Las Palmas, Gran Canaria
The Canary Islands
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Buenos dias,
Well, this is it. Game Day, baby! We depart in just a few hours to sail across the Atlantic Ocean, 2650 miles. It should take is about 18 to 20 days. This is both the longest passage and our last big ocean crossing for our voyage around the world. After this it is all island hopping and coastal cruising.
We will be starting with 225 other boats in the Atlantic Rally For Cruisers (the ARC), boats and crew from all over the world, and all headed to St. Lucia in the Caribbean. With that many boats on the starting line, with just two starts 20 minutes apart, it should be quite a spectacle.
As I write this it is 0600 and still dark out, but I’ve been awake for hours thinking about stuff. As the skipper, as you can imagine, I have a lot on my mind, as the rest of the crew sleeps in.
Did I do a proper provisioning? I think so. I bought thousands of Euros worth of groceries, enough to feed the crew of four for a month. Among other things, we have a full Thanksgiving Dinner planned, including a turkey that I will roast in our small oven, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, an apple pie for dessert, and a bottle of French champagne. So think of us when you are having your turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, and Team Traveler will make a toast to you.
Is the boat ready to go? I think so. While in Barcelona a couple of months ago we hauled the boat at the North Wind Boatyard where we had a thorough survey and many repairs. The bottom is clean. Everything works. We got the spinnaker out of storage below the v-berth and hoisted it on our way here, just to practice, and that went well. It was the first time that sail has been out of the bag since our passage from Vanuatu to Australia. I plan to go up the mast one more time later this morning just to check everything again. Our water and fuel tanks are full, and I changed the filters on the watermaker and the fuel filter. The engine is running great. Yeah, the boat’s ready to go.
Is the crew ready and up for this long passage? Again, I think so. Brian and Larry both sailed with us on our longest passage to date, that being from Hawaii to Tahiti, about 2350 miles. And Brian has come along way in his sailing skills since then, having sailed with us from Singapore to Aden, Yemen, and again this time from Nice, France to here. Larry owns a cruising sailboat and is also a veteran of many Pacific crossings, including sailing together with me on the 2003 Transpac. Yansen sailed with us from Bali to Singapore and again this time from Tangier, Morocco to here. He is very comfortable on boats, having grown up on fishing boats in Indonesia, and he’s a great addition to the crew. But his longest passage so far has been only three days. I certainly have gained much experience and learned much about this boat and cruising in general since departing Newport Beach in July 2007. Last night at our bon voyage dinner, Larry said, half jokingly, that by the time I get back to Newport I will have finally gained the knowledge and experience required to set off on a circumnavigation. But this is my first long passage without Barbara, who I miss much in many ways, including her sailing skills and cruising experience.
Is the weather going to be good? I went to the ARC Skipper’s Briefing yesterday primarily to hear their meteorologist give his report, and yes, we should have perfect conditions. The wind will be 15 to 20 out of the NE at the start, building to 20 to 25, and in the coming days the wind will start to clock around to the ENE. Squalls should be few, and most importantly the surface sea temperature is normal for this time of year. If it was higher than normal then you must worry about a late season hurricane.
I was also thinking about what was going through the mind of Christopher Columbus the night before he set out from here in 1492 to cross the Atlantic for the first of his four voyages to the New World. There is an excellent Columbus Museum here, which I very much enjoyed, especially the mock up of the Admiral’s sea cabin, the large scale ship models, Columbus’s logbook, the detailed routes he took showing his noon positions for each day, and the historic charts of the Atlantic. Brian and I stopped by the church where Columbus and his crew attended morning mass before departing, and we too said a prayer for our safe passage.
We plan on making our first land fall at Barbados, which is about 100 miles east of St. Lucia. We will stay there a few days, tour the Mount Gay Rum factory, and then sail into Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. There Larry flies home and Barbara joins me for 23 days over her Christmas and New Years vacation.
Living the Dream,
Michael