Preparing for the Atlantic

Redwings Round the World

Preparing for the Atlantic

5 - 18 November

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5 November - Puerto Calareo, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Aaron - After a frantic month of work without a single day off as we tried to finish all of our work before leaving for two months, we departed Bangkok at midnight on the 4th arriving in Frankfurt in the early morning hours of the 5th. The drama and trama of a Redwings adventure started right away. After a long blearly-eyed wait in the departure lounge for our flight to Madrid, we finally stumbled on to the bus to take us to our plane. After boarding, I was just about to sit down in my assigned seat when my stomach knotted and I thought "oh shit, the computer". "Colleen do you have the computer", "no". Great. I must have left it in the departure lounge. I raced to the door of the plane which was just being closed - we were among the last passengers to board - and asked the chief purser if I could go back for it. "No. Ve are leaving now and will not delay departure for you". "Ok, well then I'd rather not take this flight". "Not possible, your bags on on this flight and you must fly - your computer will be stolen by now anyway". What a jerk. He would do nothing to try to help us. He just said that when we got to Madrid we could check with Lufthansa lost and found and see if it was picked up in Frankfurt. Arrgh - all of our e-mail data and addresses as well as this whole web site. Thank God its out there on the web.

In Madrid, there was not news of the computer, but we found a helpful Lufthansa rep who did ensure that a telex was sent to Frankfurt detailing the situation and that if the computer was found, it would be sent to Lanzarote.

On the flight to Lanzarote, we met up with Marie and Brian Ash from MAST who have been looking after the boat for us. Seems like most of the jobs are done and that the boat is in pretty good shape. That is good news, but we remain tramatized by the loss of the computer and all of the hasle that will go along with it.

Finally, back at the boat. Looks good! But what's this? Somebody varnished the toe rail. We asked them to varnish whatever exterior varnish had been done previously. We have not varnished the toe rail for three years and actually stripped it down in Turkey. It looks good, but we did not want it done and I'm sure it took two or three days of work at least. Expensive and we're not gonna pay - problem for somebody.

Finally to bed (at 9 pm) and looking forward to getting on with the preparation tomorrow!

6 November - Puerto Calareo, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Aaron - I woke up at 0630 as we went to be early and I enjoyed the first deep sleep I can remember of weeks. Work was stressful in the final weeks and I was running substantially on adreniline which made sleep difficult as the day's issues played through my head in an endless circle of thought-noise.

A nice tiger boat cat came by in the morning and answered Colleen's kissy-noises as she did yoga on the dock. He jumped right on the boat, looked around, hung out for a few snugs, came below for a tour, and then hopped out and on the to the boat beside us.

The work done while we were away seems pretty good. The water tanks were opened, cleaned, re-gasketed and re-sealed. I filled them and the forward tank does not leak at all now and the aft tank only a little. Best since we've had the boat if not a 100% solution. John (previous owner) indicated that he never got a 100% seal on them. The windlass has been re-wired and the remote hooked up, our auto-release Jon Bouy has been fixed, the boat was hauled, anti-fouled and the top sides touched up and polished, a new sea cock was installed in the forward head, a new stereo and marine speakers were installed, the cover of the main hatch was sealed and the fiberglass strengthened so you can stand on it.... and of course the varnishing was a bit over-done. But she looks great. One thing that was not done was patching the starbord fuel tank. There must be some problem. Jean Michelle, the guy who did the water tanks, was to have done it. He is also replacing our steering cable.

Dove right into the jobs. Got the errant windlass working (gear had slipped) and gave it an oil change, moved the life raft cradles from forward of the main hatch (where its weight had resulted in a broken seal which let in water) to the top of the coach house, cleaned and organized everything. It's good to be back but a bit overwhelming: how can we get everything done before its time to leave? Of course, we won't be able to. As we and many other cruisers who actually sail know: if you waited to be 100% (or even 95% in the case of Redwings) ready, you would never leave port cause as soon as you fix one thing you discover a new project and the perspective of what is required to leave and what is not fades as you get deeper into the job flurry.

