Penguin
Mon 3 Oct 2005 23:44
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October 03 2005
Well we have achieved the first leg of our trip
getting the boat and crew to the Canaries, well done skipper.
 3 Days and 14 hours from Lagos to Isla Graciosa
(small island 1 mile to the west of Lanzarote) 546 miles. Rob and the GPS (not
the teddy bear cloud) navigated us down the narrow channel between the
islands in the pitch black to anchor outside the small village harbour.
Next morning we positioned ourselves in the marina, scary when we looked at all
the rocks around. 6 Euros per night for the berth, but no facilities,
bargain. Look at the Photo, please please look at the photo,
Rob has caught a fish, first 1 on the second day and the third day
not 1 but 2, all yellow fin tuna. After the first was caught on
the third day Rob said we have enough, pull in the other line, which Ian
did, "we've got another was the cry"! The chef's did there bit, Rick
Stein's book came out, when it started with get your food processor and
your xxxxxx, not on Penguin, the book was quietly returned to the
book case. The fish was fried in butter, lemon with salt and pepper, sea
to pan in 2 hours delicious. Rob had to deal with the fish and sent them
off to their maker. Rob called to Ian for a bucket of water, so Ian threw
a bucket over the side on a rope, it locked into the water and Ian was
nearly taken over side, being a tuff old sailor he didn't let go and he got
it back, bleeding at the wrist and .........with a small amount of water in
it!
We pick up Liz (Ian's wife) on Thursday for a
weeks cruising around, then Rob, Jak and me have 4 weeks chilling out and
getting the boat to Las Palmas, Grand Canaria, where we have to get sorted for
the ARC.
> Well 2,000 sea miles and her lady ship
is still here.! Or is this a ghost writer.?
Down wind for all of those miles rockin and rolling
with the party only going on in my head,with waves and wind behind
us Dolphins on our side, stars up above and sparkling exploding
phospharesance
illuminating our watery landscape. Blimmey what a
mouthful. Sounds romantic but it was actually ,the noise from the banging
doors,loose cups and plates,squeaking retainers on the boom, gurgling pipes,
sloshing waves, and hoots from the men when we hit 9 knots all playing their
tune in this weird symphony from yatch Peguin.
What was HLS doing well most of the time I
pretended to be a woman with my eyes shut listening to all the tales and
fantasies upon deck. Did my night duty when required and did a meal with
Ian risking life and
limb preparing a rice salad has never been so
entertaining. Which bit do you hang onto when you are cooking on a spin cycle in
a washing machine.It's fun at sea but now we
have a lovely break in the Canaries hoorah.
And I have to say three cheers for Captaine Yorkie
who lead us to another safe anchorage in the dead of the night. Doesn't he look
the proud dad with his first fish worth slapping in the frying pan.
Graciosa looks beautiful, unspoilt , volcanic, many
yatchts of hardy sailors from all over the world, a shop, many bars one
restaurant and a cash machine just in case!.
TTFN. Love Jak
At last we finally did some good sailing we
have listened to far too much diesel engine noise over the last 4 weeks, Thanks
back home to the engine consultant (thanks John) we finally have got it
running sweetly
just in time for when we did not need it, the joys
of sailing. We have finally caught 3 yellow fin tuna from the back of Penguin,
for all who have sailed with me and know that I have trailed fishing
lines
behind us for thousands of miles this is a pretty
miraculous event, so Claree our designated fish catcher for the ARC has got
some competition!. Talking of whom the delivery crew have done a superb
job.Penguin is down in the
Canaries, all crew have been collected at the right
time. We have not had the easiest of trips down but Jacky and Norman have been
fantastic, Penguin is sailing superbly and we are looking forward to
the
arrival of the race crew in the mean time we will
try not to get up to many more adventures and take it easy getting prepared
for the crossing. Its going to be a tough 6 weeks out here in the Canaries,
swimming, sailing,
and snorkelling, we are off walking around Graciosa
tomorrow so off to get some beauty sleep. As you can see from the picture
I need to catch up a lot on that. Skippy
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