Gran Canaria capers!
ULA
John & Jackie Richards
Sat 18 Oct 2008 15:06
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Position: 028:07.734N 015:25.579W
During our last evening on Fuertaventura we thought
we might have to send out a mayday for a missing crew member! Having spent the
afternoon sunbathing on the nudist beach and acquiring sunburn in parts we
would prefer not to mention in the blog, Andrew had a shower and decided
to go for a wander ashore. As sundowner time arrived, there was still no
sign of him and we began to wonder whether he had jumped ship or maybe couldn't
admit to not being able to sit down long enough to enjoy a beer!
Eventually we decided he definitely wasnt coming back and walked up in to town
to look for him and a restaurant only to find him looking slightly merry in
a bar en route after a glass of wine or three to deaden the pain and bemoaning
the fact that we had taken so long to get there!
Thursday saw us setting off around 8am for Gran
Canaria. After about an hour of motoring the wind filled in and we had a great
sail, beam reaching all the way in around 14-15kts of wind, averaging 7-8knots
all the way and arriving in Las Palmas around 3.30pm. After bunkering fuel we
moored up in our allocated berth alongside several other ARC yachts. We all have
our ARC flags hoisted so it is quite easy to identify boats in here taking part
in the race. Everyone is very friendly and the party atmosphere is
building!
We decided to eat out and went for a
wander. Tim took advice from the receptionist at a local hotel and we
jumped in to a taxi and went to the Southern end of the town to a recommended
restaurant area. After a short stroll we found a fantastic place and enjoyed a
wonderful meal. We have booked in for a further visit with all the crew, plus
Caza and Jenny who are coming out to see us off in November.
Yesterday, Tim and Helen took the tour bus around
Las Palmas and stopped off exploring various places while John Andrew and I did
some shopping and did a reci of the supermarkets to plan the large food shop we
will need to organise in November. Helen cooked us a fantastic meal on board and
we resumed the 'Niggle (contract whist) Competition' started several days
earlier. Tension is mounting for the final round tonight!
The Ula running club set off this morning in the
pursuit of ultimate fitness! So far this has comprised one solo member
-me-although Tim did venture out in Lanzarote on on occaision and John has been
talking about it! Andrew has been press ganged in to buying some new trainers
(very posh Nike ones courtesy of El Corte Ingles) and hit the streets with John
and I this morning looking very professional (for at least half a mile!
Lol!) He did very well managing around 4 miles in total and still had a
smile on his face (just!) by the time we got back to the marina. Roll on
tomorrow and a new route!
Tim, Helen and Andrew fly home tomorrow with me
following on Monday and John on Thursday. Security in the marina appears to be
an issue which is a bit of a worry when leaving the boat but the police and port
authorities do appear to be taking the problem seriously and there is a lot
of visible policing going on and recent TV coverage has
also reinforced the message of greater security to deter the would-be
thieves.
The Ula ARC crew of John, myself, Andrew, Adrian
Andy C and Howard plus other friends coming to see us off will
be flying out/returning to GC on various dates from 10 November
onwards for the start of the race on 23 November.
Love to everyone at home, Jackie
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