Week 24: Arrecife, Lanzarote (0nm!)

After a successful passage down to the Canaries (and an amazingly well received guest post from our crew Phil), Laura and I had a bit of downtime this week before our next crew joined us in Arrecife. We saw some of the island and completed the final checks on Serenity to get her ready for her voyage, and everything seemed to be going pretty smoothly. Unfortunately, our stay in the Canaries has been extended a bit due to an engine issue that will be in our next post, which means we probably won’t be setting off until next week – we’ll keep you posted so watch this space!

Reflections on a successful passage

With Phil leading the charge on last week’s post, it provided some useful space on which to mull over the recent passage down without needing to commit anything immediately to (e-)paper. In fact, the time and space to reflect on anything oddly feels like a bit of a luxury, which I imagine could sound strange to people (“how do a couple fortunate enough to be sailing around on a yacht not have enough time?”) and I certainly have some sympathy with that ;).

However, as we’ve alluded to before, our choice of route to date combined with the requirements we generated for the trans-at, has resulted in a challenge far greater than we could have envisioned, to the extent that downtime has been remarkably rare. The upside is that we’ve learnt an unbelievable amount, and also have discovered a major source of pride when we recently stumbled onto the map on the blog homepage and realised how far we’ve come (which took us by surprise as you don’t need to interact with it when writing new posts). The downside is that there been a permanent sense of time slipping through our fingers, and so some time to sit and ponder things has been most welcome.

With regards to the passage from Gibraltar down to the Canaries, it was remarkably trouble-free, which I think came across in Phil’s post. This is really good news given it was a 75% increase in passage time and a 100% increase in passage distance compared to our previous experience – the mathematicians amongst you will notice a speed implication in the above that I attribute to Phil’s racing zeal and my improving ability to navigate the boat to where the wind is. Working out what we got right on this trip is clearly of benefit as the legs get longer and so these are my current theories on what we should try to replicate in future:

1. More crew: Hands down, Phil was single-handedly responsible for the biggest improvement to our well-being on this trip, in that there was one more person to share the load with. More than that, one more person who had the sailing skills and confidence to take a 4-hour night watch and never needed to wake either of us up throughout the duration of the passage. Given’s Phil’s lack of familiarity with some of our systems (roller furling main, Hydrovane, iPad nav and AIS), this was certainly a testament to his character, and meant that Laura and I could both target 8 hours sleep each night 🙂 Furthermore, Phil insisted on taking the 02:00-06:00 graveyard watch each night, insisting that routine was preferable for him – he is an absolute hero and has set some high standards for those who follow in his footsteps!
2. Sailing is better than motoring: As the map on the last post can testify, our route was a long way from a straight line, and became known as the “Banana Plan,” and this was entirely driven by a collective preference for sailing over motoring. Once we left the Gibraltar strait, we had fickle wind for the next three days and decided to divert significantly towards Madeira in order to keep the boat moving under wind power. The alternatives were to sit and bob whilst the wind filled in on the direct route, or rely on some diesel to do the legwork for us and save some time (if not money); however, neither of these are attractive options for sailors when there is some wind close-by. It’s difficult to explain the difference in the mood on a boat when forced to motor, but it becomes increasingly oppressive for every hour the engine is on. Sailing (outside of storm conditions) on the other hand, is invigorating and uplifting, and morale was certainly improved through the Banana Plan
3. Wider involvement in weather analysis: We made a point of timing the start and end of the watch system to align with the updates to our weather forecasts. This meant that we could sit down as a team before the night sailing began and agree on a plan to tackle the conditions, and what we would do if things weren’t as expected. Previously, I’d just worked on this in my head, but having the opportunity to discuss it as a group often surfaced much better ideas, and even when my proposed plan was unchanged, it was nice to know that everyone was bought in (and thus the risk of mutiny was low :)!)
4. Speed is not a priority at night: Whilst I certainly don’t have Phil’s patience or perseverance to maximise boat speed at the 0.1 knot level, I do care about the + or – 1 knot level as that makes a massive impact on the duration of passages. As such, I can easily be tempted by the allure of more sail at night to ensure we keep moving at or above the 5 knot boat speed we use when planning passages. This passage provided me with a number of teaching moments that demonstrated the weaknesses of this approach, as actually provided you are sailing in roughly the right direction, the real priorities at night are helping the off-watch crew to sleep and minimising the stress to the on-watch crew. This maximises the chances of everyone being in a good mood the following day, which then allows you to sail the boat harder during the daylight hours. I now rely far more heavily on Laura’s conservative view on the sail plan for each night, as a living embodiment of what my sailing experience should be telling me on my own

