening arrived ,Joe's champagne was chilled perfectly and we toasted our friends families, Kika and most of all the vast Atlantic. We had been going 5 days without seeing another vessel with only the flying fish for company. Crawling along at 4 knots like ants across a vast ocean is a great reminder how insignificant we all are. 

Our nightly post dinner cinema show was rudely interrupted by an Atlantic squall following which the wind veered round to the North and Kika started to make good progress at 5 knots on a fine reach . Louise had a bumpy night bouncing around in the fore peak while Colin had a headache in the morning which he blamed on his glass of champagne; we should have used Bollinger!

Sat 30 Nov - Sunday 1 Dec. We're in a bit of a wind hole. Astro nav is proceeding apace with excellent noon meridian sights and calculations showing we are where we should be. It's good fun to do and a good exercise for Nick , Louise and myself to get our heads around the theory. We check each others calculations and readings.

Astro Nav school, very long hours with satisfying results... places us in the English Channel!

the deep end is two miles

Home (ship) made cake and a cup of tea

We're ready for the cricket results from Australia

Champers mid Atlantic

Celebrations over and its back to checking the rigging

The water maker has proved resistant to our best efforts. We mended a hole in the inlet pipe fitting as we felt it was likely that air was being sucked in however it still refuses to make any water which means we may have a spool valve issue which will require the manufacturers attention.
Cuisine is getting more imaginative as fresh supplies run out. Bread making, yogurt making, humus from chick peas and other delights emerge regularly from the galley under Louise's expert supervision.

On Sunday we had just enough wind for the parasail but during a calm we jumped off and dived in for a swim. Disaster! As I dived in my right shoulder dislocated. With help I just managed to get back on the boat. Initial attempts by Colin and Joe to relocate it were not successful. So a team of superb paramedics under the skippers confused garblings sorted the situation out. We got the big medical kit out and with help I was able to get an intravenous line into a vein on my Left arm with my right elbow supported. Louise then injected 20 mg of Morphine sulphate Intravenously to get muscle relaxation and with my armpit supported on Joes knee Colin was able to pull the upper arm down and laterally rotate it back into its socket with a satisfying clunk . I had not really given much thought as to what I would do if I was incapacitated, however when you are surrounded by positive practical people its extraordinary what can be achieved. Failure to get a result was not an attractive prospect.

Clunk click every trip and enjoy the morphine

Monday 2 - wed 4 Dec The wind is slowly improving and so are our astronav skills. We got our calculated sextant position from a sun site followed by a noonsite to within 5 miles of our position as seen on the GPS chart plotter . Bread making, haute cuisine and fishing proceed apace as the astronav class take further sights and compare calculations. On Monday night the wind kicked in properly and we did a steady 5-6 knots overnight- hurrah goodbye doldrums. With luck we may arrive in St Lucia on the9th December.

Nick, shows the perfect consistency of his loaf

Joe, another master baker

Sun hat, ear muffs and fashion statement all in one!

Our nightly routine is now settled. Half an hour before sundown we douse the parasail heave on the main and poled out genoa for the night, settle down in the cockpit where we watch the nightly show as the sun goes down and Venus rises in the west as we enjoy dinner together followed by would you believe -trivial pursuits organised by the first mate! Life could be worse.

awaiting popcorn and soda before the main feature

Thursday 5 dec dawned with our first significant squall . Wind speed went up to 30 knots,the boat gybed and we all got up. By the time we had reefed the squall was already abating and between squalls there was very little wind so up went the parasail. Bang down it came into the sea , the shackle on the spinnaker halliard had severed due to metal fatigue and we just managed to retrieve the sail without damaging it on the propellor of the Duogen generator which was also in the water . We spent most of the morning sorting things out. Getting the sail back in its snuffler without a twist took a few attempts . Then we sent Joe up the mast to retrieve the halliard. The boat was rolling quite badly in the swell and Joe had a tough time hanging on towards the top of the mast. We replaced the shackle with a spare re hoisted the parasail , settled down for lunch and coffee when we saw a sail on the starboard beam. 

