Gran Canaria
Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Thu 11 Oct 2012 18:49
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28:07.64N 15:25.51W
Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 October
2012
Distance Run 83 Miles
The distance to Gran Canaria is 95 miles which at,
say, 6 knots would take about 15 hours - just a little too far to make it
in daylight - so an overnight sail is necessary. We opted to leave in mid
afternoon and set off about 3pm. There was little wind for the first hour
so we were under engine which gave us an opportunity to run the watermaker
for it's fortnightly 'flush'. The 12 volt watermaker has a very
heavy current draw so can only be used when either the engine or generator
are running to recharge the batteries.
The wind filled in nicely and by 6pm we had to reef
the sails quite heavily to reduce speed and maintain control throughout the dark
hours. We only sailed 83 miles through the water so we had a lot of tidal
assistance to achieve the 95 miles over the ground and arrived off Las Palmas by
4.30am. Like a lot of other cruisers we make it a rule to
avoid sailing into new harbours or ports in the dark so we 'hove to' and
slowed the boat down about 7 miles off. After 3 hours dawn was approaching
and we had drifted to within about 3.5 miles of the destination and we set sail
again.
We checked in at the marina which turned out to be
a 45 minute process involving rubber stamps on 8 pieces of paper and
signatures on 6 of them. It was reassuring to see that we had
been entered into the marina's diary as a 'permitted boat' but 'only for 7
days'.
Farewell to Marina Rubicon, Lanzarote with it's
backdrop of volcanic hills:-
 Lin taking her washing line out of the rigging
before we set off:-
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