Las Palmas - ARC roundup or "stressup"
Regina
Espen Aalstad
Tue 20 Nov 2007 17:26
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28:07.70N 15:25.54W Muello Deportivo, Las
Palmas
A milestone: ARC starting base and 3400 nautical
miles since our August start. Arrival from Tenerife in itself another test of
the crew with Elin and Espen still sick and Regi taking largely the night
shift across with headwind. 50 nm and East 15 knots.
190 ARC boats was already in the marina and we
quickly got a feel for the well organized "machine" this event is. Check-in,
paperwork, agendas, seminars, social events and lot's of people. Norwegians are
overrepresented, even with half the kids. We have met Sol and two boats
from Vollen....
Unfortunately, Magnus got stomach sick at the
family BBQ and Einar later that night. A nasty bug for the small boys, and poor
Einar is going on his third day while there is other fun stuff going
on.
Most people though are too busy working on their
boats and preparing for the Atlantic to fully enjoy. After a few days here it even feels like people are winding each other up
with what they have done or not....Such as
getting ready for the (dreaded) security check. Ours went well and we had many
helpful tips...some we should have had before, but we have been lucky to not be
in an emergency. Our hatch needs for example to be locked down in bad
weather so it can not be lost if we turn over....(learnings from Fast Net
Race).
The seminars have been excellent. They are run by
real expertise, but teaching at a practical level for example weather &
routing or provisioning.
The (st)ARC reality is we all make more lists of
"to do" and "to buy" and spend hours working on them!
The ARC population is a study in
itself... From all "senior" boats to youngsters still queing and
searching for a boat to join. The virtually knock on the aft to
ask is we need them. There are those who have sailed for their whole life
and others who barely made it from Spain...Others are also on sabbatical and
those who have "made it"....they seem often to be Dutch. There are big crews: a
Swedish boat has too many for their own liking as nobody dropped out. There are
small crews: our neighbour sails with his wife and two year only on a 50ft. He
normally goes alone...
Then there are the NARCs: they are anchored outside
and not officially in, but will cross in parallel and reap some of the benefits
from the ARC communications.
Not to forget sailors and others making a
living off all of us. The Danish seamstress who lives on her boat and prepares
now a few things for us like more mosquito nets. Single, +55 and on her way
to Brazil. At home two new grandchildren in the last month...
We have learned to log what is in the lockers But where does it all fit? And what about the flag ceremony...? Who cares about flags when you are sick.... The experience continues.....
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