Gran Tarahal to Las Palmas. Our first sail onboard 'Artemis' with son Gene aboard.
On the 9/4/15 we cast off at 5.30pm because Gene had got the bus to Caralejo with a local skateboarding friend to buy a new deck each.
No problem as night sail was a plan that was quite favored.
It was a bit slow going at first as we barely made 3 knots for the first couple of hours. We decided to use the engine for swifter progress. An hour later the engine was switched off and after another hour we had 2 reefs in the mainsail.
The wind was up and down for all of the trip. My unwritten rule after our slow start was to start the engine if our speed dropped below 3 knots to prevent the journey becoming an ordeal for new guy Gene.
Gene was pencilled in for a night watch as he is a bit of an nocturnal creature.
Didn't happen. He went to bed at midnight and slept until 8am - lucky sod! We let him as we were ok taking turns on watch.
As we neared Las Palmas Marina we went to start the engine - nothing. We were making good speed under sail and heading directly towards an anchored cargo ship. There was plenty of other traffic around as well as the odd oil/gas rig.
We tacked and headed back in the direction we had come from to give me time to have a look at the engine.
A play with battery combiner ruled out a flat start battery - still nothing. A visual check of the oil and water - all ok.
A twiddle with the start button - on - off - on - off - on - off - ignition and it started.
I reckon a contact problem or it could be the solenoid on the starter motor. To be investigated.
Anyway we turned back around and radio'd the marina.
As we approached the reception pontoon a yacht we just leaving. It was 'Pilhaouers' a French boat that was also at our last port and set off 6 hours before us.
We did have a very good journey 'Artemis' sailed so well. When we reefed the mainsail we tightened the reefs much more than we had done previously and the boat was much better controlled. Also the, ahem, iron sail played a part too.
Mooring is stern or bow to a pontoon with pick up lines ( no finger pontoons). We were a bit apprehensive about this as it is new to us, so we asked for assistance and 3 marinhos showed us the ropes as it were.
It turned out to be no problem at all. I did my best bit of reversing ever ( I was concentrating that hard) to get us stern to the pontoon.
Two lines were thrown ashore from the stern cleats and kept loose until the pick up line was pulled up from the sea bed and tightly tied to the bow. Then take up the slack on the stern ropes and it's sorted. We had hung a fender off the back in preperation and is essential as the boat will move futher or closer to the pontoon as the tide goes in or out.
We had read and heard non too favourable reports of Las Palmas marina. Mostly unfounded as far as we an tell. We like it very much so far.
The reason for the lack of photos is that at Gran Tarahal I had a bit of a dunking - TWICE - in the same day. Lost my balance and fell off the pontoon and then off a neighbours boat into the water. Iphone ruined!
Suppose we will have to buy a decent camera now. Long overdue.
I think that my imbalance was due to blocked sinuses. We had heard the locals complaining about sinus problems due to the dry sandy air blowing over from west Africa.