7 November - Puerto Calareo, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Aaron - Overall a productive day tearing through many jobs. I tackled the Starbord fuel tank. It has been oozing disel since the Indian Ocean and we have not used it in two years. Jean Michelle said it was so rusted inside, he felt he could not to a proper job of fixing it without taking it out of the boat. I just want to get it "good enough" to get across the Atlantic. I spent hours cycling and pumping water through it and digging our crap. I then scrubbed it with gasoline and used sandpaper to get as much of the bottom as I could shiny clean. The tank goes down into a "V" at the bottom and the leak seems to be in the forward part - luckily that is the only part of the bottom of the tank I can reach through the inspection port. I then cut of 4 inches of the off take pipe which used to go to within 1/2 a centimeater of the bottom - good place to suck up a lot of crap. Lastly, I made up and dumped in about two literes of epoxy resin filling the bottom of the tank and let it harden. This will create a false floor in the tank where any and all leaks hopefully are. The "experts" say the epoxy won't hold as the tank was still pretty dirty and the fuel will break it down, but its gotta be better than before.

The bad news is the fridge seems to have stopped working. Great. Another round of fridge trama. I thought we left those problems behind us in the Maldives when we got a brand new replacement for our other brand new Isotherm fridge that never worked! Does to seem to be the connections. Its getting power, the compressor is just not running. Wierd. It worked for 36 hours and then just quit. Will have to try to sort this out ASAP tomorrow as the weekend is coming and if we have to order parts, we must do it soon.

We met Christine and Rob of Far Niente. They just bought a 50 foot catamaran which is having all kinds of teething problems. Far Niente was in Barcelona when we were there in the summer before sailing Redwings to the Canaries. Our friend Rene took care of their parrot and Colleen remembers seeing this very large and pregnant woman around - that was Christine. Colleen could hardly recoginze her. They now have a little baby.

Colleen went to do e-mails at "El Torre" and had an agonizing time getting anything sent or received. Slow, slow, slow. We sent the word out to Dad to buy us a new computer and tried to get all of our passwords etc. from Thailand. No word on our old computer. What a pain.

8 November - Puerto Calareo, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Aaron - The day started off pretty stressfully. The boat is out of control with tools everywhere and several projects going on at once. No certainty when we can get out of here. Fridge is a big question mark. Steering gear is still off and we are waiting for some new parts.

Frederick the fiberglass guy, who strengthened and sealed our main hatch cover, came by in the morning to fit some small dividers in our cockpit cubbies which will keep the water off the back of the speakers. Colleen and I were grumpily doing various jobs and snapping at each other. Apparently, Frederick could not take it and tried to change the subject "What about the US election?" At that point, I'd heard on BBC radio that Bush had one, but apparently there is some big saga going on where the votes in Florida need to be re-counted or something and it is not clear who the winner it. Seems so far away. Sort of reminds me of when the whole Monica Lewinsky thing unfolded while we were in the Maldives and we got our daily dose via the BBC.

Jean Michelle and another French guy Phillippe "the fridge man", came buy later in the morning. JM said he would come back to finish the steering cable / quadrant job in the afternoon and Phillippe took the brains of the fridge away to see if he could get parts to repair it here.

The afternoon wore on and they did not return. At around 1700, I went up to MAST to try to call JM. "You have not heard", Brian asked, "Jean Micheal was taken to hospital, looks like he had a heart attack". OMG. Terrible news for JM and bad news for us.

In fact, rather than stress me out more, the news made me accept that things are out of our hands and we will leave for Las Palmas when we leave. If we are late we are late. If we start on the ARC late we start late. No big deal.

Fortuneately, Philippe came by later in the evening and said that JM was ok and just had some weird pains and that he was being tested and should be back tomorrow. He will see if the fridge components are available locally tomorrow.

We had dinner on Far Niente which was lots of fun. First time we really relaxed and chilled out since we got here. Rob and Christine need to head back to California now and will be having a crew deliver the boat to St. Lucia, but we will probably see them there later in December.

