Arrival and departure from Tenerife

Gaudeo
John and Prue Quayle / John Quayle
Sat 17 Nov 2007 10:32
12 November: John Smith, Jonathan Lane and JQ  arrived by Monarch Air from Manchester - for once a thoroughly pleasant experience - and into a hire car within 20 minutes of touch down.The boat  was just as it had been left in the very sheltered marina two months ago.
 
13 -16 November: Division of labour began with JQ sensibly excluded from the great victualling debate but he was witness to much bravado talk about purchase of a full size Jamon Iberico and live goat (presumably to be tethered to the mast). A navigation warning about an approaching plague of locusts from Mauritania prompted the food committee to consider this as an alternative protein source and JL advised on a crystallized preparation for pre-prandial snacks; then the gentle let down that tins of corn beef were to be stocked, albeit for use in curries - well just how bad can it get? Since then, the sight of JL and JS sweating under heavy loads of other stores has restored confidence that the chefs may reach their renown potential
 
An early task was to determine the state of "Gaudeo`s" bottom as a reduction of boat speed by even 0.25 knots could make the difference between arrival before or after carnival time in the Caribbean, so armed with scrapers an entertaining morning in harbour was spent in underwater labour. Skipper later informs the workers that he was more concerned about the efficiency of the boat`s folding propeller and arranged with a boat yard 3 miles away for lift out and readjustment (pitch reduction) so the harbour high jinks had been unnecessary -  just the beginning of his lack of credibility!
 
There were numerous anxious moments when the propeller parts were scattered on the ground especially as communication was difficult with an ever patient mechanic who spoke as little English as our Spanish, but after 3 hours the parts were successfully reassembled, the boat scrubbed,  some additional antifoal paint applied, and the boat relaunched. Boat speed has increased significantly.
 
16 November: Richard Burbidge arrived from Manchester having left Shrewsbury at 3 am. He was allowed a brief rest before starting on all the unpleasant jobs reserved for late arriving crew, such as desk scrubbing and fender cleaning. He is now sporting a personal EPIRB (emergency position indicating radio beacon) contained within a friend`s James Bond style watch in case his shipmates decide to throw him overboard. Being comparatively underdressed and somewhat bewildered by such high tech kit they wonder whether he has also arranged for a permanent reconnaissant Nimrod aircraft to standby for mid Atlantic board meetings.
 
17 November: Forecast of a stationary area of low pressure to the NW of the Canaries and light breezes from the SW for the next 3-4 days means that our heading today from Tenerife will have to be due S towards the Cape Verde Islands in order to pick up the Westerly trade wind, and we are likely to need the iron sail for the next 2-3 days, and perhaps a refuelling stop in Cape Verde islands later.

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