It’s now nearly five weeks since we came back to Lanzarote
from our trip to the UK it seems longer than that though, we spent ten days
visiting friends and family and thanks to my daughter sorting some transport
out for us it meant getting around was so much easier. It all seemed quite
hectic as not only did we try to get to see as many people as possible but we
were also sorting Christmas presents and cards, new bank cards and other
personal things, as this would be our last trip to the UK for some time. We had
also arranged for several pieces of equipment to be posted to Kevin’s son, as we were not sure whether we would get the
items in time if sent directly to
Lanzarote, and so on the return journey we had three hold bags and two carry-on
bags packed to the gunnels.
We had left Kailani in the shipyard at Arrecife in Lanzarote
for some maintenance work, we were both very pleased with the professionalism
of the yard staff, everything happened when they said it would, nothing was too
much trouble for them and we were always greeted with a friendly smile, we both agreed
it is the best run shipyard we have come across since leaving the UK and would
certainly recommend it to other sailors.
After many requests from sailing friends we also put Kailani’s
name on both the port and starboard sides of the boat, we had originally
decided not to do this and just have the name on the stern, but now we have I
think it looks really good.
With Kailani back in the water we spent a few days in the
marina, the transatlantic race was due to start on November the 25th
and so we decided to stay and see the start before leaving the marina. I have
to say though it was one of the disappointing race starts we have ever witnessed.
We did not hear a horn for the start of the race and as there was no wind the
boats didn’t look as if they were moving at all and so there was some confusion
as to whether the race had actually started. There were also daily races taking place for
the 44’s, these had been shipped over to the island in containers and rebuilt
in the shipyard which had been fascinating to watch.
The following day we headed north to the island of Graciosa
our favourite anchorage to take shelter from some strong winds predicted for later
in the week, on arrival we were surprised to see we were the only ones there, which was unusual as the anchorage is usually
busy. However that night was spent on deck on anchor watch as the winds picked
up reaching 30knots at times, which the forecast we had looked at had not
predicted, maybe other sailors knew differently and that’s why no one else was
there.
We stayed in the anchorage for two weeks, we had not
originally intended to do so, but with winds predicted to be mainly south
easterlies we delayed our passage south to Papagayo on the south of Lanzarote
as the swell coming into the anchorage would have been untenable. Eventually we decided to head back to
Arrecife and go into the marina again to take shelter from more very strong winds, up to 40 knots at times, it was so nice to just step of the boat
without having to dingy ashore.
Whilst in Arrecife we installed the new chart plotter and
radar, and cable for the fog horn, Kevin had intended to use the old radar
cable to pull the new cable through the mast, however we found that when the
original cabling had been installed all the cables running down the inside of
the mast had been cable tied together and so what we thought would be a simple
task took most of the day to complete coupled with a lot of cursing and
swearing.
From Arrecife we headed to Papagayo and then on to Rubicon where we will spend
Christmas and New Year and complete the remaining jobs we have to do before our
crew Ian and Trina join us in less than three weeks. Making the Limoncillo was one of the
first jobs of my list.
I have to say though, whilst we are both a little excited
about the passage across the Atlantic I
am also a little apprehensive, I have to keep telling myself thousands make the
trip each year, some with very young children on board, so I just need to
relax and enjoy the experience.
By the way, you don't get to see many photo's of Bev on this blog because if I try and take one this is what she does.
Merry Christmas to you all.
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