Fairwinds Goes South . . .

Adventures in a small boat on a big sea

Eventually I gunned the engine and shot past the ferry as she began turning in her own length to berth stern first, and finally we were on course and screaming along with full genoa and the double reefed main at six to seven knots with the apparent wind about 45 degrees off the port bow. With an offshore wind the seas were almost flat, and this was magnificent sailing - seven and a half knots was seen on the GPS on several occasions.

Of course it wasn't to last - this was the wind acceleration zone of Costa Teguise, and as we passed Cabo Ancones and turned North the wind als wrent into the N and we found that our tack was taking us a long way out to sea. We decided to motor-sail to make a btter course, so rolled the genoa away and put the engine on. A strange noise as if from the water pump or alternator bearing worried me slightly for a while, but it stopped later. Meanwhile the sea got up as the wind freshened to a brisk 15 knots from almost dead ahead, and we had to tack to keep the main quiet and make some headway aganst the seas. Our speed was now down to a little over four knots. We put the autohelm on whereupon it developed a death rattle and appeared to have given up the ghost, but after a few minutes rest it started working again.

As we came round the NE corner of Lanzarote and turned North-West - keeping a good mile off to avoid the reefs and shallow patches reported off Orzola - the wind also came round to NNW, still almost heading us. The main would just about stay quiet though it was develpong no drive, but by this time we could see the entrance to the Estrecho Del Rio and were just looking forward to getting in and completing our 'wrong way' trip up the coasts of Fuertaventura and Lanzarote.

Once in the Rio we were, amazingly, headed again as the wind went West - but the sea was now calm and blue and we didn't care . . . we dropped the main and motored into the shelter of Graciosa's harbour at Calheta de Sebo to have our lines taken by Ian Wallace and Arthur from Star Swan. No need to check in until Friday - El Capitano was taking a couple of days off. At this final destination on our Canaries cruise the peace of this amazing little island enveloped us and we relaxed in the traditional manner with a beer as we watched the impressive cliffs of Lanzarote's NW coast turn pink as in the afternoon sun.

Calheta de Sebo Harbour

Thurs 19th April 2007 - Isla Graciosa

After Kathy had walked into town and back with something for lunch - a fair hike round the breakwater and along the beach - we decided to blow the dinghy up and use it to commute. While attaching the outboard to the dinghy I noticed that the Navik paddle had slid six inches down its shaft and was obviously only held in place at this moment in time by friction . . . it is just as well we didn't test it yesterday at sea, as we would certainly have lost the paddle. (We have a spare, but it has a crack in it). I fitted a new split pin and washer and wondered which pin will vanish next . . . that is two in a month.

Calheta de Sebo

After lunch I spent a large portion of the afternoon finishing off the 'Sun' module of the Ocean YM course, which I found quite difficult - a lot of concentration is required when looking up the various tables, and a a single mistake cascading through your workings can be hard to trace. Fortunately I was able to check my results using AstroCalc.

I reckon the real answer for astronav on a small boat is a programmable calculator with prompts for the various inputs - there isn't the space or battery power on Fairwinds to get the laptop out at sea on a regular basis. (Both of these can perhaps be fixed though with the next refit, which will concentrate on the 12V system, shorepower and storm sails).

After walking into 'town' to check email and send the completed module to my tutor we had a beer then wandered back to the pontoons. On the way back to Fairwinds we were invited on board Rainer's boat for drinks. Rainer is a German who has been cruising the Canaries for a year. Also on board enjoying sundowners were Ian Wallace and Peter from the Isle of Skye. Peter coincidentally taught at Oban High School for seven years and now lives on Rionnag, a big red steel Bruce Roberts 43 ft design called that he built himself in steel (having never done any welding before). It took him five years to build her in Portree on the Isle of Skye, where he and his partner have a B&B business. They sailed her down here a couple of years ago during the Winter, hopping down the French and Spanish coasts waiting on weather and dodging gales and Peter is now slowly fitting her out. She is a big deck saloon ketch with an inside steering position and a ridiculous amount of accommodation inside.

