Leaving Las Palmas
Neroli
Charles Tongue
Sat 22 Nov 2008 19:32
|
Leaving Las
Palmas........
 
The starboard fruit
hammock.
Rig checks.
We are all
ready to go to sea now.Today has been one of final preparations. Lou and Henry
have been stowing fresh food, Francoise and Graham (!) have been cooking,
Graham has been up the mast a couple of times to finally check our rigging and
Charlie and Graham went to the skippers briefing. There are no hurricanes
forecast which is the good news. The bad news is that the weather pattern in
mid-Atlantic is complicated and we face light winds if we take the rhumb line
(direct) route. Neroli will probably be taking the southerly route and heading
for the Cape Verde Islands before heading across towards the West Indies. The
start strategy is also quite complicated because our course takes us east of
Gran Canaria before we head south and we need to avoid the wind acceleration
zones found close inshore as well as the wind shadows which affect sea areas to
the south of the Canary Islands. We have also been warned to look out for
immigrants from West Africa heading to Europe via the Canary Islands. Sometimes
there are well over 100 in a 35ft boat!
Tomorrow we
start at 1300 and we will be keeping well clear of the crowds on the line, or at
least that is the plan! we will next report from sea after we have started.
|