9 November - Puerto Calareo, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Aaron - Jean Michelle came back and fortuneately seemed to be ok and was able to finish putting in the new steering cable. He also put in some new bolts in the quadrant (where it attaches to the rudder post) which were loose and had no nuts! Not sure if it never was secured by nuts or somebody forgot to put them on. He additionally tightened up the packing gland at the post where some water was getting in. I did not even know there was a packing gland on the rudder post. One less leak. I must admit the steering system is not one I have spent any time one. One thing that is apparent is that the angle of the sheeves to the quadrant is very sharp and the cable will always ware out there over time. Must check it once a year or so. I am really glad the cable was replaced and the whole system gone over before we left. With that done, I am now confident we can get out of here on Saturday.

Colleen went to Areccife with Christine of Far Niente and came back with loads of stuff from the chandlery and hardware store. Sounds like they had a fun time as well. The non (as of yet) election of the President a major topic of converstation. It must be media madness in the US.

Philippe came by in the late afternoon. The outlook on the fridge is not so good. Three components on the control PCB were blown and cannot be fixed here. We need to order a new part. Today is Thursday 1600 here, but 1800 in Sweden (where our fridge was born) so I'll have to get the order right out tomorrow morning if we want to get the parts in Las Palmas next week.

A S-L-O-W dinner at a restaraunt by the port. Only two waiters for 20 tables. Felt bad for them.

10 November - Puerto Calareo, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Aaron - Wow. Its calm here. No wind. I think this is the first time ever on Lanzagrotty that its not been howling.

I went to the MAST office early to send a fax to Isotherm to order the required fridge parts. Unfortuneatly, "Anders" the guy who helped us when we had problems in Thailand and who also has worked with Marie (from MAST) before was out and would not be back till afternoon. I knew the part number though so we sent through a firm order to be air freighted to Las Palmas.

Colleen went to Areciffe again with Rob of Far Niente and brought back another load of stuff and also got our propane tanks filled. One more job we won't have to do in Las Palmas. She saw Rob of Navarra there also getting his tanks filled. Have not seen them since Turkey, even though we have talked on the radio and e-mailed from time to time. Navarra is heading to the Carribean as well. There will probably be lots of boats around from the Red Sea Class of 98 I would imagine.

In the afternoon, we were able to follow up with Anders at Isotherm and he confirmed that they had received the order, but their shipment had already gone out for today and that they won't be able to ship until Monday. Obviously on Euro-time. Arrgh. I hope we get it.

Philippe beleives he can wire the fridge such that it is either on or off bypassing the computer brain (although this was attemped unsucessfully in Thialand). He and Jean Michelle will be in Las Palmas next week and will either a) install the new part if we get it b) rewire the existing fridge to "on / off" or c) help us get a new fridge. Something will work out. We still have a week to go and we are, relatively speaking, in the Western World. These guys have been very good help and good value for money.

11 November - Lanzarote to Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain

Colleen - Leaving day. Not so hectic day all things considered. We got the boat in order and cleaned all of the fenders which were pretty black after two years (including Barcelona) of the boat being in a marina. We had the topsides cut and polished in the yard while we were in Thailand so we want to keep them looking good.

Christine from Far Niente came by in the morning and gave us a bag of warm clothes they are getting rid of. Aaron's very excited about his new "Patagucci" watch jacket.

We then headed for the showers, bought two pizzas to go, headed back to the boat, cranked up the engine, cast off the lines, and headed for the fuel dock. When it came time for Aaron to pay for the fuel, he could not find his wallet. Major panic. We were just about to head to a phone to cancel credit cards etc. when he found it in a pouch with all of the documentation for the fridge. Catastrophe averted. Paid bills and finally left PC at 1300. We are on our way again! Somehow we always make it. We should be in Las Palmas by early tomorrow morning - right on time for the first day of the ARC opening activities.

As there was no wind, we motored during the first few hours down the coast of Lanzarote and towards the gap between Lanzarote and Fuerteventura that we need to pass through to set course for Gran Canaria. Aaron used the gizmo he made up in Gibraltar from hoses and a water bottle to test fuel consumption at different engine RPM. Those who care can see his comments on this below. We also tested the water maker and it seems to be working fine TG.

