Random Things

Current Location: Marina Lanzarote, Arrecife, Lanzarote.

So, after a couple of weeks it’s time for an update of sorts.

The UK seems a distant memory now but it feels as though we saw just about everyone we have every met. Happy times with Gill’s sisters and families and Stu and Julie in Hull, daughter Emma (the Wombat) in London, brother Philip, wife Jane and Sam in Stroud, Dave, Vera, Chris, Audrey, (are you really coming out to Lanzarote?), Lynda, Jo and Helen in Cumbria, cousins Jane (see you in Arrecife) and John with partners Simon and Julie, and Uncle Sid in Cheltenham, Peter and Katie of Firemoose in Cambridge (thanks for the charts), Wendy and Barrie in Christchurch and of course Hugh and Linda (thanks for the offer of a 5 bedroomed house to stay in at any time).  But most of the time we were with Mum and Dad in Southampton. Finally we have found carers for them so thanks also to Katherine and Erin of Nurse+. Meanwhile the Saints started to slide down the Premier league table again as injuries took their toll.

The Hull Tribe

Grey and overcast drizzly days when it seemed never to get light with the occasional lovely autumn day were the norm during our time in England.

Urswick Tarn in winter from Lynda and Martin's front room

The Nightmare that is the M3

Finally we said an emotional farewell to my Mum and Dad in Southampton and then, gathering up the last batch of boatie bits, we set off for Reading to see Hugh and Linda and my godson Luke just back from 3 years in Australia. Final repacking (including the 18.5kg windlass) and the following morning to Gatwick where Linda left us to take our car back to Sonning. They will use it as theirs while we are away in a tit for tat, “car for house” arrangement.

We arrived back to the marina late in the evening to a chorizo and bean stew cooked by Jenny and Marcus. It was great to see them again and catch up with their final few days in England and the first week of their Spanish lessons. They were exhausted with closing their UK affairs down and then 2-4 hours of concentrated Spanish lessons a day followed by 3 hours in the library. I think they must be learning stuff though because I couldn’t understand a thing they and Gill jabbered on about for the next hour or so. It was taking its toll though and Jen has had a nasty cough for the past seven weeks.

Next morning we were woken by a shoal of kami-kazi fish hurling themselves at our steel hull. Bang, bang, crash, crash as they tried to eat bits of vegetation that have taken hold along the waterline. Even though it was weekend Jen and Marcus were still off to the library for more Spanish whilst we caught up with Jack and Fizzy and Dilek. Over the next couple of days Gill’s restocked the lockers, had her second “thank you” manicure from Dilek, we’ve climbed the mast to check out the spreaders, stays and other rigging and I have started to make a template for the new windlass support. Plus, of course, numerous social occasions – meals, patisseries and general chit chat.

New boats have been arriving at present as a brief weather window opened from La Linea/Gibraltar down to the Canaries. However, it was a very narrow window and most of these boats got whacked by a southwesterly half way across. A couple of boats arrived today bruised and battered during their passages. On the other hand our friends on the Atlantic Odyssey who are within spitting distance of the Caribbean are faced with near calms and are struggling to cover the last couple of hundred miles. We sit here smugly – blissfully unaware of what the ocean has in store for us during January!

I’ve noticed from reading other peoples’ ocean blogs that the isolation, cut off from outside stimulation, often results in humour and in-jokes only really understood by those undergoing the ordeal. Hence “mine’s a liccorice” and “feed the dolphins” from our short passage to the Canaries. Worryingly, with four weeks still to go, this tendency already seems to be developing aboard Petronella – but this time it hinges around a small, squishy plastic Freisian cow. Donated by Jenny’s ex work colleagues, “La Vaca” first appeared in the cockpit sitting demurely across the teak slats. Subsequently chastened by the Elfin Safety brigade he/she now never ventures forth without his harness attached. Since then he has been spotted adjusting the tiller, steering and then, amazingly, hanging on for dear life at the top of the mast. I understand that his growing band of followers has even set up his own Twitter hashtag at “#on the moooove”.

Selfie at masthead by La Vaca (looking white with fear)

Jen checking the mast top rigging

The jobs remaining list has 27 items on it, not including normal provisioning.