Monday 1 November to Saturday 20 November - preparing for the ARC
Official ARC website - check for news and positions
Monday 1 November – Tuesday 9 November
This was mainly a maintenance and planning time , with a trip to Tenerife with Nicole Parker and John Stevens at the end. We were on our own for the first part of the week, and spent most of the time preparing for the Atlantic crossing. We now need to get specific about exact quantities we will need of food and water, and also to make sure that all the critical pieces of equipment, such as the generator, are working OK.
Caroline is master-minding the vittling of the boat, so she has been scouting round various markets to find out where the best fresh stuff comes from. Not an easy job, as I remember, because I had to do it in the same markets in 1984. I was on charge of vittling for a crew of 12 hungry soldiers then, and I must say I am glad I am not doing it again. Its impossible to please everybody, and you have to think through fruit and veg ripening times, how long stuff will last, whether refrigerated or not, etc.
Water is also an issue. We have the luxury of a reverse osmosis watermaker on board, which will make 60 litres an hour when it is on top form. I plan to use it for about an hour a day, which should mean that we have a good supply of drinking water. We will not be able to shower in fresh water to start with, so the deck sea-water pump will be the main way of keeping the crew fragrant.
As we get closer to the Caribbean, we may be able to relax a little and allow the odd indulgence of fresh water, as long as the watermaker and the diesel holds out.
The week was livened up on Thursday when we had the excitement of an attempted robbery of one of the ARC boats. The world's stupidest boat robber, approaching from the sea, tried to climb on board a yacht on the end of one of the pontoons and nick some stuff. Unfortunately, he did this at 6 pm when it is still broad daylight, the owner and his wife were on board having a sundowner on the foredeck, and all the other boats around had crews on board in the cockpit enjoying an evening drink. One of these crew spotted the robber and yelled out. The owner dashed back and fought the robber. A load of crew arrived to help. The robber fled into the sea, whereupon a dinghy was pressed into service to give chase. After a stand – off with lots of shouting and oar bashing, mainly from a mob of ARC crew, the bedraggled robber gave himself up. He was captured and pinned down on the pontoon, from where the Spanish PC Plod came to handcuff him and take him away to loud cheers from all the yachts. It was high drama and the girls were fascinated as we had a grandstand view from the next pontoon along, so we watched it all unfold. See Sarah's drawings and report of the incident on her page.
On Saturday, Katrina Spotswood, a good friend from the Engadin valley in Switzerland arrived. She spent four days with us relaxing, before heading on to Tenerife with some other friends. It’s wonderful to see her in the sunshine. Its usually about 5 degrees below zero when we meet up in the mountains, so quite a contrast. She is very musical, so some good singing on Sunday night.
The ARC round of briefings and Parties started to crank up, with the welcome party on Monday night. There is a tradition that yachts crossing the Atlantic with the ARC leave a painting on the harbour wall, which is then judged as part of a competition amongst the ARC boats. The girls set to work painting up a modification of Sarah’s website logo and we are keeping our fingers crossed for a result…
Wednesday 10 November – Saturday 13 November
On Monday Nicole Parker and John Stephens had arrived, and we set sail on Wednesday for Tenerife. We had a quiet sail over, the highlight being some particularly friendly dolphins, which kept us entertained for ages.
On Thursday we went up to the National Park in the centre again. This time we walked up Montana Blanca, just below the biggest volcano, which took us up to 2600 metres. Excellent views, and I thought it was well worth it. The girls were not so sure. They got quite sore feet, and Hannah was quick to point out that she had to take two steps to my one, which was simply NOT FAIR! See their log for a less rosy perspective (This is becoming a bit of a pattern, you may have noticed…)
After an excellent reach back from Tenerife, we said goodbye to Nicole and John. Its been great to catch up with them. They are the first crew we have had who are completely inexperienced sailors and they learned incredibly quickly, as the photos testify.
