Monday 21 November  2022

Circa 50 miles south of Fuerteventura 27.42^o N  14.17^o W

Today's Blog by David  (Time zone: UTC )

Well, at 07.00 this morning, we cast off and motored out of the marina. It was first light, the sky was clear – the sun about to rise. Having hidden from the wind for a couple of days,  the weather was disappointingly light this morning and so we continued to motor in search of wind.

Our boat speed was less than normal. At 2,000 revs we normally make 7.5 knots through the water;  this morning it was 6.8 – 7.0 kts – if we were lucky. So what? I hear you say! It’s only 10% less than normal, it is true, but 0.5kts x 24 hours a day for 18 days is 216 miles we didn’t sail – adding over a day to our passage time. So with just 17 miles run, we anchored at the south of Lanzarote while I donned my wet suit and aqualung to clean the bottom.  Two hours later we were underway,  by which time the wind had filled in; we have been sailing since then. 

The first day out on a long passage is always a learning process, particularly since it is 6 years since we did one.  Distant memories have to be recalled – Where does this rope go? Inside or outside the shroud? It’s rubbing on the guard rail – it will chafe (wear through) – how did we rig it to avoid that?  So it was very much, slowly, slowly catchee monkey as we set the sails and headed south, to the west of Fuerteventura. 

About 16.00,  at the end of Fuerteventura, we needed to turn right a bit, putting the wind behind us. So we decided it was time to set our usual three sail downwind rig.  If the initial sail set was slow because we were  rusty, then the speed of this was measurable in geological timeframe.  Lots of pieces of rope had to be carefully, positioned, knotted, untied, repositioned, knotted again (ad inf.) until, one hour later, the skipper pronounced himself satisfied – at last. Here is a picture of this kind of rig when we set it off South Africa in 2014.

The complex bits are the arrangements of ropes at the end of the pole to ensure nothing rubs against anything else – no chafe!

By the way – it is cold.  I’ve not experienced this so far south: we are wearing fleeces on deck,  unless we are in the sunshine – and it’s quite cool at night.  So it is fortunate that, despite all the technology available to tell us about the weather, we are doing exactly what thousands of people have done over the years when sailing to the Caribbean. It’s a simple sailing direction:  “Sail SW until the butter melts, then turn west”. 

With a bit of luck that is only three days away because our current course is south west.  We should get to the sail thru McDonalds restaurant, about 750 miles from here, on Friday. And then we will head west.