Around 1830 we noticed water sloshing around on the floor of the galley. A leak? The water tanks again? No it salt water. Oh oh. Minor panic. Check bilge - ok, ripping up floor boards, looking in cubbords... finally Aaron figured out that the salt water foot pump was shot and spewing water. We shut off the sea cock which we had opened to run the water maker and the leak stopped. Much releif.

At 1900 the wind crept up and we rolled out the genoa and sailed down wind. Beautiful night with a full moon, gentle seas, and 15 knots of breeze behind us.

Aaron - As we do not have any working fuel gauges at the moment, and as our fuel capacity will be only enough to make it about 1/3 of the way across the Atlantic, I decided to get a more scientific feel for the boat's fuel consumption so we can better manage our fuel during the passage (i.e. not run out before we get there). I made a jug out of a water bottle, put a fuel hose on it, and hooked it into one of the fuel tank lines. I then took 500 ml of fuel at a time and ran it through the jug timing how long it took the engine to consume the fuel at different rpm. The outcome was somewhat as expected. Much lower consumption at lower rpm, higher at higher. But what is really interesting is that there is a huge increase in consumption from 1,100 to 1,200 for only a 0.5 knot increase in motoring speed (from 5 to 5.5 knots) and above that the consumption goes up astronomoically relative to speed gains. On the other hand, there is little differance between 900 and 1,000 rpm yet teh speed drops quite a bit. So, it seems that the sweet spot is really 1,000 to 1,100 rpm. I had always assumed "a gallon an hour" at about 1,300 rpm. In fact, it seems like we burn more than a gallon an hour at that rate, but only about 3/4 of a gallon at 1,100.

One thing I've really noticed over the past week is that I have been able to totally blot out work obsessions as we have been so busy. Gone is the SPAV and EML (deals I am working on) madness and associated stress. I've had the best sleeps in weeks over the past several days. But now that we are sailing and there are less boat jobs to obsess over, these projects and their problems are starting to cycle through my head again.....

It's a beautiful night and the moon is so bright I think I could read by it. Shooting stars, and the boat is steady as we glide along at six knots towards Las Palmas.

12 November - Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain

Aaron - We arrived outside the breakwater to the main port of Las Palmas (Puerto de la Luz) at around 0700 after a nice downwind overnight sail. Now out of the marina, we had better reception on the morning net on 8101 mhz and checked in with Bill and Gary on Amadon Light. They are in Dakar and are getting ready to take the boat up the Gambia river. Runway also chimed in and told us they would meet us at the fuel dock in Las Palmas. it will be great to see Dick and Claire who we first met in Thailand at the Boat LagOOOoon and then saw again this past summer in Barcelona. They are also doing the ARC on Runaway.

We made it into the marina at around 0830, but the fuel dock was occupied and we were not able to raise any of the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers - a 220 quasi race across the Atlantic leaving on November 19th) staff on VHF channel 11 as advertised. Dick and Claire waved to us from the quay, but we could do little else but wave back. We were planning to get fuel first, but while we were waiting for a space to open, I went around to open the fuel tanks and figured out that the filler cap to the starbord tank we have not used in two years was totally rusted shut and would not budge. This is the same cap that gave us trouble in the Red Sea when water came into the tank. Well, guess we'll have to replace it. Add another job to the list.

Where are these ARC people? Finally, a sleepy sounding ARC rep answered one of our calls and told us that as its Sunday, its their day off (?), but somebody would be down at dock 17 wearing a yellow T-shirt and waving at us and she would show us a berth. Not working on the Sunday before the Saturday of departure? This is supposed to be the first day of checking in and official start of ARC Las Palmas activities. Crazy. First regatta / yachting event I have ever heard of that extends over a weekend and the staff take a day off.

A chripy ARC employee Fiona showed us to a great berth. We were able to back in very professionally and gained macho points (most of the other boats were bows to). Down for a nap and four hours later BANG BANG BANG in our dreams. I slept through it I was so tired, but apparently, those were the fireworks associated with the opening ARC ceremonies at 1200. There was also a dingy race across the harbor that looked fun in principal, but we were too tired to watch.

