Life in Gran Canaria, 11th Nov 2009.

Hi to family and friends,

We are now settling into life in Gran Canaria and in particular the preparation of the boat and the provisioning for the Atlantic crossing.
And for all our friends who think that we spend all day swimming off the boat on hot sunny days or evenings drinking vino tinto del barco (boat) here is a reality check please see our photos , ‘Glamour Yacht’.
You see where ever you are in life you still have to wash out your smalls and bed linen. Whilst we might be moored next to the glamorous yachts of the cruising world we can still keep up the British stiff upper lip!!!!!!
Our mooring is on the sea wall secured with lines to the sea bed forward and
to the wall aft. One of the forward seabed lines was broken so we were visited by an eccentric and very rounded diver. We watched as air bubbles broke the surface of the water and were amazed as he came to the surface gasping for air and was hauled out onto the dock by his colleagues. Bless him so unfit and he normally works in the port on commercial ships !! We now have 2 starboard lines not port and starboard think he got confused !!! Made a great photo opp though.
When we arrived in October we were told by the marina office that there were only 20 Arc boats here. We estimate only a further 20 to 30 have arrived since.We initially did ‘reckies’ of the local large supermarket and El CorteI Ingles (like a House of Frazer) to check out the long life food available and range of fresh produce too. We have made several food runs during the past week to scoop up the best long life goodies ahead of the remaining ARC boats getting in. Tony and I have a trendy lime green trolley and it remarkably doubles as a tardis for provisioning.
We bought a few items with us from the UK which we were told by our friends
Jackie and John would not be available here and also stocked up in Spain before we left.
Jackie and John did the same trip last year and she has just kindly sent us an in depth list of their provisioning ,so we will be looking to see if we have missed anything and also take some good ideas.
Tony has been re-servicing everything on the boat. We left Mazarron and Gibraltar in good shape but he quite rightly wants everything to work properly for the Atlantic. The water maker was pickled (preserved) when we arrived and Tony has thoroughly serviced the generator and main engine. The decks have been scrubbed and the interior has been re stowed to live aboard mode.
Tony is organising a rigger to thoroughly check it out after his own inspection and he is busy checking the steering system and re stowing aft stowage lockers for the big trip.
There are lots of small jobs to do like making mosquito nets for the companionway for the Caribbean and things like bungs for the vents in the back transom for non essential things like the cooker hood etc. this is a precaution for a large following sea.
So life is pretty busy at the moment between washing smalls, lime green trolley loads of food and bungs !!!!! We are hoping to be on top of things soon and will be hiring a car some time to see a little of the island from a tourist perspective.
We are so-o-o-o looking forward to seeing our friends who are arriving for the ARC ( Atlantic Rally) later this month. It will be so good to sail with Alisdair, Mike and Moira again whom I met on my Atlantic crossing on the Challenge yacht in Nov/Dec 2004. Also we are joined by Pat the partner of my dear friend Carol. He has only sailed on boats with us and yet from the beginning was a natural sailor and is now completely smitten. So Tony and Pat bring new blood to this team and we are very excited about sailing with everyone.
Our intention is to race across the Atlantic by the amazing power of wind alone and the skill of a determined group of people. There is something very special about sailing nearly 3000 nautical miles by wind power.
We are so looking forward to the sunsets and sunrises to die for. The light pollution free night sky, dolphins, whales, phosphorescence, food from the sea (fingers crossed we catch something) and the great comradery which comes from the spirit of adventure and the unnerving isolation which makes the sense of achievement on completion all the more sweet. And of course we plan to arrive in Rodney bay in a respectable racing position and in DAYLIGHT !!!!
The celebration of such an event has to end in a rum punch at the bar with friends!!!!
So for now we will continue to make preparations and wash smalls until we start chasing the sunsets
Love to all