Joe heavily bruised and battered after retrieving the broken shackle

Resolute of Thames was sailing along under a twin foresail rig. We had a good chat on the radio as our paths crossed and Joe landed our first fish for a few days. Colin and Gill on Resolute have had a tough time with a ripped mainsail and low fuel. We're now 520 miles from St Lucia which should take 4-5 days as we are currently making 3-4 knots in 9-11 knots of wind. To celebrate being 3/4 of the way there after dinner we opened another bottle of champagne while Joe landed an evil looking fish with big teeth that we think might have been an Atlantic eel.

Skippy comes to play

Friday 5 dec . Louise put a new patch on the parasail last night. However on launching it this morning it was a bit twisted and we managed to place the halliard on the wrong side of the forestay. Up and down it went a few times until we had got everything sorted, by which time we were knackered. Just shows you should make major sail changes after, not before breakfast as low blood sugars lead to tetchiness and poor communication between cockpit and foredeck. The fridge has also packed up. I think it's the compressor as I by passed the control unit electrically after checking that there was power coming in and the compressor still didn't start. Just as well we have now eaten all the fresh meat.  The good news is that the wind has picked up to 13-15 knots and we are doing over 6 knots over the ground which will hopefully keep going all the way to St Lucia . Also I followed Gareth's instructions properly this time, bypassed the control unit for the fridge and the compressor started. Joe immediately put the champagne in to chill! The fridge just needs a new control unit which is fairly easy to fit. The existing one just got water on the printed circuits

sat 7 Dec . Sunday8th Dec It's  getting much more humid and hot. This afternoon a school of young dolphins played around the bow of the boat for a couple of hours. After dinner we were treated to our first real Atlantic squall. The sky darkened torrential rain beat down and the wind gusted up to 34 knots. We had already taken the parasail down however when the wind caught us conditions were too severe to send anyone forward to reef the mainsail. It was quite safe in the cockpit albeit with a lot of weather helm and the boat rounded up into a reach every time the wind gusted. The rain made it hard to see anything including the wind indicator. Eventually after about an hour the wind had eased enough to send Colin and Louise up to the mast to take in one reef. Things then settled down and we spent an uncomfortable night in rather rolly conditions. Lessons learnt:- Try to spot squalls early and reef early. If it gets really rough and the boat is over canvassed keep everyone in the cockpit as we would have had zero chance of picking up a man overboard in those conditions. The boat seems to be able to take the punishment.
Our morning radio net is somewhat reduced owing to the majority of the fleet having arrived, however we spoke to George on Vabella who had blown out his parasail and Colin on Resolute who is just ahead of us.  We also heard David Gozzard in the distance in the main ARC and passed on our good wishes via an American boat called Heart of Gold which lived up to its Moniker.

We have gone a  little South on Port tack, just in case Joe is able to pick up any e mails off the phone signal at Barbados as we go past. The real world is beginning to rear its head. Bridget had e mailed on the SSB yesterday to say that Nelson Mandela had died- may he rest in peace. We now have 181 miles to go and should arrive as predicted early on the morning of 10 December . If all the rum punch has gone we will have our own celebrations with Resolute and Vabella.
In the late afternoon there was a sudden scream on the winch around which we had wrapped a fishing line.  Joe then expertly landed a huge 10 pound Skipjack Atlantic Tuna.
We gutted it and chopped it into steaks using the rigging hacksaw to go through the backbone. Joe then soaked the steaks in mustard and pepper before frying them and finally covering with a jus of red wine , garlic , onions and soy sauce. It was superb. With what was left we had tuna sushi the next day.

A proper Atlantic Skipjack Tuna

9 December. Overnight the wind picked up. We had reefed the mainsail in anticipation, however during Colin's watch it got up to 34knots. I got up to see the ancient bearded mariner hand steering with the binnacle light illuminating his beard complaining because he had just been hit on the face by 2 flying fish. 25-30 knot winds have continued all morning and Kika has been romping over the large Atlantic Rollers at 8 knots which means we are going to arrive at Rodney Bay at 10pm this evening .

Atlantic rollers!