We enjoyed conversation and drinks until the light began to fade and the evening chill set in, then returned to Fairwinds for one of Kathy's excellent ensaladillas and a game of scrabble before bed. This is getting alarmingly competitive, - Kathy questions lots of my words, but of course we have no dictionary. We need to get some Yahtzee score sheets photocopied - it is a much less acrimonious game.

Fri 20th April 2007 - Isla Graciosa

Ann had organised a landrover tour of the island today, and invited us to come along and share the ride and the cost with her and Arthur. (There are no tarred roads on Graciosa, and Land Rovers are pretty much the only type of motorised vehicle in evidence) Our driver was Adrian, a guy from Essex who has lived here for a long time, first in Lanzarote and then on Graciosa. He loves the island and has brought his two children up here. He has an old Safari landrover with leaf springs, so we agreed to do turn about in the back seats!

Ann and Star Swan

From Caleta de Sebo we bumped our way along a sand track - most of the island is covered by windblown Sahara sand, which is also responsible for the spectacular beaches - then past a few contrasting green patches which are small cultivated areas being re-started by some of the young folk now mains water is available and on down to Pedro Barba, the only other settlement on the island. It is a very pretty and immaculately groomed holiday village where most of the property is owned by wealthy people from Arrecife or Las Palmas. A full time gardener keeps it looking nice for them.

The only scruffy feature in Pedro Barba is a huge array of solar panels rendered obsolete by the arrival of mains electricity before ever being used; it has been largely stripped over the years by passing yachters and only a handful of panels remain out of the oiginal 500 or so.

From here our route took us round the North of the island with spectacular views across beautiful beaches to the other islands of this mini-archpelago at the NE extremeity of the Canaries. We stopped at a couple or beaches and at some curious rock arches to drink in the views - the sea and sky colours made us feel as if we had made it to the Caribbean after all. Adrian was an excellent guide, not only telling us about the island's natural beauty but providing lots of interesting observations on the stupidity of some tourists and the corruption endemic in local beaurocracy in Lanzarote. At one stop beside some black volanic rock sea arches we could see an old man in a small boat and a traditional hat bouncing about in large waves perilously close to the surf crashing on the rocks. Adrian told us he was fishing for vieja, or parrot fish,which are common in the waters round the island. The old fishermen - some in their seventies - still go out after them in their little boats with a pole and line and a glass box for looking under the water. We hope to sample vieja before we leave here.		Pedro Barba		Main Road, Graciosa
		Isla Alegranza		Arthur and Adrian
		Captain and Crew		Playa Concha

Our last stop before returning across the island to Calheta de Sebo was at a beach called Playa Concha, which has apparently been named one of the top ten beaches in Europe. It looks across a blue and azure sea chased with cloud shadows to the uninhabited islands of Isla de Montana Clara and Isla Alegranza. The feeling orf remoteness and tranquility is complete, with no signs of humanity anywhere, and no mobile phone signal!

After a late and leisurely lunch we put on our swimming things, stuffed a few things into a dry bag and headed out of the harbour and down the Rio in the dinghy intending to go ashore somewhere and swim. The whole sweep of Bahia del Salado south of the harbour proved to be a bit of a nightmare for a dinghy landing as the beach is protected by a rocky ledge just a few feet offshore all the way along. Had there not been such a strong offshore wind we wold have gone round the point to Playa Francesca, but we decided on discretion and headed back up the beach lookikng more cclosely for somewhere to get ashore. Eventually we found a place we cold get over the reef- but we were almnost back at the harbour by than and would have been quicker walking. Never mind . . . we got our Canary Islands beach towels out and sprawled on the hot sand, then I went for a snorkel. Saw a few fish, but not a lot - the highlight was two largish (maybe 12") pearlescent lilac fish with big eyes that let me get quite close.

Coming out of the sea a bit chilly after twenty minutes I headed up the beach to a structure which houses open air showers for campers and had a shower. These showers are 'cold' water only, but are nearer to the pontoons than the toilets on the pier and more civilised. Suitably clean, we launched the dinghy through the small surf and headed back to the harbour.

Sundowners tonight were on Rionnag, and too much red wine was drunk. A late tea of spag bol, another game of scrabble and so to bed.