Thankfully, there are no real barriers to us repeating these in future legs and one thing that Laura and I do take pride in is our ability to learn from what works (and what doesn’t…). We’re also cautiously optimistic about our opportunities for downtime over the coming months (more on that below).

A journey to Mordor

Anyhow, with the passage successfully behind us and Serenity safely moored in the harbour at Arrecife, we were excited to get the opportunity to explore a new island. We spent our first full day relaxing around the marina and catching up on life admin as usual, although this time there was far less napping than after previous passages – further evidence of the increased levels of rest we had been able to enjoy whilst sailing down. As energy levels were revived and legs re-accustomed to land, we decided to see what we could of the island the next day and Phil kindly offered to rent a car to maximise our range of travel.

We had a nice and prompt departure the next morning, as some casual googling and recommendations from the tourist info office had generated a full itinerary for the day. First up was a visit to the fort guarding the entrance to Arrecife, which we had noticed on our way in. We’d learnt that a local artist had installed some sculptures at the base of the fort, which were explicitly designed to be revealed and then covered again with each tidal cycle. Our visit was timed to coincide with the low tide, which fully revealed the sculptures and they were well worth the visit. A series of different horses and riders that interacted with the varying waterline was engaging even to art non-enthusiasts such as me, and this encouraged us to take the time to tour the fort itself that had been converted to an art museum. It wasn’t large, but had quite a few fun pieces and the setting of the fort provided a striking contrast for the exhibits. We noted a fancy looking restaurant in the ground floor with impressive views over the harbour and sculptures, which we visited for some mega gin & tonics (with remarkable local gin) and a suitably high-quality meal later in the week. Feeling suitably culturally refreshed, we took our leave for the next destination.

A discussion with Phil on favoured tourist pastimes had revealed a shared enjoyment of hiking abroad, and so Laura had found a 5km trail around a volcano that we all thought sounded like the perfect level of activity to finish off the morning. We arrived at the Volcano national park around 11am and were greeted by one of the starkest landscapes any of us had ever encountered. Thankful of the efforts that had been made to carve something akin to a path through this barren rock jungle, we carefully set forth and took our time picking a way through the challenging terrain.

The landscape soon started to evolve into different rock formations (with occasional spots of lichen), and each change was helpfully greeted by a new placard that explained the processes that generated them. We approached a number of smallish looking mounds that had clearly been volcanoes, and each time expected the path to begin its ascent; however, each time the path resolutely passed them by and we started to realise that perhaps a mistake had been made regarding the distance. It was at that point that a much larger volcano came into view, and the direction of that path indicated that this was the Caldera Blanca we had been looking for. The views from the summit looked incredible, and after a quick assessment of energy and water levels we decided that we all wanted to push on and complete the walk, whatever the distance.

As we began to ascend, the Lord of the Rings references began to occur amongst all of us simultaneously, although no-one was rude enough to imply that Laura was a hobbit. Phil’s observation that it seemed like Tolkein had visited Lanzarote for his Mordor stimulus was echoed by all of us, and each new vista took our breath away as we gained more height to assess the ruined landscape below us. Finally, we arrived at the top and were overjoyed that we had pushed on as far as we had – this truly was the most awe-inspiring hike I’d ever been on. By this point, it was past 1pm and we still had to get all the way back; however, all of the uphill had been completed and so the descent was a faster experience (albeit the risk of sliding made it just as challenging). Still, by the time we got back to the car around 3pm, our hunger was only overshadowed by our extreme thirst.

Thankfully, Phil had already identified the restaurant we would go to, and so twenty minutes later we arrived at a surf-side town that had a very distinct feel from the other isolated towns we had driven through. The restaurant itself was heaving, which was clearly a good sign of the food quality if not for our ability to be served quickly. Thankfully, the waiter organised for us to be brought cold cokes whilst we waited, and a table soon freed up. We all enjoyed a smashing seafood meal and after 3-4 drinks each, we felt suitably rehydrated to continue our pilgrimage around the island.

