Week ending 8th November
Nightsong
Sun 8 Nov 2009 18:53
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Dear blog
Autumn has finally come to the Canaries - the
weather this last week had been distinctly cooler - but at least we have had
wind (NE force 4 to 7 the whole week)! And it is still so warm that we sleep
under sheets with no duvets and eat most meals on deck! So scarcely sweater
weather.
First job this week was to put the boat aground and
scrub the bottom ready for the transatlantic voyage which starts 2 weeks today.
I had long chosen a lagoon on the south coast of tiny Isla de Lobos (Seal
island) which is itself off the north coast of Fuerteventura. The pilot said
that catamarans use it to scrub but failed to mention that, at its
entrance, it has a drying reef with about 1.4m over it at HW not that depth
at LW- the chartplotter also didn't chart it. But I had chosen to go in and out
at HW and although we touched both going in and coming out - not the rudders but
the keel - we managed to put Nightsong aground at half tide and scrub and paint
the top 2 ft of the underwater (sadly the lagoon did not dry any more than this
because of the reef stopping the water from emptying). Charming place too as the
pictures show.
  The reef is clearly visible in
the 2nd photo! And beautiful Fuerteventura in the background. And I
worked late as the 1st photo shows.
Strange island and the most backward that we have
seen
 We spent the next 3 days pottering (under sail)
down the coast of Fuerteventura - firstly at a tourist resort called Puerto de
Castillo, then an anchorage at Gran Tarajal and finally a quay at Moro Jable. Of
the big islands this is certainly the least developed of the Canaries but also
has a distinctive look like all the islands, very barren and brown and
lower than the western isles tho' higher than Lanzarote- very hard to say which
is my favourite but it is probably La Gomera. Least favourite definitely Gran
Canaria but then we haven't seen anything other than Las Palmas so that isn't
very fair.
The highlight for me of the week was our final sail
from Moro Jable to Las Palmas a distance of about 58 miles. It was blowing
NNE 5-7 so we had a beam reach and managed to do 53 miles in 6 hours (nearly 9
knots average!). Started with 2 reefs and took a 3rd - hairy doing this
reef 'cos one has to go to the mast, so hairy that I have decided to
change the arrangement so we can do all 3 reefs from the
cockpit.
 Thanks Christopher and Clare for your company and
advice Chris - glad that you managed to avoid seasickness, Clare. Now a
couple of days washing and cleaning, a quick trip back to Blighty and then
the great event itself!
AJB
8th November 2009
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