Colin was the first to spot the mountains of St Lucia, and as we closed on the island we could pick out the lights of Esperanza harbour. We rounded pigeon island and saw the finish line at around 9pm . At the line a small rib shot up and took photos of an exited crew. We took down our sails ,motored down the cut into Rodney Bay Marina where we had a fantastic noisy  welcome with fog horns and cheers from all our friends including Suzanne who had flown out to meet us. We docked the vessel rather inexpertly but thankfully didn't hit anything and the party began with champagne with everyone crowded onto a rope strewn cockpit. We moved onto Islay whisky and no one remembered how they got into bed.
We woke to the sun and the sounds of the Caribbean and surveyed a boat with duff batteries, a bust water maker, no power from the wind generator and a chaffed mainsail but who cared we were in the land of rum sunshine and laughter and jump ups.

Cape Verde here we come

We had a fantastic last week in Las Palmas. We were joined by Jenny ( Colin's daughter) , and my wife Bridget as temporary crew members, together with Louise Cook and Nick Orr our new crew mates for crossing the Atlantic.

Louise set a about provisioning the boat with her customary energy and expertise while the skipper skived off taking his lady wife for a drive and a walk up the Caldera of Gran Canarias huge volcanic mountain and off to the Hotel Parador for lunch.

The whole ARC circus sprang into action. Lectures in the day were followed by sundowners and parties at night. Of particular note were those by Chris Tibbs a sailor and meteorologist who recommended a new way of emergency steering if the rudder failed, by using the sea anchor drogue, attached by lines to the spinnaker pole attached horizontally across the stern.  If you pull the drogue to port the boat turns to starboard and vice versa. He also suggested an excellent downwind rig combination using the main and poled out genoa on the other side. The trick is fixing the pole in a rigid position using fore and aft pole down lines which can all be controlled from the cockpit and then rolling the genoa in and out as desired. We tried it out today in 25 knot winds and it worked well.

In the evenings the organisers laid on some great parties. The farewell party for the ARC+ and the hello party for the main ARC going direct to St Lucia in two weeks time were arranged on the same night. The Canary islanders arranged traditional dancing which we all joined in followed by a truly spectacular musical show with drag artists , gymnasts and dancers in fantastic costumes mesmerising the sailors .  Kikas crew rose to the occasion dancing the night away in their Kika tea shirts with other sailors shouting, "Kika, we want to be in your crew!".

Almost ready to go

and a brave face or two at the sad goodbyes

but we are away on a cheerful note

On Sunday  10th  November our long awaited departure day arrived  . We slipped our lines at 11.30 am with the crew singing "Good-bye don't cry" accompanied by the skipper scratching away on the fiddle,  waved off by Bridget and Jenny together with Dave Gozzard from Noth Wales who is sailing with the main ARC in Gozzwos a very fast Élan 46. Clive and Judith escorted us to the main harbour entrance in their dinghy and we arrived at the start line between the Cathedral on the landward side and a big red tug acting as the committee boat as the start line. Despite the fact that we are sailing thousands of miles there was a lot of jostling for position on the line and Kika did not disgrace herself going across the line in good order towards the beginning of the fleet. The crew were warned that things could only go downhill from there as she is a medium to heavy displacement boat , comparatively small to many in the fleet. Nevertheless she seemed to keep up with some larger boats as we set off into the wind acceleration zone towards the South of the island.  As the canaries receded into the distance, we all felt we had enjoyed our time with the islanders who are cheerfull, laugh with you and help you when you try out poor Spanish and definitely know how to party at night.

jockeying for position before the start....

....and they're off....Kika flying across the start line

On the afternoon of Sunday 10th November we roared down the wind acceleration zone to the South of Gran Canaria feeling a little queasy in 25 knot winds. We set up the downwind rig of a poled out genoa, took in one reef in the main and settled down for the night. No one slept well because of the rolling of the boat and it being our first night at sea.  I managed to get an email connection on the SSB and found out to our surprise that we were fourth over the line at Las Palmas out of 50 boats and got an official mention in rally dispatches. Not bad for an old girl like Kika. Colin had an eventfull watch with two ships on collision courses who he had to call up on the radio, one of whom only changed course at the last moment!

Huge delight as we commence the 850 mile leg to Cape Verde. Almost first over the line.  Not a competitive bone in his body!

