Preparations in Las Palmas in November: 

We have been in LP for the last week – a very busy time with much to do and many lectures to attend on weather, routing, food selection, storage & preparation, safety etc.

On Monday we had our RORC safety inspection by Chris Brooks - a charming man who sails in Scotland. Preparations for the inspection included making up a very comprehensive “grab bag” for use in emergency. In addition to normal SOLAS requirements we are required to have extra food, water, flares and medical supplies. Tim has done a superb job for the team in pulling together additional items which would give us an even better chance in an emergency – thermal protection bags, second EPIRB beacon, bag containing money, copies of passport, credit card, mobile phone, handheld VHF transmitter, GPS receiver etc.

Tim prepares the grab bag contents...

We also had a rig inspection by Jerry the Rigger from Hamble. This was very reassuring – he spotted a couple of small things which we have addressed and pronounced Alize’s rig in good shape.

One of the other boats which had recently been purchased second hand had a big shock when their rigging was diagnosed as full of stress weaknesses and liable to fail. They have now had their boat completely re-rigged in time for the start. Our neighbour on the dock discovered his generator mountings had failed – this required the removal of the generator, fitting new mountings and reinstallation, a pretty big job – all finished yesterday evening just in time.

We had a Thomas Wibberenz masterclass - a sailing session with our smart Parasailor. Thomas was inspirational, answering all our questions and more!

The social scene has been superb. A sundowner party every night for the whole fleet.

A masked ball on Wednesday which was a great event, some magnificent fancy dress outfits on display.

One of the boats dressed up as Doctors in scrubs and carried a crew mate around the party on a stretcher with a siren whistle to clear the way. On Friday night we enjoyed a farewell cocktail party at the Royal Yacht Club. It has been great having Christine and Mandy with us to enjoy the party atmosphere and be part of the whole experience.

Our pontoon throughout the week was the scene of much vegetable washing as continual deliveries for different boats went through a dedicated decontamination and wrapping process, piece by piece – always watching out for cockroaches. Barbara did a sterling job washing our tomatoes, apples, pears, potatoes and all sorts. Only later did enquiries around the dock turn up the information that the potatoes should probably not have been washed. (Barbara: the chlorinated water also made the mushrooms go limp!)

At the skippers briefing on Saturday the following announcement was made:

ARC Start Delayed for Cruisers