Off to Lanzarote to complete our trip of 2000 nautical miles

Tuesday 9/17/13 to Saturday 9/21/13

Off to Lanzarote to complete our trip of 2000 nautical miles – Tuesday 9/17/13.

“The rain in Spain stays mainly …

in the Atlantic, between Madeira and Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

After 6+ weeks of minimal rain the weather gods were ready to even the score. However, they kindly allowed us to leave  Madeira with clear skies and perfect Force 4 winds  out of the NE for a broad reach.  We set the ‘Queen’ (spinnaker) and Em took the wheel with the Captain pointing out the finer elements of downwind sailing.  Cruising downwind at 7 to 8.6 kts – what fun!

Em at the wheel for our run to Ilha Deserta Grande.

Since Predict Wind had forecast a 1.7 day crossing, a morning departure was out of the question for it would have brought us into Lanzarote after dark.  So we left Madeira at

1500 bound for a short stop at the  Ilha Deserta Granda Research Station (2.5 hour sail away), then a sunset departure at 2000 from the Research Station to the southern tip of Lanzarote (260 nmiles).

We had obtained a permit to anchor in the protected bay of the Research Station.  Ours was only the 59th permit issued in 2013 – Ilha Deserta Grande (The Grand Deserted Island) truly lives up to its name.  After the crew secured anchor,  Em and Kathie swam ashore to check out the Station.  They were greeted  by Rosa Peris, a biologist studying the endangered Monk Seals that call Ilha Deserta home.  Rosa was a wealth of knowledge, pointing out petrel nests tucked under boulders, indigenous plants, and volcanic rock formations.  She also showed off the Station’s new seal infirmary.  Tour complete, Em and Kathie swam back to Heart of Gold where George and Carl had started the engine so the shower would have warm water. What great guys.

Off to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

With the sun setting the crew weighed anchor and set sail for Lanzarote. The course was 147 degrees and we were able to sail apparent wind angles of 90 to 100 with the main and genoa set.    ….. At least until 2200 when the wind died and we dropped both the main and genoa to motor.  The rest of the night was motor-sailing with the genoa going up and down like the 1.5 meter ground swells that kept us rock’n and roll’n.  At 0745 the wind freshened and we again set the main and genoa, giving us 7 to 8+ kts of way …

                                   and then the rain gods found us!!

We were surrounded by cells that spit at us, showered us, and downright pelted us.  We tried sailing around some of the cells with a modicum of success.

Em and George weathering yet another rain storm.

However, we ran out of luck at 1430 when George and Em were blasted with  18+ kts of wind and rain.  They held HoG steady, but with escalating winds they decided to reef the main and the genoa  when Kathie came up at 1530.  By 1700 the fickle wind had died again, calling for the main and genoa to be unreefed.    The rest of the trip was marked by rain and wind followed by light breezes only to have more rain and wind kick up.

Frustration with the ever changing weather was compounded by ongoing encounters with tankers (and cargo ships) ….  Or as we have come to call this harrowing game – “Tanker Chicken”.  There was the Ibis Arrow, the Geobarents, the Stolt Vinlano, the Universal Antwerp, the Asiatic Wind, and ……..    they were all 500 to 1000 feet long and steaming toward us at 15 to 18 kts.  Oh Dear!!!     Making the game a bit mor exciting, at 0100 on George and Kathie’s watch, the AIS (automatic ship identification system) went down!  We were blind!  With no tankers on the monitor for an hour before the system went down, George and Kathie decided to let Carl sleep until the end of their watch at 0200 before waking him to fix the problem.  For the next hour George and Kathie kept close watch on the horizon (5 miles out) for the lights of any ships.  There were none.  At 0200 they woke Carl, who rebooted the AIS only to discover that HoG was surrounded by Tankers!!! (See picture of the monitor.) As surprised as the HoG crew was, no doubt the Tankers were amazed to see the little Heart of Gold pop up out of nowhere in the middle of the Atlantic – ah! ….. could it be the Improbability Drive?

SURROUNDED!!!
The deadly game of
‘Tanker Chicken’

The remaining hours until daybreak were spent playing Tanker Chicken and dodging rain cells.  Adding to these concerns, Captain Carl brought out a map of the winds around the island of Lanzarote, specifically the “acceleration zones”.  These are areas of increasing winds caused by the defraction of air around the island’s mountains.  The ever wary First Mate encouraged the crew to reef the main in expectation of high winds.  Thankfully the acceleration winds were never realized and a glorious sunrise was accompanied by blue skies, the sighting of Lanzarote, and lovely winds for a broad reach to the Island with Em at the helm.

As we neared Lanzarote we found ourselves skirting an area marked ‘Restricted’.  We had no idea why it was so marked until we saw a number of blow spouts. Thinking these might just be dolphins George, Carl and Kathie didn’t bother to wake the sleeping Em, however they regretted their decision when a 25+ foot whale came within 40 feet of Heart of Gold to check us out.

The volcanic island of
Lanzarote

With the entire crew on deck for the last leg of our journey we were blessed with a wonderful beat to weather in Force 4 winds.  Carl turned the helm over to George for the final 5 mile windward leg to Puerto Calero, Lanzarote.  The wind shifted from NE to N lifting us on port tack into the harbor.  Thus, with 23 harbors under our belts, we slid into our 24th slip with the professionalism of a well practiced crew.    Although elated at our accomplishment of successfully sailing over 2000 miles, we were saddened by the end of our journey.

Heart of Gold in her berth at Lanzarote waiting to cross the Atlantic on 11/24/13.