Sat 21st April 2007 - Isla Graciosa

The weather was pretty poor today by Canarian standards, with lots of cloud and a stiff North wind blowing from dawn to dusk. I used the opportunity to get the blog updated - at least the wind means there is plenty of power in the batteries to charge the laptop. I don't even try to use it when it is plugged in to the car charger, as it is almost too much for the boat's domestic battery even when it is full. It is better to work on battery power until the Thinkpad is flat then plug it in and leave it to charge up. I have a spare battery which fits where the CD goes, but the machine does not recognise it - it needs a bios update, which I am loath to carry out in case it has unforseen consequences. I have the bios file though and will try it on the spare Thinkpad first.

Late afternoon we walked over to the village and I uploaded the blog, then it was back to Star Swan for sundowners with the usual suspects before all going across to the fish restaurant for a meal. Kathy and I had vieja - parrot fish - which is a local speciality. It was delicious but pricey. A mini pub crawl followed, shedding people as the evening drew on, until only myself, Peter and Rainer were left at the disco. I think I got back to Fairwinds about half past three.

Sun 22nd April 2007 - Isla Graciosa

Got up late to find the wind howling and the beach failing to tempt, so started the plotting module of the Ocean YM course. It was more interesting than previous modules as it involved something other than sums and looking up tables, and I carried on until I had finished it at about six o'clock. Now I need to somehow get a picture of my scans to send to my tutor. Went over to Rionnag to swap some books with Peter and discovered that his Lexmark printer is a scanner as well, so will try to make copies of my plots tomorrow.

In the evening I read another couple of hundred pages of Ken Follet's 'The Third Twin', a book I would never even have picked up at home. One of the joys of this lifestyle, with no media and limited internet access, is that there is time to read trashy novels without feeling guilty.

Mon 23rd April 2007 - Isla Graciosa

Went over to Peter's in the morning and got my plots scanned, then back to the boat to paste them into the Word document with my answers. Peter is leaving to fly home on Sunday for the Summer. I am very impressed with Rionnag, a great big beast of a boat with enough room to swing a collection of cats. In the afternoon we walked along the beach down to Playa Francesca, the bay at the bottom of the island that provides a good sheltered anchorage in any Northerly wind conditions. There are a couple of boats anchored there which have been there for a few days now - one of them came in to get water yesterday then went back to anchor.

Anchorage, Playa Francesca

In the early evening I went over to the internet place to email the answers to the plotting module to my tutor and have a look at Windguru. Ann and Arthur are keen to set off for Madeira on Wednesday, but Thursday is looking very strong with a bit too much N in it.

Tues 24th April 2007 - Isla Graciosa

Main boat task today was sewing up the sprayhood - the stitching is beginning to rot, and an area along the top of the port plastic 'window' had gone. It is one of those jobs that takes minutes with two people, one each side passing the needle back and forth, but would take hours on your own.

Adrian (our tour guide) dropped by to borrow the Atlantic Islands pilot. He is planning to sail down to Tenerife with his wife and kids in July, so wanted to photocopy a few pages. They have a ketch-rigged Elizabethan 31 in the harbour here.

Star Swan is off in the morning, so we invited Ann and Arthur over for drinks. They then went off for a meal while we ate on board, but we met up again briefly when we wandered over to the village later for a beer. We may meet again in Madeira, but more likely in the Azores in June or July or perhaps later in the Tigh an Truish.

Weds 25th April 2007 - Isla Graciosa

Star Swan was gone when we got up this morning. I replaced our stern line - which was frayed - and put twin bow lines on with snubbers in anticipation of the stronger winds on their way. The day started off flat calm though, eventually getting up to about 15 knots NNE in the afternoon and evening which should give Ann and Arthur a good start on their trip to Madeira.

I am feeling a bit tired and washed out, almost as if I have a mild dose of flu, but decided to try to ignore it so in the afternoon we went for a walk a mile or so N along the coast towards Pedro Barba. On the way back we noticed the church was open, so went in for a look. It has a nautical theme, and is delightfully spartan and plain for a Catholic church in Spain. After dinghying over to Rosa's Net to check email and weather I gave Dad a ring on the satphone as he is going in for a hip replacement tomorrow - he sounded in good form. Windwise it looks like Star Swan seized the only possible Madeira window - Windguru is showing strong winds for the next five days, up to F7 and all with a lot of North in them.

