Layla - Getting to Las Palmas:- Portimao to Las Palmas

What was planned to be our shakedown for the ARC 2017 proved to be a great learning experience perfecting how to gybe and finding the right the compromise of speed v’s comfort. Seeing Layla out of the water made you realise the true size of a 64 foot sail boat - and the acreage of anti-foul that needs to be applied.

During the passage the four crew got to know each other better over a few days of sailing and learning each others strengths and limitations. Fortunately we all clicked and the humorous banter grew as the hours went past! Layla is a large sailing yacht - so large that some of the crew did not find the galley - down the steps turn left guys... so before this gets out of hand... Ok it was me who wanted to water the plastic Orchid and it was our skippper that said "I feel like a snake who has just eaten a rat"

...... and that is as far as we got with ARC 2017..... having to call off the crossing 10 days before the start was disappointing but it was the right call and completely supported by all of us. What followed was a two year period where Layla toured the Canaries and that brings us right up to date with ARC Plus 2019 with one new crew member Martin H added taking us to 5.

Canarias gracias por cuidar a Layla estos dos últimos años.