On  Monday 11 November we continued to make good progress in the favourable Canary current and clocked up over 140 miles for our first day at sea. We have been unable to get the Aries wind vane to work properly and looking at it this morning,  a small pin appears to have sheared just above the gearing. We tuned into the SSB radio net and heard a number of other boats, but for some reason the transmission seems to have gone on the blink and we could not contact them. Our SSB radio text link is also not making contact with shore stations so we are unable to get weather reports. The other issue is the Duogen generator which is still not charging despite a new regulator, so we are having to run the engine a bit at night to charge the batteries. Just as well she's a sailing boat and can just keep going despite all the snags. We saw our friends Clive and Caroline in Lady Caroline on the AIS and spoke to them up on the VHF radio. They passed us in light airs as a catamaran should but this evening the wind picked up and Kika is running downwind at a steady 6 knots with about a knot of additional canary current in our favour. The sea state is much calmer and despite our lack of contact with the outside world, we are quite content . Made some soda bread under Louise's expert eye and we dined on roast pork. The crew are going to put on weight !
Tuesday 12th November . We're making steady progress , nearly 300 miles over 2 days.  Had a good look at the Duogen with the voltmeter,it does seem to be charging. Worked out how much by switching the batteries off, taking the fuse out of the solar panels and monitoring 3 amps of charge on the battery monitor. 

The downwind rig. Steady trade winds drive us onward.

We're all settling down to the rhythm of life at sea, sleeping better, our bodies compensate naturally to the roll of the boat and we have good appetites. Nick cooked up a delicious stew this evening and we eat dinner just before the sun goes down at 6pm. Spoke to Clive on the satellite phone who told us we were lying 8th in the cruising fleet ; amazing news for an old girl like Kika whose handicap shows she's the third slowest in the fleet. Our SSB radio still won't transmit on voice but we can hear the other boats who are on the radio net in the morning, hopefully we should continue to get steady 15 knot North Easterly trade winds all the way down to the Cape Verde Islands and possibly arrive on Saturday.

Wednesday.  We took sextant sites in the morning and all agreed on the Suns altitude. Doing the maths at sea was considerably harder, especially when there's an app on the i pad which gives an instant position line, but were getting there with the aid of Tom Cunliffes excellent book which simplifies the the subject.
We finally got the SSB radio to transmit and Nick acted as network controller in the morning taking positions off about 5 Yachts. Later in the day there was a distress message from a yacht well to the North of us. They had activated their EPIRB (emergency distress beacon) . As we were well South there were two other yachts  to the North asked to standby by Las Palmas who were coordinating the operation. Fortunately we heard later that it was a false alarm and all was well on Babella. In the evening the wind got up to just over 20 knots. As the forecast was good we decided against reefing the main, which turned out well as we had a stonking run overnight running well over 6 knots with Kika enjoying herself in the ocean swell

Atlantic swell

Nick able to helm with his eyes shut!

Thursday.The big decision of the morning was to gybe and head west on starboard tack, joining the rest of the fleet. So far our strategy of staying east where the wind was strongest on the GRIB files seems to have paid off and Kika, despite her small size and heavy displacement loves a good force 5-6 with a comfortable motion that looks after her crew. Flying fish arrived on the deck overnight and we watch petrels flicking over the crest of the waves. 
At 10am we were approximately 300 miles from Mindelo which means that with luck we should arrive there Saturday am. Hurrah!
Louise has got us all organised to sing a song called "I'll play the posh sailor , nay no never, no more " to the tune of the wild rover when we get into port. During the night the  Raymarine chart plotter packed up downstairs and we are having difficulty maintaining charge on the house batteries. Life must have been a lot simpler before modern electronics wormed their way onto sailing boats.
Friday . We made steady progress Westward and on the morning SSB radio net we were able to hear the rest of the fleet much better. Louise and I finally worked out how to do the calculations for the astro nav and got an accurate position line for our sextant site 3 days ago!  Maybe we will speed up a bit next time. 
The skippers attempts at tying a flying fish to the line and attracting big predators were spectacularly unsuccessful , oddly Colin did not seem at all surprised by this zero score

During the night the wind eased and I got Colin and Nick up with the intention of launching the parasail. Unfortunately the furling line for the genoa was firmly wedged in the roller and we had to spend a couple of hours dismantling the roller, to retrieve a rather mangled line which will require replacement in Mindelo.  By that time the wind had disappeared completely and we had to motor for one and a half hours, the only motoring we did all the way. We woke up to a glorious landfall on Saturday morning steaming in on a broad reach to see the  volcanic Island of Santo Antoa which went from red to brown in the morning light.

