Sailing on the edge

The alarm clock on my cell phone starts to play its melody and gets penetratingly loud over time. When I can't stand it any longer, I get up and make myself a coffee. It is half past three in the morning and still pitch dark. The last preparations are running, we change the island again. This time we are going from Gran Canaria to Tenerife. The weather forecast has announced northwest wind, later turning to north, with 12 to 15 knots. We add, as it is usual on the Canary Islands, 2 knots. The wave is predicted with 1.5m and 6 seconds, relatively short. We start the engine, release the mooring and operate the mooring lines set to slip. I call the marina by VHF to say goodbye. No answer. After the third time I give up and we sail out to the open sea. A freighter lies in the roadstead and is unloaded brightly illuminated, from a smaller ship. 

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria

Around the outer breakwater, the wave grabs us, setting to the southwest and gives us the first impression of what to expect on this trip. The wind from the northwest, with 5 knots, is rather tepid and so we go the first 4 nautical miles, near the harbor wall, against. At the northeast tip of Gran Canaria the wind turns a bit more to the west and we set the mainsail, more for stabilization than for sailing. Moreover, the wind remains far below the announced 12 knots. Halfway, the wind then shifts a bit to the north and now comes from 330°. We unfurl the genoa and stop the engine. Quietness returns, if one can speak of quietness with this wave, but the engine noises are at least once gone. Due to the prevailing current, we have to keep a little ahead, but at course 300°, it's over. The after leech, of the genoa, starts to buzz as we sail down the crest of the wave. However, we do not get over 4 knots, speed over ground, we sail once again on the edge. 

Sailing close to the wind

In my mind I go through the further plans of our trip. On Tenerife we will sail south along the east coast and then visit La Gomera. From La Gomera we will go back to Gran Canaria. Here we will take care of Gaby's brother for a week and afterwards, because it is to be feared that especially the beer supplies will suffer a lot, we will stock up our provisions. Afterwards we will start our Atlantic crossing and sail first to the Cape Verde Islands. From Cape Verde we continue to French Guyana. A wave slaps once again under the boat and tears me out of my thoughts. A few dolphins jump out of the water and shoot towards our boat. It is always nice to watch the animals and we are happy when we meet them out here. The more we approach Tenerife, the more the wind turns to west. If we don't want to land in the south right away, we have to do something now. We get the genoa back in and start the engine. A fast ferry catches up with us, from astern, and shows us how slow we are, actually, on the way. Showy her drive a 10m high fountain, to the rear, out. While we need round 12 hours, it creates such a ferry under two hours. Presumably, the guests are also not, as we were in a shaker, shaken. But in return there are no more dolphins to be seen. We approach Santa Cruz de Tenerife and catch up the main. On channel 12 I get permission from Port Control to enter the harbor. On channel 9 I announce our arrival to the marina. 

Katinka at berth Santa Cruz de Tenerife

The wind has freshened once again, to 15 knots. Unfortunately, the pontoon finger is too short, so that I can not moor backwards. The catamaran in front of us is, when steaming into the line, just too close. So it must go forward. After much effort and with the help of the pontoon neighbors, we finally manage to bring the stern to the pontoon, which then costs me a round of beer, but also creates the right harbor atmosphere. 

Cockpit tidied up again

We have already seen the crew next to us in Las Palmas on Gran Canaria, there they were only two boats away from us. So you meet again and again. We like that, you' re right in the conversation and get to know the people, always a bit more. We still spray the deck and free it from the salt, of which our Katinka got quite a lot today. Then we eat a little food and fall dead tired, but satisfied in our bunk. Despite all strains, a wonderful sailing trip at the limit.

How our journey continues, you can read here on www.glenswelt.com. Subscribe to the blog so that you are always up to date. We wish you, as always at this point, fair winds and keep a stiff upper lip.

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