Petronella's Voyages: Happy, Happy in Lanzarote

Current Location: Lanzarote Marina, Arrecife, Lanzarote

Blogger: John

Shortly after our previous posting the wind began to fill in and we tried out our new sail configuration. With one front sail out one side and one out the other it’s known as “goosewinging” or to the Americans it’s “wing on wing”. To Jenny it’s “goosey goosey”. It worked a treat and for two or three hours we bowled along at 5.5k with the water swishing gently past the hull. Beautiful sailing in only 10-12k of wind. If this is what the Atlantic crossing is all about, bring it on!

Petronella sailing "goosey-goosey" towards Lanzarote

Shortly before dusk we decided to revert to just our usual genoa. Just then the wind decided to increase to 20k and we had a bit of a fight taking everything down for the first time. But all was good especially as this was the time that 40 or 50 massive dolphins decided now was the time to play with Petronella. They carved and curved through the ever increasing waves, big grey shapes zooming from side to side of the bow as I sat right on the front of the pulpit with my feet dipping into the water as we descended into the wave troughs. Awe inspiring stuff in that wild seascape.

Next up, I decided to try and fix Wanda who had gnawed through one of her steering lines where we had bent the leg years ago in Preveza. With judicious use of that most practical of items – a wire coat hanger – I managed to thread first a mouse leader of braided fishing line and then the new line, through the top of the leg, out the bottom, past two pulleys and through the central leg. A quick modification of the coat hanger and I was able to grab the line as we crested a wave and bring it back on board to tie the securing knot. Then it was just a matter of fixing the inboard end of the rope to the tiller control and getting Jen to lean precariously out the back to launch the steering paddle. Result! She (Wanda that is) then performed perfectly all the way to Lanzarote. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again. This wind steering system is simply amazing. After a while you forget she is there keeping the boat on track, continually feeding back information from the wind and waves so that our course, even in 3m waves and strongish winds we rarely deviated from our chosen course by more than 5 degrees. The best Jenny could manage, and she is our master hand steerer, was +/-30 degrees. What a boon, and with no electrics to drain the batteries or whir and chirp as the autopilot does. A truly valuable member of crew.

Jenny completing the repair to Wanda

During the night the waves and wind continued to build and Petronella started the famous Atlantic rolling. Every few minutes she would start to gather pace with everything bashing and crashing. Gilly decided to go on a “rattle hunt”. She put drying up cloths in the cutlery drawers, wedged the crockery with stale loaves of bread and generally reduced the level of crashing by about 2 per cent! At one stage she came on deck to tell us that Jenny’s safety harness clip was keeping her awake as Jen slid from side to side in the cockpit!

At last at 5.06am Jenny shouted down “Land Ahoy”. After 5 days we could see the light flashing on Alegranza, the first of the Canary Islands. Unfortunately, just at this point I let my concentration down for a celebratory second resulting in me being flung right across the navigation station and into the galley. Luckily my head stopped inches away from the cooker door. A close shave. Anyway, we wound our way through the small north eastern islands and rocks and were met as the sun rose to a wild sea and a wild volcanic landscape. It felt as though we had done it but there was still 5 or 6 hours of exhilarating sailing down the eastern side of Lanzarote to complete. Just as were starting to celebrate we were suddenly whacked by a wave from the side that decided it was coming in to join us. I was on the upwind side and got a pretty thorough soaking. Marcus was next to me and he was pretty wet too. We saved Gilly from the worst of it but there was still plenty enough to plop down the open companionway and to splosh through the central hatch which wasn’t quite tightly enough closed and give Jenny a lapful of seawater.

Eventually Arrecife appeared and we motored in to the harbour round the breakwater and into the enclosed body of water containing the marina. It was still blowing 20k+ as we radioed the marina. They gave us a tricky berth and just as we had realised we couldn’t get in behind a large yellow catamaran the bow thruster decided to give up. Now we are stuck side on to the wind, halfway into the space between two pontoons with little control. All three of us were watching a “corner” of the boat as Gilly skilfully turned us round and got us out missing boats both fore and aft by less than a metre. A call to the marina office resulted in them giving us an easier double berth and we safely motored in and tied up. We had made it! Our longest passage to date (621 miles) with barely a raised voice and a whole lot of laughs. Well done, skip, well done crew, well done Wanda.

Now, a day later, we have cleared up the below decks devastation, slept a long sleep and been to explore Arrecife town. It’s a great place, not touristy and very Spanish with a hint of North African influence. Petronella will be happy here for a few weeks. This morning Jen and Marcus caught the bus into Costa Teguise to check out their Spanish lessons when they return in December. It looks good. By then they will have given up their jobs, packed up and left the UK for the foreseeable future to start their new life in Uruguay. Tomorrow they fly home. So tonight we are off for a last meal in Arrecife. The only downside is that our Shore Support Leader, Emma, won't be with us. Well done Wom for receiving all those radio email messages and keeping The Gs up to date with our progress. Wish you were here.

We have a few things to fix and improve before we set off across the Atlantic but overall I’m really impressed with how Petronella and her crew have coped with this passage. Roll on January.