Six days at sea and still smiling!

Just as we could see the finishing line on the Island of Sao Vicente the wind dropped, so we hauled up the parasail and eventually got up speed to cross the line at 12. 12 local time and enter the beautiful harbour of Mindelo basking in sunshine with an azure blue sea surrounding a number of rusty looking tramp steamers anchored in the bay.

Approaching the finish, relief and joy

Mindelo bay 

We were guided to our berth by the ARC team where we met lots of old friends on the quayside asking us "  what took you so long? ". Nevertheless as our neighbour Simon in a Hanse 38 put it. For a Morris Minor of the yacht world Kika had put in a very creditable performance.

Photo before going ashore for a shower and a beer

After a shower, shave and new clothes , we piled into the Waterside Bar for a large beer and toasted our arrival. We were very happy, and after a supper in the local cultural centre to the accompaniment of a troupe of dancers and children on the drums we had a whisky nightcap and tumbled into our berths where we slept like babies.

More from Gran Canaria

Kika and its crew have slipped into leisurely Island life.  Over breakfast while our minds are fresh we learn a few new Spanish words to try out later with variable results. Later we try and fix a few things around the boat.We've tried our hand at fibreglass repair. Our friends James and Debs Hedger came to visit for a week.
James built his own boat when we were at Medical School together so under his expert tutelage our damaged anchor locker lid is now as good as new. Still getting the hang of getting a good colour match for any repair , so there's a long way to go before
the job looks professional.

Craftsmen (Bodgers) engaged in a careful restoration.

The economy here is interesting, officially the unemployment rate is 42%, however there's a large cash related tourist economy that never goes anywhere near the taxman, and the figure is not real. The port is busy ,however Las Palmas handling charges for a shipping container are around €89 while most other big ports do it for€55 . The unions are resistant to change so its likely the big companies will pull out, wait for the port to go bust and then come back when it's under new hard nosed management. That's how Capitalism works!

Oil and gas have also been discovered off the coast, so the local company DISA is sub contracting the job out to BP. The papers are full of the Gulf of Mexico disaster and the widely held view that BP can't be trusted.

We visited the beautiful mountainous interior of the Island with James and Debs. The height of the old volcano means that rain gets precipitated on the north of the island and trees can grow in the rich volcanic soil. At altitude Eucalyptus and every kind of conifer thrive. Periodically foresters and the fire service selectively thin the trees, then strip off the lower branches from the remaining trees, removing the brushwood. Finally they start a controlled burn which doesn't kill the trees but gets rid of the undergrowth and is good for the soil. Hey presto in 9 months time the forest floor is brimming with new plants and wildlife. Descending to the coast there are large plantations of banana trees all under plastic to keep moisture in and protect them from the wind which is bad in winter. Nothing really grows at sea level without irrigation all of which comes from desalination plants so farming here isn't easy.

After so much time at sea level it's a joy to walk above the clouds

James and Debs

One carelessly discarded fag!

Jon and James in a desperate attempt to dampen down the undergrowth ahead of the advancing flames!

Too short with the shutter delay! 

Perfectly composed group at the Parador for lunch.

Colin and me decided to do a diving course. The first practical session was in the salty local swimming pool. We both managed to get large quantities of salt water into our nose sinuses eyes and throats. After we had spent the evening spluttering and draining clear fluids from our noses, Colin opined that we should have left underwater to the fishes. However with Jose and Gorkas encouragement things improved and together with our Australian friend and fellow trainee Heather our final dive was at 22metres where we spent nearly an hour talking to large shoals of fishes on a reef. We're just swotting up about Nitrogen narcosis and the bends and if we pass on Monday we can go diving in the Caribean and Pacific clutching our PADI certificates.

Colin and Jon. Perfecting the dance routine

The water was full of life

Fish out of water!  With fellow trainee Heather.

