Position 26:24.36N 15:54.2W
PASSEPARTOUT
Christopher & Nirit Slaney
Sat 11 Dec 2010 15:08
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We finally left Las Palmas yesterday on our way to Cape
Verde. All in all we were there for two
weeks! This was definitely not in our plans, but on the ocean you have to
take what comes. It was a good lesson for someone like me who is usually short
on patience. I'm learning that plans are made to be changed.
Last month left our outboard at La Gomera for
repairs; sure to be back there for the rendezvous with Gabriella. But the
continuous SW winds would not let us make the return trip. So we've left
that outboard - which was ten years old and seriously abused - with the mechanic
and we'll buy a new one on the other side of the
pond.
Gabriella's arrival was a real boost. Firstly, it's good
to have someone who really speaks Spanish and not just a few words! As soon as
she got off the bus things started to come together - the last minute
provisioning at the market, a spin round Gran Canaria in a rented car, getting
our clearing papers and passports stamped and of course better
weather.
This is Saturday afternoon. We are still at the tail end
of the low pressure system which passed through here earlier in the week but are
sails are set and slowly filling. This morning we had a dry-run with the
spinnaker so that Gabriella can see how the various lines and blocks function
before we have to do it for real.
Chris is into his routine of getting weather data,
running the generator and desalinating water. He tuned into one of the cruiser
nets on short wave this morning to hear dozens of yachts leaving different ports
in the Canaries one day behind us. Most are going directly to the Caribbean but
a few reported heading to Senegal or Surinam and we can expect to
meet one or two in Cape Verde.
Now we shall see what the next hours and days have for
us. for the moment, the barometer is high and the sky full of every different
cloud type imaginable. Once in a while an oil tanker making it's way up
from west Africa passes us in the opposite direction, just to keep us alert and
on our toes.
Nirit
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