Las Palmas
Tuesday and Wednesday 10 & 11 November
We have now officially checked in – La Bamba is signed up for the start with all 4 crew, although we don’t have George quite yet…
Our Rally number is 111 – so very easy to remember!
The ARC+ are still waiting to go because of a big depression coming through on Wednesday – they sensibly don’t want to send catamarans with children on out into the teeth of a 40 knot gale coming right on the nose.
So the marina is still full of boats getting in their food supplies and trying out their new downwind sails.
The ARC+ goes to Cape Verde and stays there for a few days, then they set off for Grenada – a slightly shorter nonstop crossing than ours and they get to see the beautiful Cape Verde islands that we are sadly missing.
On Tuesday we also had our safety check – part of the ARC requirements is that every boat has appropriate safety gear in case the worse happens – Sam and David checked that we had ticked everything off and when the ARC safety officer turned up we passed with flying colours! I’m not at all surprised as David has been very thorough and has thought of everything. The ARC chap was particularly taken with David’s hydraulic rigging cutters and took a photo of them!
Rosemary joined us on Tuesday to spend a few days with Sam before the off – and we all went to the first ARC sundowner which was a bit busy with both ARC fleets there. It was nice to see all the children running around madly with each other while they still can!
On Wednesday I made up some food nets and David installed the replacement controller for the auto-helm and mended the red night light for the compass.
We also joined the local marina club so we can use their pool – very good value as ARC participants and the 3 course lunch with a drink is only 15 Euros. It was wonderful to have a swim as we are getting a bit sticky here.
We felt a bit of wind in the marina, and we can hear it, but because we are in the lee of the entire island, Las Palmas feels just like a pleasant sailing day.
As the fresh food deliveries multiplied, we can feel a sense of anticipation from the ARC plussers building on the dock.
I dressed La Bamba with our flags. There is an order to do this in which is: AB2, UJ1, KE3, GH6, IV5, FL4, DM7, PO3rdsub, RN1stsub, ST0, CX9, WQ8, ZY2ndsub. I think it’s in this special order to stop you saying something rude by accident!
Many years ago, when we dressed South Haze (John Holloway’s Contessa 32) the flags went up and down from front to back; because La Bamba is so much taller we have just sent them up the back stay. I dressed the stern because it’s closer to the dock so we look more festive.
The ARC+ have now taken all their flags down! We hope to watch them go off tomorrow from the shore, so I can let my sisters know where the best place will be to see us off on the 22nd.
It sounds like a very good build up!