Church, Calheta Del Sebo

Sundowners on Spearhead with Ian and Peter, then back to Fairwinds for ensaladilla and scrabble.

Thurs 26th April 2007 - Isla Graciosa

Very windy today - pretty consistently over 20 knots, North with just a little bit of E. Hopefully Star Swan is far enough N and E to be out of the strongest winds - it is lighter up near Madeira. Adrian came round with the pilot book and said he would quite like to pick our brains a bit for Canary sailing tips, so we have arranged to go up to the house this evening for an hour or so - which in itself will be a novelty as we haven't been in a house for nearly six months. I told Adrian we were thinking of climbing the middle hill, which rises to the modest height of 188m but looks much bigger. He recommended it as a good walk on a windy day, and said he often takes his kids up there. After lunch we set off on the road up past the stables. Branching off to the right another track takes you to the foot of the hill where a rough path is easily followed to the col. From here you can see down into the double crater, which has quite a bit of greenery growing in it with a wall round each of the flat bottomed bits with some interesting boulders dotted about. Scrambling up onto the ridge we had to take care not to get blown off, but it was worth it for the views. We walked all the way round the crater rim and back down to the col and were back on the boat just two hours after setting off.

From the Village View N from the top

Went up to Adrian (Spud) and Anne's house at six thirty for tapas and drinks - Anne is willowy and Swedish with a very faint indefinable accent. Their two kids are the only 'foreign' kids on the island, and apparently there are only two other (German) full time foreign residents. Their house is lovely, with superb views over the balcony from the upstairs living room, but we got the impression that being a stranger in paradise is not always easy. Anne works for the marine reserve, which is not exactly wholeheartedly supported by the locals, who are obviously happy to take money from outside but not direction. Adrian has done a fair bit of sailing, and told ripping yarns of a three day delivery of a Farr from Lisbon to Graciosa and another delivery of a Beneteau in rough weather which left everything broken.

Back on board for a late supper of the locally made burgers from the supermarket I phoned Mum on the Iridium to find out how my father was. He was back from theatre with a new hip at half past nine and 'comfortable' - although whether he would have described his condition in the same phraseology is questionable.

Still blowing 20+ knots and gusty when we went to bed.

Fri 27th April 2007 - Isla Graciosa

I was up in the middle of the night to put a second spring from the winch to the cleat on the back of the pontoon for some Irish security ('to be sure to be sure'). It had howled all night and the morning was grey and uninspiring - they are enjoying better weather at home right now, and were we able to afford it a quick plane flight to join Silkie on the Other Chentleman's Cruise next weekend would be very tempting. Still, at least the Aerogen is putting lots of amps into the batteries and we can charge things up and listen to music. The beach however is not very tempting.

Goodbye old friend . . .

Traced and fixed a leak at the filter in the fresh water supply line this afternoon and finally agreed to let Kathy consign my Musto jacket to the bin as it is no longer use nor ornament. It stayed grey and gusty most of the day.

Sat 28th April 2007 - Isla Graciosa

Still windy and intermittently grey. Highlight of the day was an hour on the web. Got an email from Anne reporting Star Swan's safe arrival in Calheta after a passage of about 54 hours that she described as 'bouncy'. She enthused about the showers and launderette and said they are checking into the hotel for the weekend. Wish we were too. Windguru and the Gribs say no easing in the F5-6 NNE wind until next Thursday or Friday, when it drops to F4-5 but goes Northerly here and NW nearer Madeira, so not much comfort there.

While we were in Fuertaventura and Lanzarote I regularly checked the weather for a passage from here to Madeira and found near-perfect conditions on several occasions - F3-4 NE or even ENE - and apparently Melvyn (Sarafina, from San Sebastian and Las Palmas) slipped away from here to Madeira through just such a window just a week before we got here. For now the winds are being funnelled between a sausage shaped high South of the Azores and a low over the Sahara, with both systems annoyingly stable.

