Day 7 – 0800 UTC location: 21°12.30’N by 027°38.40’W and 808 nm from Las Palmas. Yesterday’s average speed was 5.8 knots.
Conditions:
By morning, the wind had calmed down to 6 10 knots apparent on the starboard beam. The seas followed suit, with swells at 4 feet and wind waves at 1 – 2 feet. Overall it was Continue reading
Day 5 0800 UTC location: 23°01.90’N by 023°07.30’Wand 531 nm from Las Palmas. Yesterday our average speed was 5.9 knots at 1600 RPM.
Conditions:
The seas continued to pick up all night and by morning were back to being on the verge of “uncomfortable”. The forecast said that seas the would calm down in evening, a hope we clung to all day. But instead of getting better, it only got worse. By evening, we had sharp swells at 7 8 feet from two directions — behind us and from the port side. It doesn’t feel good when the swells collide. The wind was 10 20 knots apparent from the port aft, and wind waves were 2 3 feet. It officially hit the “uncomfortable” mark, and we were rocking and rolling. It is difficult to Continue reading
Day 3 0800 UTC location: 25°42.20’N by 018°48.20’W. Yesterday we only averaged 5.6 knots at 1600 RPM. We are sad about our speed being down by so much.
Of course, the calm couldn’t last forever. By 0800, the seas had definitely picked up. Swells were now 4 feet and a little closer together, with 1 2 foot wind waves on top of that. Wind picked up to 12 18 knots apparent, still on the port aft quarter. It was still a nice ride overall, but noticeably lumpier and rollier than it had been. At the 0900 radio net, one of the boats told a joke. Q: What did the Atlantic say to the Pacific? Continue reading
Las Palmas, Gran Canaria to Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe – Days 1 – 2
Yesterday morning the weather was erratic. It was sunny for a while, and actually got warm enough to remove all coats and sweaters, then suddenly a big cloud blew in and it was cold and rainy. We went through the usual get ready to go routine, which went by incredibly fast with Neil and Colin helping. With the long passage and potential for rough seas, we really needed to batten down the hatches especially well, and we probably would not have left until sunset without their help.
When we were ready to go, we went for a last lunch on dry land. We have realized there is a palpable air of resignation amongst the boaters here. We already mentioned that everyone is friendly, and in the boating world, usually friendly and social go hand in hand. We have noticed there Continue reading
We polished fuel all night last night. We are pleased to report that it looks really clean. The men changed Racor fuel filter this morning. Then they tested the wing engine to make sure it is working properly. All looks good with it.
Colin’s son, Neil, was flying in this afternoon to spend some with his dad and see us off tomorrow. After the chores were done, we still had time to kill before Neil’s arrival. We walked a few blocks north to the commercial district and meandered around, killing time. Here is the yacht club, which we passed on the way to the center. This wins the most unique yacht club building façade award.
We wandered into a department store called El Corte Ingles that has a grocery store, curious to see how it stacks up against our new favorite grocery store, Mark’s & Spencer’s. In most ways, El Corte Ingles is your typical nice grocery store, comparable to Carrefour that we have mentioned in previous postings. But it does have a lot of high end specialty products, including a gift basket section. Almost every single gift basket had an Iberian Ham in it. Wow, it must be popular. We made our way through the store and found an entire Iberian Ham department. Lucky us, they were on sale, down from $145 USD each to only $119 USD each, with the purchase of a particular brand of wine, olive oil or sausage. And, they even have the special holders in stock. If you look carefully at the photo, you can see the little hooves on each of the legs.
Colin had a look around the Continue reading