Colleen cleaned up the boat and I worked on fixing a few leaks in our water system (the copper tubing is going all over the place - I have to cut our sections and add rubber hose which I then hose clamp on to the remaining good sections of the copper tube). We then went to a free ARC sponsered BBQ. "Just bring your own plates and glasses". So we brought our own plates and glasses - no cutlerly. None provided. So we ate marinated pork chops and potatos with our hands.

13 November - Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain

Aaron - Hell in Officialdom. Mix British "that's the way it's always been done" (ARC organizers) with Spanish "closed for lunch" mentalities and that pretty much sums up the ease with which one can check in to the ARC and marina. After waiting in line at the ARC office for 1/2 hour we were given an ARC check in appointment for 1000 at the ARC tent and it finally got it underway at 1030. They give you about 5 minites of information in a 1/2 hour session absloutely giving you all of the information they have even if you don't want it (where to rent a car etc.) and not being able to answer basic questions about the actual yachting event and formalities (when can we see ratings, what will the course be, what is the fuel penalty system, why do we need to check out if St. Lucia does not require port clearance etc.). Anyway, the girl helping us tried her best and was very cheerful. Things are just a bit slow, excessively regimented, and not always to the point.

I started working the phones calling Marine at MAST and the shipping agent who would be handling the arrival of our fridge parts to make sure everything was in order. It seems that the part has not been shipped yet as Marie did not have a confirmation yet. ARRGH!

The agent said I would need my ships papers and passport to pick up the part when and if it arrived. I looked all over the boat and could not find the file with all of our official documents. Oh oh. Yeah, now I remember, I brought them back to Thailand. They are in my office. Smooth move X-Lax. I called Pisit back at the office and he faxed me a copy. Thank God.

Colleen handled checking into the marina. It sounds like it was a nightmare. Only one slower than slow Spanish guy and a riot mob of tired hungry yachties trying to get in. One woman tried to jump the queue and was almost lynched. I guess there was just no concept there of urgency of increasing capacity to deal with the heavier traffic than usual. This seemed to be a general theme at the ARC event and one which organizers just laughed off as "this is Spain" rather than committng some of their resources to help make things move a bit faster. To top it off, once Colleen was finally thought the process after waiting for two hours, her credit card did not work! The woman behind her from Lazy Otter could not wait any longer and paid for us.

I went to the chandleries and loaded up on stuff including a new filler cap for the fuel tank which we installed later in the afternoon. I also bought and installed a new salt water pump for the galley.

Walking down the road along the marina I saw a familiar looking hull sticking out from a finger dock. That looks like Tango II. It is. And just then coming up the road I saw Jim and Anna and... a baby carriage. Hi guys. Haven't seen them since Menorca in 1998. We had dinner on T2 and had a great time. Tiki, a little girl, was born about 7 months ago. She is very cute and quiet. A good boat babe. They will be going across soon too so hopefully we'll see more of them in the Carribean which is really home for them.

Dad is coming tomorrow. Hope he is ready to S-L-A-V-E.

14 November - Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain

Aaron - Colleen and I caught the early a.m. ARC mini bus from the outlying poontoons (where Redwings is - 1/2 a mile from the main action) to the fuel dock where the propritor Don Pedro can fulfull all of your needs and boat fantasies. We brought him our laundry and the life raft which needs to be serviced. No problema.

We then took our first waking daylight hour break from heavy boat labor and headed over to the ***** Santa Catalina Hotel for an ARC sponsored talk on rigging and emergency navigation. The rigging talk was a bit basic, but on that basis, it was usefull as it reinscentivized me to check all of our basic fittings before we leave. The navigation talk was excellent. "Stokey" the speaker made simple sense of celestial navigation and showed how with just your hand and a good watch, one can actually get a pretty good fix on one's position. Lots of other good tricks and explanations as well.

I spent the early afternoon speaking with the Isotherm fridge people in Sweden trying to figure out a way to re-wire the fridge to "on-off" if the part we need does not come in. Seem like it cannot be done. Not easily at least and with all of the key engineers at a boat show in Holland, I was not able to get any details about even the best way to try.

Dad arrived at 1430 toting this new computer on which I am finally typing in these written words three weeks after I first penned them. He seemed to have had a good trip and was ready to go to it. So to work he went cleaning the bilge, sewing chafe guards on the running backstays, and doing other general slave work. Payback!