The last stop on our trip was to find a good viewpoint somewhere on the north of the island, overlooking the picturesque vistas of the nearby islands including La Graciosa. After the trouble-free navigation we had managed for the first two stops, I expected the Phil driving and Laura directing team to continue their excellent work. Unfortunately, whilst the map contained a number of perfect looking viewpoints, we were continually foiled by non-existent turnings / off-road dead ends (including one close run-in with some rabid looking guard dogs). We were about to give up, when Laura noticed there was one final spot we could try that wasn’t too far away. This time, the road we were driving seemed to resemble the one on paper and our hopes started to lift and were duly rewarded. A spectacular panorama opened out in front of us and the view down on the yachts anchored in one of the bays made all of the driving worthwhile. We worked our way back down the east coast to Arrecife, congratulating ourselves on the benefits of perseverance.

We found the viewpoint…

…and it was worth the search!

La Graciosa is an island we plan to sail to

End of boat jobs

With the Atlantic crossing approaching rapidly, the time was now ticking on our list of boat jobs as a fair few of them we had classified as pre-requisites for the upcoming legs and we didn’t want to save too much up for when our new crew arrived. Phil kindly offered his labour for his last day and allowed us to close off some of the remaining issues from the passage, and then took his leave to join his wife in Tenerife – he will be forever remembered through the now flawless cockpit table. And so the crew of Serenity were two once more, and Laura and I sat down with the whiteboard to set out what we needed to achieve next.

It was at this moment that our jaws both dropped. We had been transferring the jobs from our Excel master (once a consultant…) and suddenly we ran out of jobs before we ran out of space on the whiteboard. This had never happened before, surely it must be a mistake? But it wasn’t, we had actually managed to plumb the depths of the list for the first time. One more week of work and we would be free?

What followed was one of the most intense work weeks we’ve had for a while, but we were both enthused by the possibility of clearing the list. Projects were many and varied and we won’t bore you with the details, but in summary:

• Installed foam luff
• Made and installed lee cloths
• Filled gas and checked fittings
• Installed lightning rod
• Serviced water and bilge pumps
• Serviced heads
• Gel coat repairs
• Serviced the outboard and checked dinghy for leaks
• Changed weak upper turnbuckles in the rigging
• Fixed water tank leak and vacuumed out last of sediment
• Stowed new anchor rode and parachute anchor
• Refilled batteries and serviced electrical systems
• Changed the anchor roller fittings
• Changed engine impeller and cleaned filter

In the midst of all this productivity, it was fate that something had to undermine us and this time I managed to break something entirely on my own. In my desire to ensure we had spares for all the key parts, I realised there was a fuse in the engine electronics that I’d never looked at. I had turned off the battery for all the previous checks I’d done on the engine, but decided that this last one should be fine to do with the power turned on since the controls shouldn’t be active. To say this was a costly error of judgement would be an understatement and 30 seconds later we were greeted with the smell of burning as the PCB essentially melted. A vain google search for repair processes confirmed what was obvious, that we needed a new part from Volvo and it would be 600 Euros. The only positive was that there was a local dealer that could source it for us. Still, it took a good couple of days before I was able to look back on the mistake with anything like good grace.

Still, everything was coming together pretty well, and we were enjoying our time at the marina. The staff at Marina Lanzarote were undoubtably the most friendly and helpful that we had encountered on our trip and this more than offset the routine musical disturbances (spin class, rock concert, high school talent contest) to the marina. We discovered that this friendliness was a feature of all our interactions with Lanzarotians, and it made a wonderful contrast with many of the other European countries we’ve travelled through this year. We also had the pleasant surprise of a visit from my aunt Kate and her partner Rob, who happened to be cruising the Canaries (on a much bigger boat than Serenity) at the same time we were here. We were able to show them the boat and enjoy a tapas lunch at the Arrecife marina, which was a pleasant way to break up the boat jobs. With a last flurry of cleaning and laundry behind us, we sat back and awaited our new crew to arrive, which would herald the next stage of our crossing.