Estamos Aqui - We've Arrived
Kirofbrixham
Fri 10 Oct 2008 15:09
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Atlantic Adventure Part 1, Days 5 and 6.
Position 28:07.714N, 15:25.598W
After nearly 36 hours of F6-7 winds we have arrived
in Las Palmas. Please accept my apologies for the interval between blogs
but there was no opportunity to write the blog in that time becuase the laptop
was safely packed away to stop it ending on the cabin sole.
As the wind continued to blow hard from the north
so the sea slowly built until we had waves of 3-4m overlaid on an Atlantic swell
of 2m. Simple maths says at times we had 6m of water towering up behind
us. Fortunately Kir has good shoulders and more often than not the stern
would lift and we would be pointing down into the trough, the boat would start
to accelerate down the face before the wave slid through beneath us.
Exhilarating sailing, but a ride that was jiggly and uncomfortable, offering
little chance for rest.
After 6 days at sea we were less than 60 miles
from Las Palmas. Still no sight (or smell) of land, just a relentless 6 mile
circle of blue and white water, travelling with us. There was still very
little other traffic despite Las Palmas being the busiest port in the Canaries
so Ian jokingly said "we have missed Gran Canaria, next stop Cape Verde Islands"
- not a joke that went down well at the time.
Needless to say, with about 20 miles left to run
the island did come into view and thoughts turned to the issues of land
fall. With about 12 miles to go we were treated to a spectacular
sunset. This was followed by a moonlit approach to Las Palmas port.(
Skippers note: I am not sure Grae had his eyes open, or may be he still
had his sunglasses on. I just remember rain and waves blocking out our
view of the harbour. The harbour authorities were very lay back about us just
going in to such a busy port as well.This Spain after all.)
The port lies at the north end of the island so we
did not have far to go down the island to find the entrance. The backdrop
to the port is the city and the lights from it made the navigation lights
difficult to resolve. We proceeded cautiously towards the end of the
breakwater, allowing a large ship to go in well clear ahead of us and showing us
the way. Once into the harbour entrance the sea finally let up and we were
able to prepare the boat ready for the marina. The entry into the marina
proved to be another small problem with both side of the entrance marked by red
lights rather than the conventional red to port, green to starboard.
However, once the entrance was identified the rest was easy and we were tied up
on the reception pontoon by 2100 GMT.
Once safely in and the boat tidied we had a brief
(believe what you want) drink before retiring for the night.
This morning we established that Canaries time is
the same as UK time. Ian did the paperwork with the port authorities which
were quick and straightforward. Before moving round to the allocated berth
(amongst other early ARC arrivals and local boats), we filled the boat with
fuel. In the end we only used about 90 litres of our 270
capacity.
So, my dear blogettes, this is my last blog.
Richard and I fly back to the UK in the next day or so, leaving Ian here for 6
weeks before the ARC 2008 starts and 10 days before Lynn flies out to join
him.
Right now we're off to a bar to find a wi-fi
connection to send this and to book our flights. I hope you have found the
blog interesting. If you want to contact the boat the e-mail address is kirofbrixham {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com
I can't guarantee that Ian (or later, Lynn) will
respond to your e-mails but you are very welcome to send them.
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