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« Life in the Canaries | Main | The (great) Atlantic crossing »
Preparing for the first big leg…
By Ewan | November 25, 2008
Well, here we are, about ready to go, sat in the Canaries preparing to set off across the Atlantic…A strange calm seems to be pervading the crew, no doubt as a result of a lack of comprehension on the scale of the journey about to be undertaken. With route planning done on a blow up globe with hole reinforcers and a massive 5 waypoints between us and the BVIs, some hesitancy persists to finally finish off the remaining preparations and slip lines.
All 7 crew are onboard, kit stowed and keen to do some sailing at last. we have been joined by Conor (the requisite Aussie/Kiwi (he is Kiwi)), Gilad and Maya (a lovely Israeli couple - Gilad being a yacht skipper instructor - useful!) and Mairi a young Scottish lass on a gap year.
We saw the ARC set off - about 280 boats in all, quite a sight with marching bands and flags galore, unfortunately we think our departure will be a little more sedate. Our departure from the Canaries will be quite a relief as all 3 weeks here have been spent working on the boat contorting out bodies into bizarre positions armed with screwdrivers and spanners as we optimised many of the boat systems for efficient comfortable living. We did interdisperse this work with some sailing, including a test of mahoosive masthead asymmetric - as the mainsail was having some minor repair work, we had the trisail up at the time as well, a rather bizarre combo that drew some intrigued looks…
We had the boat out of the water for a week to get the rudder bearings sorted out - turned out that some of the o-rings were missing and some others were perished, so we had some water coming in through it. We finally managed to get the right o-rings and got it all back in the boat. Testing went well - no more leaks and all seems to be working well.
Right then, I guess I had better stop warbling on this update, and clear us out of customs and head off. Erm…right, time to go I guess…..
Don’t forget you can see our current position (updated every couple of days at http://thelongsailunder.com/the-story-so-far-blog/about/about-the-journey/ (although I just looked at this, and it looks a bit weird….and I don’t have time to fix it now…erm..Dad - can you sort it out (website code is fine - problem is with the Google map)?
Right, 3000 miles to go, we will be back with another update in 2-3 weeks when we get to land again, along with the oft promised photo galleries and video updates….honest..;-)
Topics: Uncategorized |
November 26th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Go for it guys (and girls).
We are following your voyage with interest………you’ll never know it ……..but we watched you slip the mooring way back @ Poole (I did wave to you all from our boat) Your departure was inspiring as you dissappeared into the midst with the sun blasting its rays through -making the picture quite ethreal! I drunk a drink to you then (coffee!) and wish you fair winds.
Steve
December 1st, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Really hoping the Atlantic is being kind to you. I don’t expect there are too many headlands to toast on the way. I am sure that Alex’s green thai curries will keep you all going. Have you got the big white spinnaker up and have the dolphins been to play? I really hope the rudder repair has done the trick and that you are having some great sailing. Let me know the address to send the jelly babies to for the night watches. Will be cruising North from Grenada from 4-19 December. Text if you are in the area. Much love to you all.
Jane X