2010/2011 ARC PREAMBLE – The Med and Canaries

I am still not quite sure how Alison was persuaded to allow me to take Watergaw across the Atlantic, and even less sure why she decided to come along! Our crewmates Alan Williams and Martin Atkinson’s motives are much more obvious, as long term sailors and students of the crossing. The plan was brewed towards the end of 2010, with Watergaw wintering on the hard at Faro, and there followed months of preparation, installation and testing of additional equipment, crew familiarisation and training on a week’s shakedown trip to Gibraltar early in 2011. We then anticipated a pleasant spring whilst Ali and I sailed the western Med and made sure it all worked.

The ARC Guildford seminar which we all attended in March was helpful, but we found ourselves nodding as we ticked off another of things we had already taken into account, and began to feel quite pleased with ourselves.

To put us firmly back in our places, and take us down a peg or ten, the gods decided to punish us with a masthead lightning strike in early May as we sat at anchor off Ibiza on our way to the Balearics, Corsica and Sardinia. An incandescent flash encompassed the boat, a boom reverberated through our chests and an almighty stench of burnt electrics filled our nostrils, followed by 2 months of bedlam as we replaced every piece of navigation and communications equipment on the boat. Anything with a circuit board, including the water maker and the Eberspacher heater got fried, whilst the forestay and furlex were damaged as the lightning ran down them to our anchor chain. Sourcing and shipping kit to Ibiza made life interesting for a while.

We did begin to question our ability to put humpty back together again in time for a transatlantic crossing, but with the help of a friendly Yorkshire marine electronics engineer in Ibiza and support from our insurers (Admiral), repairs were completed in time for a pre-trip haul out back in Portugal. 

Alan and Martin joined us to sail the boat down to the Canaries in late September, and we all went home for a break before mustering in Las Palmas for the safety and rig inspections, and final provisioning for the trip. Putting enough on board for 4 people for 4 weeks was something of a challenge, but Ali did a fantastic job with help from Angela, Christine and Ceri who had come out to see us off. I was usually having some more fun in the bilges, and was therefore otherwise engaged!

Hey ho, nothing but fun to come now....

Alan