In the afternoon I gave the cockpit a good scuib with salt water and Jif, but when Peter, Rainer, Ian and Lawrence came round for drinks this evening it was too cold to sit out and so we sat below before we all went to the pizza place for Peter and Rainer's going away meal. Lawrence is on C'est la Vie, a big chunky Bruce Roberts design in GRP, but has sailed smaller boats long distances in the past, most notably a Contessa 26. He knows Peter Hancock (author of 'Sailing Into Silence', a great sailing book); in fact, he says it was Peter who taught him to sail. Rather alarmingly Lawrence is of the opinion that if you go blue water cruising in a small boat you will get rolled over at some point, and he advocates oversize rigging to make sure the mast stays up. (He has personal experience of rolling in the Contessa and coming up with the mast intact). I put forward the view that oversize rigging can overstress other components, and said that I hoped I would have the foresight to deploy the series drogue and present the stern of the boat to the sea before worsening sea conditions made a capsize inevitable, but I do wonder if he has a point.

At the pizza place Peter and I shared a variety of tapas while the others had pizzas. The pulpitos (baby octopus) in a tangy sauce were particularly tasty - the first time I have had pulpo other than in a salad. The restaurant is only open in the evenings and the menu consists of a wide range of pizzas and an equally wide range of tapas. It has a very amenable proprietor who even speaks a bit of English (and is delighted when you attempt Spanish) and has the added recommendation that a lot of the locals eat there.

It was a much earlier and soberer night than last Saturday as Peter and Rainer have to be on the eight o'clock ferry in the morning.

Sun 29th April 2007 - Isla Graciosa

Woke up to complete grey overcast and a cold wind still blowing across the pontoons. Graciosa may be a beach lovers paradise, but there isn't much to do here when the weather is rubbish and we are getting cabin fever. Went for a couple of short walks into the village but otherwise had a pretty boring day. Brother Ben phoned with good news about Dad, who now seems stable after his op.

So bored I have started a new game of Dungeon Master, the old Atari favourite. So far the all girl team have hacked their way through a bunch of mummies and screamers all the way to the top of the stairs to level 2. At least the wind generator is producing enough to charge the laptop for several hours a day if necessary.

Mon 30th April 2007 - Isla Graciosa

Still 15-20 knots NNE - NE with lots of grey cloud. If there was a hotel here we would check into it . . . but there isn't.

Went for a walk round the back of the biggest hill to look for the path up. It was an easy ascent up to the top of the old terracing, but the terrain was rough further up and we had already walked a fair distance, so we turned back. The terracing looks as though it has been in fairly recent use; according to Lawrence most of the (few) people on the island when he was here 25 years ago were farmers, there was no harbour and very little of the current village existed.

Tues 1st May 2007 - Isla Graciosa

Is there a weather window tomorrow? The wind is dropping to maybe 12-15 knots, but going North with 2+m seas, so we couldn't lay our course. Further along our track the wind swings NNW as we approach Madeira - right on the nose, F4-5. Trouble is, if we don't go now then we are looking at very strong winds over the weekend with no possibility of going before maybe this time next week. Not so much of a window, more perhaps a peephole. We had another look in the afternoon and decided we didn't need to give ourselves a hard time, so we are staying put for a while. Might turn the boat round tomorrow if the wind calms down a bit though.

We had an equipment failure today - the cigar lighter plug on the 12V power supply for the PC (aka a 'car adapter') fell apart. This is a horrible cheap Chinese thing that has been giving trouble for some time, so it was not a surprise. I couldn't put it back together again once I had disassembled it, so for the moment I cannot charge the laptop on board.

Checked the BlueMoment forums this afternoon and DaveS had posted news of an article from the latest (June's) PBO about the abandonment of the Hercules, the Sadler 32 we found drifting between Madeira and Tenerife. It turns out she hadn't been rolled and had a working engine and a full tank of fuel. Oh well.

Over to C'est la Vie for a delicious dinner cooked by Lawrence. Good food, good company , good wine - when we could have being getting bashed about at sea!

Weds 2nd May 2007 - Isla Graciosa

Wind NW all day - not to strong, 12-15 knots, but it would have been right on the nose had we set off yesterday.