We live in a little boating community on our pontoon. Suzanne from Germany on a cruiser racer called Micadue and Bjorn from Norway with a Hallberg Rassy.  We knocked up a corn beef hash one night all cheap and cheerful, and were rewarded with two posh dinners on Suzanne's Micadue with top hole grilled grouper fish along with wine from her families vineyard.

Dining aboard Kika

Suzanne's response to our corn beef hash

The detail!

The trip back to Bjorns boat was more eventful . Colin took a giant leap onto the stern grabbed hold of the bathing ladder which deployed downwards into the drink along with Colin. It took some time for Colin's head to emerge which was causing a modicum of concern , but Colin explained that as an apprentice diver he was merely taking time to equalise the pressure in his ears. Bjorn revived us with a Norwegian spirit drink called Aquavite drunk when you have put your anchor down . If you don't drink the " anchor toast" Viking legend has it your anchor might slip in the night. Bjorn explained that we could drink at least two toasts as Colin was heavier than his anchor.

Whoops, where's Colin?

Every day more ARC boats arrive including Clive And Judith on Sephina. Our crewmate James has secured a place on another ARC+boat where his engineering skills are already proving invaluable to the skipper so he will beat us to the Caribean in an aluminium cruiser racer where he even has his own cabin!  Dining out is cheap and we have managed to inveigle our way in to the posh Club Nautico which is a great place to chill out and have dinner with a load of Canarians dressed up to the nines. Clive approves! In one weeks time we will be on a hectic schedule of inspections, briefings, visits from home, provisioning and parties that make the ARC what it is . So the next blog will probably come from the Cape Verde Islands after things have calmed down at sea.

The Canaries

Our first impressions of a green land were mistaken. Old volcanoes form the landmass and La Graciosa and next door LanzArote form a brown arid landscape.  We arrived at La Sociedad the marina for La Graciosa only to be told to go away and anchor. The pilot describes the welcome as being poor even by Canarian standards- we agree!

 A rain cloud? Perhaps not!

We anchored in La Franscesca Bay and swam ashore.  The sand is quite dark due to the erosion of volcanic igneous rock which peppered the shoreline and all the rocks are light and porous due to the contraction of the molten larva.

James dives with the grace of a swallow into Franscesca bay.  Olympic hopes run high.

We caught up with our American friend Jennifer who rowed her dinghy over for dinner. She is a deck officer on an American Tall Ship and is spending a year single handing her small 30ft ketch around the Atlantic circuit with a small Labrador puppy for company. She set off with a minimum of electronics and duff batteries which meant she had no engine accross the Atlantic, but her boat kept sailing and she used her sextant for positioning . She also speaks fluent Russian and trains horses.  She's only 29 so goodness knows what will happen by the time she's 60.

Jennifer, single handed plus four paws!

Next day we para sailed and motored down to Puerto Calero a beautiful Marina designed by Cezar Manrique an artist and local hero who had a profound effect on the quality of development on the island.

Puerto Calero. A huge contrast to our last berth in Morocco. 

 His own house is built into the volcanic rock and is now a museum. It was great to get a shower, cold beer and chill out at puerto la Calero whose staff were charming and persuaded us to hire a car and look round the island. We took the car up to the cauldron of fire ,the volcanic eruption in the late 1700s that had devastated the South of the island. You can still turn a bucket of water into a steamy geezer by throwing it down a hole into the mountain. Apparently up to 800 different species of plants and animals now colonise this barren moonscape, we couldn't see much apart from a few lichen.

almost as much steam as Jon at his best!

Vince, this reminds me of your bread mix

The island has some beautiful beaches, but the land is struggling. It has had no rainfall for at least a year. The islanders have created some fields by excavating the original subsoil some 2 metes below the volcanic crust which has apparently improved the soils fertility. However unless a plant was directly irrigated which is expensive there was little sign of any crops. Even the vines which had hosepipes running alongside them were looking droopy. It's just as well tourism came along as before then Lanzarotes main export was its people.

Volcanic rock to the fore, sea salt production in the middle distance and an arid background 

did we drop the washing powder overboard?

Our voyage to FuertoVentura was marked by James catching a small Tuna. We immediately put into Puerto Castillo gutted ,deboned and marinaded it in lemon, soy sauce, garlic and cumin( I haven't got the hang of which herbs to use for fish) and fried up the chunks in olive  oil. It was a tasty and surprisingly filling supper ,washed down with a couple of beers ashore.

