Atlantic Crossing 2010 - The finale
Top Secret
Feel The Magic Yacht Vacations
Tue 6 Jul 2010 23:37
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Position: 28:54.95N 13:42.29W (Puerto
Calero)
Speed: None
Course: None
Mission accomplished!
We did it, despite many mechanical failures and
leaking hatches, electrical malfunctions and many other interesting occurrences.
The intrepid crew of Paradise Explorer and their fearless leader have
successfully crossed a major ocean, not withstanding a serious lack of
wind.
In the 48 hours since our last blog while underway,
we continued to get battered by rough seas and a very uncomfortable ride.
While on a close reach, but swells coming from abeam, we managed to average
9.5 knots.
There just hasn't been enough time to mention many
of the amazing events that took place after leaving Horta, mainly as a result of
our being thrown against bulkheads and the like. So lets mention a few memorable
ones:
Rean and Matt running around the cockpit like kids
in a playground because the wind had finally picked up and we were screaming
ahead at 15 knots for several hours. There was a rooster tail behind us that was
lit up like a fireworks display by the phosphorescence in the water. It was
emotional.
The wind died on the second to last day and in
a show of extreme seamanship the lovely Mari and The Matt snuffed the Kite
and dropped the main in a matter of seconds while starting the
motors.
Unfortunately a short while later, the wind
picked up on the beam (side of the boat) and all the sails had to be raised
again. We were now beset by a new set of problems.
The wind picked up to 30 Knots and it was time to
reef. We successfully reefed the headsail, but the mail proved more of a
problem. We neglected to remove the downhaul in our rush to get some speed,
and as a result, it tangled in the rigging, preventing us dropping the main
sail. The obvious solution was to winch the skipper up the mast, to loosen
the offending line from the rigging and so doing enabling us to
reef.
Unfortunately mere seconds into his assent Rean
complained of unbearable pressure on the family jewels, and was promptly lowered
to make himself more comfortable.( we did not have a bosun's chair). Due to the
motion of the ocean Rean was violently swung from one side of the mast to the
other while Matt laughed hysterically from below. Rean now has a massive
bruise on his inner thigh, which we are unable to show due to the graphic nature
and location of the said injury. However, it must be noted that the endeavour
was successful, however briefly. On his return to deck, we again attempted to
raise the main sail to the reefed position, but to our dismay it was now rapped
around the spreaders.
This sparked Rean's second ascent up the mast to
rectify this new problem. Again he was successful. We finally got the main up
just as the wind died completely. So back to the trusty motors (not so
much)....
We decided that both motors could be used to speed
up our progress, as we had plenty of fuel on board. After 3 hours the starboard
motor made a strange sound and Mari, ever watchful, noticed the change in
tone and rushed to the controls to kill the offending motor.
It was then Rean's turn to fix it... again.....
This time the fix was easy enough. Rean quickly reattached the
exhaust muffler and was asleep again in minutes. With both engines
operational we made good time to Lanzarote without further
delay.
We made our final approach to Puerto Calero, in the
dark with no lights to guide us. The shoreline was awash with
hotel, marina, street and traffic lights, but thanks to Google, Apple
(Iphone) and Ray and a little bit of trust, we managed to navigate to within 20
meters of the marina, and all was well. We snuck in at 11:30pm and were
immediately spotted by the Cops and Customs, who promptly asked us to fill out
the relevant forms (very jacked).
We cracked open the bottle of champagne and toasted
each other on a well executed passage. It was emotional again.
We are now safely moored in the marina. We have
more conveniences than we could have hoped for and the tappas is
great!
Until our next adventure... from Paradise Explorer
and her crew... over and out...
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