The Crew are into the final few days and sound at home aboard Challenger 3 on their ‘Deep Sea Adventure’. This blog is written by Hodgie, on the way to the volcanic island of Lanzarote, and Jonathon, who takes us to their final destination, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Champagne Sailing off Africa
Three days of motor sailing into a headwind continued, as the predicted wind shift from South to North West expected late pm Sunday remained frustratingly elusive until mid-morning on Monday. It didn’t fully fill-in consistently to allow our sails to fill until mid-afternoon Monday, by which time we had 15- 20 kts on the stbd quarter. Champagne sailing at last and as we barrelled down the African coast, the helmsman was required to keep extreme concentration. Consequently, our shifts at the wheel we restricted to 30 mins, rather than the usual hour. We were now making 8-9 kts with a single reefed main and a poled out Yankee 2, a setup we retained for the next 17 hours. Since leaving Portugal the temperature has climbed and the nights under starlit skies are no longer chilly. An impromptu stopover in Lanzarote is now looking more and more likely. The spirits of the crew remain high and the thoughts of showers, a cold beer and uninterrupted sleep are boosting morale even higher.
By Hodgie
Accident or Conspiracy? Mystery en-route to Las Palmas
After a lovely night downwind sailing, we arrived in Rubicon on Lanzarote mid-morning a few minutes later than planned due to having to retrieve a fender that wasn’t tied on properly and was lost over the side. The previous evening everyone had put down an estimate for our arrival time in Rubicon and with the delay it put us very close to John’s predicted arrival time, who was also the last person to tie the fender on. Was it an accident or conspiracy?
Following a few chores onboard we then had the rest of the day to enjoy time ashore in Lanzarote and had a great crew meal at a rather nice restaurant in the evening, followed by some of us enjoying a small night-cap at The Flagship.
It was an early start the next day up at 6:00 am aiming to be away by 7:00 am for the final leg of our journey to Gran Canaria. The weather was sunny all day although the wind played with us and it never quite gave us enough to sail with, so the day was a steady motor sail. Everyone enjoyed a relaxing day, taking turns on the helm while chatting and listening to a range of music. A few of the crew also found the Yankee and staysail rather comfortable places to grab 40 winks on deck.
It’s now just coming up to 9:00 pm and we’ve got just over 7 nm left to Las Palmas on Gran Canaria which will bring us to the end of our epic ‘Deep Sea Adventure’ of over 1750 nm and 15 days sailing from Portsmouth. We’ve had everything from big seas and 45-knot gusts in the Bay of Biscay through to flying along at over 10 knots downwind with the Yankee poled out on a starry night off the coast of Africa. The only question that really remains is what sailing adventure each of us will be going on next!
By Jonathon
More blogs about this Atlantic Adventure can be read here: Portsmouth to Gran Canaria
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