Manic delight! but only this to show after two months of  trying.  Colin has stocked up with tins of sardines!

Colin had visited Puerto Castillo almost 20 years ago and remembered it as a sleepy place with the odd shoreside restaurant. It's now full of inclusive holiday complexes, where you wear an armband, get drunk every evening around the hotel pool where there's a community disco and go to your reserved section of the beach in the day.  Chacun a son gout!

Puerto Castillo

We meandered slowly on , spending a night at anchor on the Jandia peninsula at the tip of Fuerto Ventura island before day sailing the 50miles across to Las Palmas on GranCanaria where we plan to chill out and refit the boat.

between the Islands

The harbour is huge. freighters, tankers pilot vessels and tugs are constantly coming in and out.  The container port is a staging point for multiple destinations in Europe and the huge cranes never stop.The marina houses a couple of tall ships along with the entire ARC fleet and you can obtain just about any part and get assistance for gear failure from a number of old established firms. We are berthed together with other ARC arrivals and discuss cockroach defences among other topics with our international neighbours.

All shapes and sizes in the huge port of Las Palmas

Kikas engine has not failed us, but it is virtually impossible to change the oil filter without dismantalling a a lot of other stuff, and the secondary fuel filter is pretty ancient and leaking diesel which leaves a characteristic aroma all over the boat. We eventually tracked down the new parts which had been stalled at customs pending payment of import tax and James began the process of installing the new system.  Helping James , makes one aware how a trained engineer avoids disasters. James looks at every system critically in terms of what could possibly go wrong with it and how to design a new fitting to avoid the problem. He spotted a loose thread on one of the oil fittings due to an imperial rather than a metric thread being supplied and we made our usual trip to the back streets in search of the right fittings in Spanglish. The hugely helpful hydraulics technician worked out what we needed and was very surprised to get a large kiss from a moustachioed ex Royal Marine when he came up with the goods.

James takes his moustache for a swim

To cross the Atlantic in reasonable comfort you need to generate enough power to keep the batteries charged up without using precious diesel and running the engine,especially at night when solar power doesn't work ie from 7pm  to 7am . Our secret weapon is the Duogen wind vane which can be removed and replaced with a propellor which is lowered into the water and also charges the batteries. It hasn't worked yet, but using the Multimeter as our stethoscope equivalent we have diagnosed a regulator failure . Carl Filer is on the case and is sending a new one out from Wales , so fingers crossed.

Carl couldn't hide his relief when Kika set sail from Deganwy

The next piece of kit that prevents mutinies from smelly crews when water is rationed is the water maker which sucks up seawater and by a process known as reverse osmosis where the water is pumped at high pressure through a membrane ,it produces fresh water.At first everything leaked like a sieve, however with judicious use of new jubilee clips and PTFE tape ( the plumbers get you out of trouble friend) we produced a litre of fresh water. The whole crew assembled for a water tasting ceremony . No sommelier could have waited with greater anticipation as one after another Kikas crew looked like multiple men from Del Monte saying yes.

So barring provisioning and a bit of fettling we are ready for the next leg. James will leave us and we will be joined by Louise Cook, Nick Orr and my brother Joe who will hopefully pole up in the Cape Verde islands. We are free to explore the delights of Las Palmas and Gran Canaria which got Gran in its name following the heroic resistance of the native Guanches to the Spanish conquistadors in 1495. The generals then tried to ship the population back to Spain as slaves, but Isobel de Catolica queen of Castille put a stop to it and returned the islanders to their homeland which has meant reasonable relationships with Spain ever since.

After over 2,000 sea miles!

The town is big, full of posh shops and well dressed women. Las Palmas has been a free trade port since 1920 and judging by the prominent offices of Ernst and Young there's a lot of brass around . However walking back from the old town we went through not one but three long streets full of scantily dressed prostitutes all drumming up trade. We considered photographing this interesting sociological phenomenon for the benefit of blog readers but were deterred by the equally large numbers of pimps floating about. We searched the tourist guide book but it seems to have missed this area off the long list of cultural attractions.

Narrative: JEO
Photography: CAS