31st October 2005
Out Of India
Birgitte and Ray Charmak
Mon 31 Oct 2005 18:53
A lot has happened since our Bay Of Biscay Crossing
After our experiance with Hurrican Vince things started to tame down we went to Largos then Villamore in Portugal then onto Chipinoa then Porto Sherry in Cadiz.
Alwyn our staunch crew member left us at Cadiz with his wife Pauline who joined us for a few days from Largos.
Oyster organised the Trafalgar Regatta at Cadiz, an incredable event,we failed miserably on our first day being very new to racing,however on the second day there were 3 races as there was only one race on the first day due to the harbour authority flexing their muscles and telling the organisers that they had no permission to race on the first day.
We therfore had 3 races on the second day.
Our crew consisted of Raymondo on the helm, Birgitte ,my son Simon and Will of Oyster(Will Gilsonn Simon's friend joined us that evening) Ray learned one thing from the day before and that is to get a clear run and time the start accurately as this is where we failed miserably on the first day. on Day 2 we were one of the first off the start line on all 3 races finished first over the finishing line 2 out of 3 races coming 3rd and 4th in 3 races, after handicap adjustment in class 2 which was our class and 4th overall best 3 out of 4 races.Walking away with 3 prizes was most rewarding.
Needless to say a lot of celebrating took place at the farewell dinner and partying at night, I think we got to bed at 5.00 in the morning!!
From Cadiz we sailed to Gibralter Simon and his friend Will flew home from Gib and James Brill ( Brill Boy) joined us in Gib.
We were planning to leave for the Canaries on Tuesday the 23rd OCTOBER the wind appeared to be blowing a hooley in Queenstown marina,so we delayed our start time however after consulting 20 different weather reports we decided to set off and had a perfect force 5 right behind us and we goosed winged out of the Gibralter straights and had a good passage through the shipping lanes, the first night was not too bad however the next 2 were pretty bad we had winds gusting up to 45 Knots and the Atlantic swell s were most uncomfortable.There was a major low around Madera,which affected us.
Our Furling line snapped and the Auto pilot packed up for 6 hours,in force 7 conditions ,not ideal,but all part of the experiance
curve,Raymondo seem to have found his sea legs at last!
We saw land on the 29th morning and dropped anchor at around 4.00am ( having left Gib on the 25th Oct at 3.00pm) North of Lanzorotte at I.Graciosa a beautiful unspoilt Island.We had a wonderful relaxing day cleaning the boat down and then enjoying an evening meal on terra ferma after having a pleasant afternoon swimming around the yacht.
Yesterday was a pleasant sail to Porto del Carmen and today just a short sail to a new marina Rubicon, tomorrow will be an early start as we need to make 100 miles across to Las Palmas on Gran Canaria.
We fly back home for a week on the 2nd and then prepare for the big event the Atlantic crossing.
All the Best
Ray and Birgitte