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| Arrecife at dusk |
After a summer of beating to windward and motoring westward through the Med we have finally had time to recharge our batteries both literally and metaphorically. The marina in Arrecife, Lanzarote has been our home now for several weeks. Activity is ramping up all around us as boats arrive from around the world in preparation for their Atlantic crossings. It's good to reach the Canaries by the middle of October before the chance of hitting a storm further north increases. That means loads of boats waiting in all the anchorages and marinas here until the NE Trades kick in that will transport us to the other side of "The Pond". Everyone has a story to tell because we are the lucky ones with an adventure ahead and everyone has already made a longish Atlantic passage to get here.
Dilek, our Turkish lady sailor friend who we had to leave behind in windy Tarife west of Gibraltar, finally arrived a few days ago. She was on an amazing high after completing her longest solo passage yet in her old 32' boat. After autopilot problems off Tarife she limped in to Rabat on the Moroccan coast. She fixed it but was almost thrown onto the rocks as her engine failed before she eventually managed to leave the port during a lull in the big swells. She stopped one further time on the Moroccan coast to pick up fuel. Here she met up with two small German boats also being sailed by single handers (currently with French hitch hikers aboard). They sailed the last three days keeping in radio contact with each other. One of the boats caught tuna on the way across and although Dilek won't kill fish she will eat them. This resulted in the odd sight of a dead tuna being thrown from one small boat to another 150 miles from nowhere!
Jack and Fizzy who we first met in Turkey last year arrived before Dilek having also spent time in Rabat. We are now firm friends sharing their bikes (thanks guys) to get in to town and also hiring a car for a tour round the island. Volcanoes, wine tasting and dinner out made a welcome change from the rather intense boatie world of the marina. By the time Gill and I arrive back from the UK on 5th December they may well have left the marina although engine issues might delay their departure.
As it happens our marina is the starting point for a couple of rallies this year. These are organised Atlantic crossings for which you pay a fee to tap into the organisation provided by experienced sailors, the chance to meet other crossers, some parties and cheap berthing on either side of the ocean. We briefly considered joining one of these rallies but decided against it as we already had plenty of friends, could organise our own parties and did not want to be forced into leaving at a specific time and day. We are though part of a loose group of like minded boats who will keep in touch via HF radio during our crossings, though departure dates vary from mid November to mid January.
One of these rallies is the Atlantic Odyssey organised by the well known cruising sailor Jimmy Cornell. See here for more information on the Atlantic Odyssey rally. Jimmy's book Cruising Routes of the World is on most of our bookshelves. It explains the best routes, timings and hazards for sailors across the globe. If you wanted to sail say from Australia to UK his book would be one of your first planning ports of call. He has just arrived at the marina in his new boat. During the week the rally will run seminars on provisioning, downwind sailing, routing and other very exciting topics! Very generously the rally has thrown most of these sessions open to non rally sailors staying in the marina for free so Gilly will be attending a good few before she returns to the UK next week. There is even a "women only" session run by an all women team sailing round the world. As one of the few women skippers at the marina Gilly has been invited to contribute to this session. Wow!
What else? Ah yes Jen and Marcus you will be pleased to hear we have a new toilet and there is now a concealed red glowing light in the compass so that is one less trailing wire in the cockpit. There is a new one though as the towed generator (The Toad) is now almost installed with a cable wired direct back to the batteries to generate electricity as we merrily bowl along.
In other news during a recent two day ferry trip to the next island of Fuerteventura we got talking about Christmas presents. "What did I want" Gilly asked. I told her I wanted some new "cool" T-shirts. "Like what? Who's cool?" she asked. After some discussion (I won't embarrass you chaps) as to who qualified we checked into a smart hotel for the night. Our plan of arriving late and getting a cheap last minute room completely backfired and we ended up with a very expensive suite. This did however include dinner and breakfast and our own VIP area for sunbathing. They even apologised for the late arrival of the cava and fruit platter! There was a problem though. Gentlemen (that'll be me then) were required to wear trousers for dinner. Problem. No trousers. Only shorts. Hoof it up to the local shopping centre for a pair. "Ah", says Gilly. "Zara. That's for you, especially with your new cool image". However, not so successful. My calves are SO well developed I can't get into any of their trousers. Hence the famous statement "too hench for Zara". Still, no problem. I got a great pair for 19 euros in the sports shop instead. Feeling well up in the cool stakes we went down to dinner with me wearing my favourite white shirt. It was only after three ten year old girls had laughed at me that Gilly finally said to me "you do realise you are wearing your shirt inside out, don't you". Ah well, maybe cool isn't really my forte after all.
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| Very posh hotel on Fuertaventura (our VIP terrace top right with "grass") |
We now new or at least modified cushions for night watch, we've replaced broken crockery, had a cracking prawn curry and installed a new galley drainer from Lanzarote's very only Ikea (arghh) so Wmn you can keep the one we gave you to bring out!.....
.......So now I'm back in the UK. You can tell cus it's freezing cold, the train is full and it looks like I'll be standing from Gatwick to Southampton (2 hours). This is my last trip back before the crossing. Till now we've returned to the UK for a few weeks every 3 to 4 months to ensure Mum and Dad are OK. Next time won't be till June or July and that seems a long while away. At least we'll be back for longer when we finally do return. The contrast between our optimistic outdoor sailing life and time with my parents is stark and rather sad.
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