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Date: 11 Oct 2010 11:06:00
Title: Madeira to La Palma
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After an extra day in Madeira we set off on Monday morning for La Palma, one of the smallest islands in the Canaries. Now that we are in the Canaries, we have covered a distance of 2,500 miles since we left Southampton. The weather we were expecting from the forecasts showed good winds from the north west to blow us down to La Palma, with minimal waves. When we first left we set the smaller of the two headsails and managed a very respectable 7.8 knots, which was great. After about 4/5 hours of this the wind suddenly changed 180 degrees and for the rest of the 200 miles we had a head wind of never more than 8 knots, usually less. Engine on. As we chugged along we realised that as we were motor sailing, using the mainsail to stop us from rolling too much, we were in fact going to arrive in La Palma too early, about 4am on Wednesday morning. We had planned our trip so that we would arrive sometime in the morning once it was daylight, as a strange marina in the dark is something we would rather avoid if possible. We decided just to drift along and even though we slowed our speed we were still going too quickly because of the tide, so at 3am on Wednesday morning we turned the engine off and simply drifted for 5 hours until it was daylight again.
So, what to do while we were sailing along? John decided to try his hand at fishing. This is the first time that he has tried fishing in his whole life, so setting up took a little while. Eventually he got fed up of holding his rod over the back of the boat and tied it on. He then came back into the cockpit but only after making sure he could hear the ratchet noise the reel would make over the noise of the engine if he caught anything. Two hours passed, then three, then four and nothing. Although he had used his most alluring lure, the fish were clearly having none of it. About an hour later, we had pizza in the oven, by this stage having given up all hope. We were both below decks when we heard a strange noise, a sort of clicking sound. We looked at each other, 'what was that strange noise?' we said. A second or two later and a momentary flash of panic crossed John's face as we both realised - it was a fish!!! Quick as a flash John jumped up and ran to the back of the boat desperately trying to remember what the guy in the shop had told him about landing his catch. I grabbed the camera to capture what we hoped was going to be an auspicious moment - John's first fish - and not some old welly! Much reeling in later we got our first sight of the fish, a beautiful shiny mackerel, about 2 pounds in weight and here is the photo to prove it.

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