Final Leg of the ARC delivery
This is being written retrospectively which is good news for you lot as it means it will lack detail and be far less waffley than the others!
The sail from Vila Real to Las Palmas was our last leg in delivering Rafiki from Southampton to the start line of the ARC 2014 Atlantic Crossing. Our crew consisted of Skipper Pete, Cofone, Damo, Marcus (Cofone's colleague), Mitcho (my colleague and housemate of two years), Miguel Garcia (the guys met him on their sailing course in Vila Real) and myself.
We set off in darkness late on Sunday 28th October and headed out to the Atlantic, en-route to Las Palmas. Shifts were agreed with Mitcho and Miguel taking first watch. Luckily Pete stayed up with them. I say "luckily Pete stayed up" as within an hour or so of the shift we ran in to the thickest length of rope any of us had seen (pic below). Pete kept the boys calm, killed the engine and instructed the guys to get the sails up. We laboured through the night with hardly any wind but at first light Miguel and I jumped in and pulled the rope free from the prop and the others hauled in up on deck (We didn't want to leave it drifting for some other yacht to get snagged on, conscientious sailors that we are...).
The rest of the week was spent sailing downwind at an average of 8knots and with a top speed of about 12knots! Both fishing rods were strung out of the back of the boat and we managed to catch a couple of mackerel and a small tuna which Miguel butchered and cooked for dinner. We also hooked a blue marlin which had Miguel jumping up and down screaming! Unfortunately, within seconds of us hooking it, it managed to strip the reel of line and get away! To be honest I have no idea what we would have done with the thing if we had managed to land it! Damo jumped on a seat and screamed at the sight of the tuna!
All was going so well that we thought it was too good to be true...sure enough it was. With about 30 hours to go we had lost the ability to charge the batteries and had to turn off all non essential electronics, hence the lack of Facebook updates from me that I'm sure you will have all noticed. Pete and I poked about in the engine compartment to try and resolve the issue but agreed it was likely to be a faulty alternator and would deal with it in the marina. From there onwards we had to hand steer and plot our position rather than using the chart plotter (SatNav) which was a good learning experience and one we were glad to have before we set off for the Atlantic crossing.
Gran Canaria and Las Palmas came in to sight after four and a half days at sea and we were pleased to see it. We had a great week at sea with good winds, great weather and plenty of laughs but it's always good to reach land. Pete checked us in, we cleaned the boat and headed for the bar. Many, many pints later we headed to a club...A bottle of Rum, two bottles of Vodka and two bottles of champagne later we were heading for bed!
Rafiki was finally in her berth at the ARC start line and things were starting to feel a little more real. Next step, finishing work for the last time...
Adam
