LA
GOMERA ONWARDS 17 November 2006
Thursday 16 November 2006
The
internet had been falling on and off all morning and at noon I still had a few
things to do, but had decided to leave after lunch. I covered the 4 new pillows in vinyl to
give them protection in the cockpit.
I cut them out and sewed them inside an hour, pretty they are not,
practical they are. I went back to
the internet to finish off for the last time until who knows when. I was going to join Wolfgang and his
family for a drink but I did not have time as I helped Paul with getting some
weather information. Roly’s very
nice Chec girlfriend works in the internet café and she wished me luck. I said I would e-mail the Canary Sail
website when I got somewhere. I was
due to visit the American boat at 6pm and spend the evening on the French
Canadian boat, but I had warned everybody that I may be leaving. There are always more people to see and
another day to leave, but I was getting stressed.
Every time I had to get over the obvious comment of ‘alone’ that did not
worry me any more, but the ‘oh, that is a very little boat’ was getting to me;
and when Paul’s crew helped me get the 80 litres of diesel in cans onto the boat
and said ‘is that all the extra diesel you are taking’ I just felt that little
bit more stressed.
Do
I go to the Cape Verdes or skip them.
Every time I decided to go somebody tried to put me off. Every time I decided to skip them
somebody said it seems a pity to miss them.
The
helpful information and opinions are all very well, but I had to make my own
decisions and go, now.
I
was at the office door at 4pm and they were a few minutes late opening. By 4.15 I was paid and back at the
boat. I took off the shore power
and told Alain I was leaving and to say goodbye to the others for me. He helped me take the ropes off and that
was it. I was in a hurry because
all three ferries come and go every three hours, 4.30 was one of those
times. The two big ones were in and
as I was leaving the express was just coming in. The Canary Sail boat was heading back to
the marina and I waved goodbye.
The
wind was coming down off the mountains at 25 knots, I was doing 7.1 knots. That did not last, it was just while I
had to go on deck to do ropes and fenders.
After and hour I was able to turn the engine off and just had the genoa
out to the spreaders and Horatio (Hydrovane) and DG (water generator)
going. The wind was down to 20
knots and I was doing 5.5 knots.
The forecast was for 18-25 knots through to Friday night. By 1800 I was down to 6 knots of wind
and it continued to be rubbish until midnight. The wind kept changing direction and
every time I left it I came back to find myself heading in the wrong direction
and there was not enough wind to turn it round. I turned the engine on a few times and
tried using Nemo (autopilot), but there was a big uncomfortable swell and
it was not coping when I asked it
to sail. I do have to change the
settings a lot for the Canary current, but I was not in the correct frame of
mind. Even my instruments had
spells when they just stopped for about 30 seconds, perhaps they were as
confused as I was. It was very
frustrating.
I
had considered all the things that had to be done at the beginning of such a
long trip, but had not allowed for starting at 4pm. This gave me a very short time until it
was dark.
I
attach a harness to the guard wires behind the seat so that it would always be
there if I needed it. I had also
bought 10 metres of 4mm galvanised multistrand wire. This was a late brainwave, I could have
used rope, but that would not have been as good. I attached on end to the D ring for the
jackstays and took it to the companionway and back to the binnacle and then the
companionway and to the other D ring.
This gives me a W of safety wires I can clip onto when reaching for the
furling clamp or winching or just getting to the back of the boat. I did have enough left over, that I
could have strung across the companionway, but I thought that as a way of
garotting myself that was probably a good one. I did not want to scratch the boat with
the wire, so I had some old reinforced plastic pipe with a 4mm hole in the
centre. All I had to do was thread
the wire through the pipe, I think that is where I lost most of my
daylight. I threaded 8 metres of
pipe and after all that I decided I needed 4 metres at each end so cut it in
half. At least it was all threaded,
no, because now I needed another small piece of pipe in the middle to wrap round
the hold on the binnacle. By this
time both ends of the wire were a bit unwound and I did not have anything to
trim off the ends with handy. I
persevered and some time later, in the dark, I was finished and I am very
pleased with the result. It just
wasn t something I could do before I was ready to go because it would have been
in the way.
Friday 17 November 2006
At
3am the wind piched up to 12 knots and I got the sails balanced and Horatio was
able to take over and I got up to 4 knots at times. At 5am the radar had stopped, ok this
would be a power thing. The radar
had been going and I had not been producing electricity for the batteries at 2
knots. Also the fridge, navigation
lights, and autopilot had taken their toll. I put the engine on for 15 mintutes and
abandoned the radar.
9am
wind had dropped to 6 knots, but Horatio was still coping well and the swell was
now much longer and more comfortable.
I realised that I had not eaten yesterday and was very tired. The wind gradually went from 9 to12
knots from midday to midnight, but the genoa was out fully and Horatio was in
sole charge. I did bits and
rested. I cooked tuna and rice and
am getting into my long distance stride.
It is a year since I have gone for more than a few days at sea and I have
to change my habits to cope.