Spud was down working on Outdoor Girl - He and Ann are off to Puerto Calero on the boat tomorrow with the kids. Ann is coming back on Friday but Spud is staying down there to help an electrician pal of his rewire the boat. He gave me a couple of jammers which I hope to be able to adapt to use with the continuous line roller furling, plus a fusible cigar lighter adaptor to refurbish the 12V PC power supply - but when I wired up the latter it just kept blowing the fuse on the switch panel; I guess the unit is now shorted out inside. Hopefully I will be able to get another 12v power supply in Madeira, or perhaps a small inverter if not. It is a good excuse for a bus ride into Funchal anyway. In the meantime, I will just have to make sure the PC is fully charged when we leave here for purposes of position updates and/or electronic charts en route.

We attempted to go for a swim in the late afternoon, but it was low tide and there was nowhere easy to get into the water from - rocks everywhere. Most of the beach S. of the harbour - right down to Playa Francesca - is girded by a reef, and you can only get into the water easily at high tide. Got wet up to mid thigh, then had a solar shower in the cockpit.

Fairwinds' turn to host sundowners - Ian and Lawrence came round. Lawrence is flying back to the UK tomorrow. He has been trying to get Cest la Vie lifted out, but the beaureaucracy is a pain - you have to get permisson from Las Palmas. He has done that, but now the man who drives the travellift is on holiday. There is a small leak from a skin fitting - only a couple of drops a minute - and Ann and Spud will keep an eye on the boat while he is away.

Thurs 3rd May 2007 - Isla Graciosa

Wind NW again today - not hot, but mostly sunny. Kathy phoned her sister Patricia on the Iridium - it is 26 degrees in the hills above Balmoral right now - unusual lambing weather. We saw Ann and Spud off on Outdoor Girl, their Elizabethan 31, and I got a couple of distant shots of them in the Estrecho under sail. The other big event of the morning was turning the boat round so we are into wind when it goes NE again, and for an easy getaway when we do finally leave. I took the windvane paddle off and there was just enough room to spin the boat between the fingers.

Outdoor Girl heads for Calero

We dinghied over to the village before lunch and I went online hoping for some better news on the weather front - but it was showing strong winds right through to the middle of next week. When I went back in the late afternoon though it had all changed and now it looks as though we might get away on Tuesday - but of course it could all change again before then.

Fri 4th May 2007 - Isla Graciosa

Checked the internet in the morning and the weather is still predicted to blow hard Sunday and Monday before settling down to moderate N-Easterlies. In the afternoon I managed to get into the water at the small beach S. of the root of the E. breakwater, and had a pleasant snorkel across the reef and along the breakwater. Saw a couple of species of fish I hadn't seen before. Kathy was less lucky and scraped her knees trying to snorkel over rocks - no serious damage though.

We had a shower in the camping shower block, which was open for once, then walked over to the village and sat outside the Italian restuarant sheltered from the wind and having a beer in the sunshine while we watched the ferry unload a cargo of teenage weekend campers, before going back to Spearhead for sundowners with Ian. Burgers and pimientos de padron for tea.

Sat 5th May 2007 - Isla Graciosa

In the morning Kathy did some shopping while I checked the internet. Forecast still much the same for Tueasday onwards, but with some very calm looking patches - we may have to motor a good bit of the way, after spending nearly three weeks waiting for the wind go drop a little. It really does seem to be all or nothing here. I wonder how Declan and Debbie are getting on - Kephri was planning to leave last Wednesday from La Palma for the Azores, which would have had them hard on the wind in F5 and still unable to lay Santa Maria. We are looking forward to meeting up with them again in the Azores having missed each other completely in the Canaries.

On the subject of other voyagers, I also checked Graham's 'Atlantic Puffin' website - the wind is now back in a helpful quarter, and he is hopeful of reaching Antigua sometime in the next two weeks. Bhavik is also making good progress, but still has over 1000 miles to go and rowing 30 miles or so a day is going to be cutting it fine in terms of the hurricane season . He seems to be confident and in good spirits. Will Garnier on Aluffe, the Achilles 24, sent an email. He is making final preparations to leave Antigua for the Azores, while the crew on Mojomo, TCM's big cat, are 1350 miles from Horta and should be there arond the 12th-14th May. (At which time we will hopefully be in Madeira catching up with washing and email). We have no hope of meeting Mojomo in the Azores now, so we are back to our original target of being in the archipelago by 1st June.

