27.53.796N 015.20.931W

 

Left the dock at Las Palmas Marina at 0930 to avoid the confusion of the delayed start of the ARC race at 1100.  Now in proper Atlantic swelly sea and have my scopoderm plaster stuck behind my ear (Deb McCutcheon would not be enjoying this at all!).

 

After our very calm night on the way down to Gran Canaria the wind picked up the following morning and by 0930 Stephen has written in the log – ‘This is what we have come for’ wind SxE 15 knots flat sea, 168k to run to Las Palmas.  Crew morale was high after changing the watch system to 2 hrs on 6 hrs off – bacon and eggs for breakfast and a second small tuna caught, and with the wind picking up we looked like we would have enough fuel to make it to Las Palmas.  The wind built throughout the night and then we were beating into 28 knots  with a very sloppy confused sea and making very slow progress at around 3 knots.  As we approached Las Palmas around 1630 we had more strong squalls and it was really unpleasant.  We got no response on the VHF from the marina until we had virtually entered Las Palmas whereupon they told us there was absolutely no room in the marina as the weather had been so bad the ARC race, which had been due to start at noon had been delayed until Tuesday!  We had no fuel, no water, and were feeling exhausted and really did not feel like trying to find a place in an already crowded rolly anchorage!  The marina staff were buzzing around on ribs trying to explain to the many yachts who were expecting to get space that the 250 ARC boats were still there!  We begged and begged and Grace virtually burst into tears and thankfully they let us moor up on the fuel dock for the night, and the following morning managed to scrounge a berth amongst similar sized ARC boats.  Met up with Paul Frew and his lovely new Oyster 57, and saw lots of wonderful large yachts including ‘Free Spirit’ a wonderful looking Norwegian boat with a blown up globe on board and several small children!  We rather liked Las Palmas I think the ARC has obviously helped with the clean up of the marina, good chandleries, nice restaurants and bars.  Weather was lovely yesterday and we all walked round to the big beach for a swim in the Atlantic rollers (the boys all enjoyed the topless girls!).  Tim and I did our final shop in El Corte Ingles (a sort of Harrods of Spain).  Then dinner out with Charlie’s friend Jenny and her three friends who had turned up on holiday!

 

Back to the present as it is very difficult to type as rolling all over the place and feeling rather sick .... S has just plotted the course to Martinque – 2658 nautical miles!!! some of the bigger ARC boats are just catching us up.

Will try and write more tomorrow when I have got my sea legs!  Stephen is now growing a beard – and Tim has shaved his off this morning (which is a shame as we were enjoying calling him Ernest as in Hemmingway – but now he’s lost the importance of being Ernest we’ll have to think of something else!)  Graham is in severe need of a haircut and Stephen is threatening to do it!

 

The sad thing is we have come to the end of Granny’s ginger biscuits which have been a triumph!