I took off to visit our shipping agent to make sure everyting was in place to get the fridge parts. I finally got the papers from Sweden saying they had shipped the parts yesterday - five days after we first faxed them the order! When I finally found the agent's office on the old port area, they indicated that as the parts would be arriving after 1400 on Friday, customs would already be closed so we could not get them till Monday. AHHHHHH. She said she would try to see what she could do about getting them cleared Saturday as they could do it if it was an "emergency" which seems to be somewhat loosely defined. They claim they will leave a message for us later in the week.

I think we have to assume we won't be able to get the part on time. I'll have Phillipe try to "on / off" wire it or just buy a new compressor. What a pain. This is taking up 50% of my time.

15 November - Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain

Jim - Ever since I got the word that I would share this Atlantic crossing with Aaron and Colleen, I've been pretty excited. With a few months to plan, my work at the Maine State Archives took on a new perspective. As a "hands on" manager, I was involved in a basket of projects that had to be completed or passed off before my temporary retirement of about a month. A frenzy of concentrated activity resulted, even up to literally the last few hours, in accomplishing my goals and setting me free to enjoy!

On the home front, I was engaged in a notebook PC search for Aaron who contributed his to some unknown person in some unknown airport en route to the Canaries. Other than an auto-inflatable lifejacket with strobe light and some foul weather gear, my usual collection of casual clothes plus reading material constituted the travel pack.

I am sorry to have missed Brady's basketball tryouts, Thanksgiving with the 20+ clan members, Becky and Catalog the cat. But this trip trumps the short-term costs!

Arriving in Las Palmas yesterday, I strained my Spanish skills to communicate with the taxi driver about where Redwings was located. The boat was stern end to a series of floating pontoons that hosted 200+ of the ARC participants. I was immediately thrown into work cleaning the bilge, helping with provision shopping, scrubbing the deck, filling water jugs, etc. I knew I was one of the crew, if only a lowly swabby!

Another assignment - keep track of fuel consumption, amount and rate, how much we have left, and how far can we go a various speeds. Aaron had developed experimental data that I placed in a spreadsheet and produced what seem to be reliable estimates. We'll see.

16 November - Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain

Aaron - Final preparations in full swing now. Colleen and Dad did lots of provisioning yesterday and El Corte Ingles delivered it as they were heading out to the Pirate Party dressed accordingly. I whimped out on it and need to just decomp by myself. Anyway, we had about 20 boxes of provisions that needed to find homes and we spent the morning packing it all away.

Yesterday I was in Del Mar Marine, a very good chandlery buying loads of saftey equipment requred by the ARC scrutineers, and I discovered that they had a relationship with the Isotherm importers in Tenerrife (next island over) and they indicated they could get me the fridge part today! Great, do it! Phillippe and Jean Michelle also arrived yesterday and indicated that they were good friends with the guy from Del Mar and they had already talked to him about our situation.

So.... Phillippe came by in the afternoon with the part, fitted it, and... it started to work, and then stopped. Seem like the compressor was shot as well anyway! OK enough screwing around. Off to the chandlery and we bought a new compressor. It is a bit smaller than the other one, but hopefully it'll work. The fittings for conecting it to the cold plate are different sizes though so Phil had to cut the tubes for the gas and took it away to get new fittings welded on. At least we are moving forward.

I took a trip up the mast to check the rigging and all halyards, fittings, etc. seemed in good order. We then peeled off the main sail cover and oh no! I found 4-5 small holes that had been chafed right through the sail as a result of the sail cover and bimini cover chafing in the extreme and constant wind of Lanzarote. Only three days before we leave. Gonna be tough to get the sailmaker to do this. I'm sure they are swamped.

I took speedy (Colleen's "Dorothy" bike that I keep threatening to float-test) down to the loft and the senora told me that if I could have the sail back there before they closed, they could get it done tomorrow morning. Is she really Spanish? Dad and I quickly took the sail off and carted it to the loft and went over it with the sail maker and identified about 7 small holes. Always something.

17 November - Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain

Aaron - Coming 18th and 19th as well!

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