Wednesday 10 November – Saturday 13 November
On Monday Nicole Parker and John Stephens had arrived, and we set sail on Wednesday for Tenerife. We had a quiet sail over, the highlight being some particularly friendly dolphins, which kept us entertained for ages.
On Thursday we went up to the National Park in the centre again. This time we walked up Montana Blanca, just below the biggest volcano, which took us up to 2600 metres. Excellent views, and I thought it was well worth it. The girls were not so sure. They got quite sore feet, and Hannah was quick to point out that she had to take two steps to my one, which was simply NOT FAIR! See their log for a less rosy perspective (This is becoming a bit of a pattern, you may have noticed…)
After an excellent reach back from Tenerife, we said goodbye to Nicole and John. Its been great to catch up with them. They are the first crew we have had who are completely inexperienced sailors and they learned incredibly quickly, as the photos testify.
Sunday 14 November
Charlie Vella, who arrived on Saturday, started very quickly making his presence felt with a lot of the maintenance jobs we need to crack through before we set off. At 1100 we had a parade in our national groups, followed by a flag raising ceremony. We were accompanied by a very funny brass band, who all looked distinctly hung over after last nights fiesta, but managed to stay roughly within one beat of each other for several renditions of "When the Saints…"
The ARC festivities are now well under way. Puerto de La Luz is full to bursting with yachts, all dressed overall for the biggest transoceanic race ever. This next week is going to be a bit of a frenzy of preparation, but we are in good shape, so hopefully the rush will be relatively controlled on ‘Lazy Duck’.
My next log will probably be sent in a weeks time, by which time we will be at sea, on our way to begin the biggest adventure we have faced on the trip so far – the Transatlantic.
Monday 15 November - Saturday 20 November
This week has flashed by in a blur of briefings, provisioning, last minute chandlery expeditions, and boat checks.
Sally Leeson arrived on Monday, and was thrown straight into an afternoon of winch servicing. She was soon happily up to her elbows in grease, and the winches spun sweetly by the time she had finished, under Charlie's tutelage. They also finished oiling all the teak cleats, aided by the kids, although Hannah managed to spray teak oil just about everywhere except on the cleats. Lucky the deck is also all teak.
The ARC organisation has been excellent, with a very useful mix of seminars on emergency navigation, provisioning, and some good parties. There are lots of different nationalities represented – over 20 in all, and we are the first ever Maltese registered yacht. Chay Blyth’s organisation have bought the rights to the ARC event from Jimmy Cornell, so he is here, along with three of the Challenge yachts. He gave a very good talk on Thursday about his life and adventures, which included rowing across the Atlantic, when he was still a soldier in the Parachute regiment.
We have been getting quite a lot of press attention for some reason. I guess its because we are the only Maltese entry, and have an absolutely huge Red and White battle flag with a Maltese cross on it, flying in our fore-triangle. Probably also because of the kids and the website, which quite a few of the fleet have been following. The girls have been interviewed several times, so watch this space for the Duck appearing in the yachting rags. The web-site in particular will be the subject of an article in ‘Yachting World’ early next year, which I have got to complete before the end of the crossing. So much for escaping deadlines!
Richard Langdon from ‘Ocean Images’ who is working for ‘Yachting World’ did a photo shoot, and while he was with us we hoisted him up the mast for the obligatory crew shot the day before the start.
By Saturday, all the painting, checking, provisioning and briefing had been done, and it all went quiet. We had been up to the top of the mast, and down to the keel, and as far as we can tell, all is well with Lazy Duck. The crew is forming together very well, and everyone has really pulled their weight. We had an excellent lunch at the club. Sarah spent all my remaining pesetas telephoning all her friends, one by one.
In the evening, Sarah, Dan and Hannah gave a singing concert for the crew. Our last dinner was on board, and the evening was topped off by a spectacular fireworks display, which put even Cowes week and the Lija festa to shame. Jorge Cantero, our host in Las Palmas, came on board with his friends and family to join us in watching them.