In the afternoon we walked down to Playa Cocina, the beach under Yellow Mountain. It is a small beach tucked right under the bright ochre cliffs of Graciosa's southernmost 'peak' with beautiful white Saharan sand sprinkled through with the salt and pepper grains of Graciosan basalt and quartz. The water is a beautiful azure colour, but much colder than the water further up the Estrecho for some reason - as I found out when I went in for a swim. Once in the water it was very refreshing, but the beach was surprisingly windy - it is the only time when swimming that I have found myself being blown out to sea. In the strong Northerly there were constant downdrafts coming down the mountain and fanning out across the water. We struck out 'cross-country' on the walk back. Most of the sandy surface is quite compacted and wind-resistant, and there is a larger variety of vegetation than you would at first imagine. We came across a tiny tree struggling to gain a foothold and left our mark on Graciosa by building a rock wind shelter for it. Looking at the picture I see a few holes in the wall - but maybe it will make a difference. Back on board I had a solar shower, but it was not so hot - obviously cooled by the windchill factor nearly as fast as it had been absorbing solar energy. The windchill factor on my wet body in the cockpit was considerable as well - all in all not the hot relaxing experience described glowingly on the product.

Playa Cocina Good luck small tree!

We walked into the village and went round to Ann's house to ask if I could possibly plug the laptop into her mains power tomorrow to finish my current Ocean YM module, and stayed for a quick drink before heading downtown in search of something to eat. We went to the pizza/tapas place at the top of the beach again, but it didn't seem quite as good this time . . . Ann had warned us that the tapas was a bit variable. A beer in ElVeril then back to the boat, where we both fell asleep . . . so much for Saturday night . . .

Sun 6th May 2007 - Isla Graciosa

A breezy night - strange how Kathy wakes up frequently when it is windy in the marina, while I sleep right through but then have trouble sleeping at sea even when conditions are benign. Got the blog up to date in the morning, then went round to Ann's in the afternoon to plug the laptop into her electricity so I cold do some work on a client's website. Afterwards I spent a couple of hours struggling with my Ocean YM sun-run-sun module. I can't believe how complicated the procedure is just to do one sun-run-sun position - which is the simplest of all the position finding techniques. There are twenty or more separate steps, a mistake in any one of which can make the result utter rubbish. When it was the only way of finding one's position I guess practice made perfect, but how many people having once mastered the basics will then regularly take sights to keep in practice when they can read their exact position off a screen? The plotting alone is difficult enough on a small boat with no chart table in a lively sea.

A quiet night in - Kathy would have beaten me at scrabble if she had spotted that 'ai' up in the top left hand corner.

Mon 7th May 2007 - Isla Graciosa

The wind was howling again last night - it has been windy on this pontoon the whole time we have been here except for the afternoon and evening we arrived and the morning Star Swan left, nearly two weeks ago. The pressure has risen to 1021 though after several weeks down around 1012, and if the forecast hasn't changed when we check on the internet later this will be our last full day in the Canaries. We hope to leave sometime tomorrow morning and set off towards Calheta at the W. end of Madeira, a trip of just under 300 nautical miles. I am planning to contact Silkie by satphone or email each day and get him to report our daily progress on the forum.

We met Ann for a beer at the Italian place in the early evening then I went round to her house to organise a book swap. I took away eight good books and promised to leave the same number in the cockpit of Rionnag (Peter's boat) for Ann and Spud. (Spud was still away in Puerto Calero rewiring Outdoor Girl). We really liked Ann and Spud and would have loved to have spent longer with them, maybe gone sailing on each others' boats and got to know them a bit better. They are one good reason for definitely calling in at Graciosa if we pass this way again, and hopefully we will stay in touch by email.

Farewell drink with Ann

We had a meal with Ian, who is planning to head North for Faro tomorrow or the next day if the wind moderates a bit. Ann had told us that the Italian did the only good steak on the island, and she was right. Kathy and I polished off a bottle of tinto with our steak, then retired for a planned midday departure the next day.