GIBRALTAR to GRAN CANARIA
We tried to leave Gib on the 2nd November , with a forcast of Force 4 on the nose , once we got out there we had 25 /30 knots on the nose making a speed of 1.2 knots over the water , it was pitiful . So decided to turn back and wait for better conditions . It would of took us a day or more just to get out of the Gibratar straits.
FINALLY WE ARE OFF
Thursday 6th ---- we?re off .
Our trip started with fairly light winds , so we motored sailed for 2 days , then we had a wicked sail with winds gusting up to 30 knots , huge big waves behind us . John and Ian are on one watch , me and Nick on the other with Mac floating between the two.
Ian & John were having great fun surfing down waves at 11.6 knots , while I was having problems staying in my bunk , we were rolling just a bit.
John is our official fisherman in charge of fresh produce , we did catch a flying fish ( see pictures ) however it jumped on board all by it?s self . Hope the ones we catch across the Atlantic are a wee bit bigger , as there?s five of us on board .
Nick & I had a few issues with a huge cruise ship , it was lit up like a huge Christmas tree , only thing was you just couldn?t make out any navigation lights , we thought he was a big fishing boat at first , he shone his search light on us , we tried to altar course , but wherever we went his big search light was on us , even when we showed him our stern he was still not happy with us, we reckon he?d been given a new toy to play with.
We also had to altar course for tuna nets , sailing along nicely , we saw a strobe light flashing then a mile and a half in the same line another flashing strobe , with a little light in the middle , luckily Nick had seen this before , quite a detour.
Nick has been teaching me about stars , and I?ve seen the space station, I was amazed that people actually live up there , how cool is that. We are really excited because as we get further south we will see stars that we can?t see in England. It is so interesting.
We are being fed extremely well Ian is a fantastic cook , so we will definitely not starve.
OUR QUINNIE WAS A POORLY GIRL
Quin?s engine had a diesel leak , one of the pipes ( the fuel return pipe ) broke and diesel was leaking into our bilges. WHAT A MESS !!!!!
Fantastic team work by all , we had to literally sponge it out , threw away 3 gallons ish . The smell is every where , open a cupboard and it?s there . We?ve put Bilgex in now and it?s beginning to be a bit sweeter.
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We arrived in wonderful sunshine 5 and a half days , there are a lot of boats already here for the ARC , all dressed overall , what a sight.
We are all extremely impressed with the overall organisation of world cruising , parties most nights , very informative seminars during the days .
Nick was in charge of washing , we have the cleanest morrisons carrier bag ever , he didn?t realise amongst the washing was a carrier bag full of T Towells . So the bag just went round and round and round !!!!! What is he like eh !!!!!
Last night fancy dress Caribbean Carnival as the theme , with steel band and singers from Tobago.
Well time for the off is getting closer , we are all getting very excited and just can?t wait to go .
The start is on 23 rd November at 13.00 hrs.
You can follow our progress :
www.worldcruising.com/arc and look for yacht Quin.