January 10th, 2016, Lazy Bones Update: , Atlantic Crossing, and Seasons Greetings from Los Angeles

Another year has passed and we are now beginning our 11th year of cruising!

Our last update left off at Gibraltar, getting ready for our voyage to the Canary Islands and crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

We studied the charts, spoke to experts, and even bought a guidebook called “The Straits” about how to exit Gibraltar. We did everything that was recommended, but when we left on October 8th, somehow we got it all wrong. The current was against us for the first eight hours. The wind died and we motored for almost two days. Then the wind unexpectedly reversed itself and we soon had 35 knots on the nose and 15 foot seas. We sailed 80 miles due west, perpendicular to our destination in the Canary Islands until the wind changed and we were able to get back on the rhumb line. We caught a couple of fish but lost them on the last day of our four day, 700 mile passage, arriving at the crack of dawn on October 12th at the anchorage in Playa Francesca, on Isla Graciosa in the Canary Islands.

The anchorage was lovely, calm and peaceful, with a view of three volcanic cones ashore. We anchored in the middle of the bay with about twelve other sailboats We were invited over to Plastik Plankton for coffee and fresh solar-baked muffins and met Kathi and Wolfgang from Austria. Angelo and Antonella from Italy aboard Stranizza also joined us. The next day we celebrated Gayle’s birthday by inviting them over to Lazy Bones for happy hour.

After three days of relaxing and exploring Isla Graciosa, we sailed back through the channel and south to Marina Lanzarote, on the east coast of the island of Lanzarote. This was to be our home for the next five weeks while we prepared for the Atlantic crossing and did some touring.

The marina is just one year old, with several new restaurants and close to the main town of Arrecife. It was the headquarters of the Atlantic Odyssey rally run by Jimmy Cornell. We were one of 41 sailboats that would depart Nov 18th for the island of Martinique in the Caribbean, a passage of about 2700 miles.

Upon our arrival, there was another rally in place, the Mini Transat, which consisted of sixty very small twenty foot boats, all of which were crossing the Atlantic on Nov 11th. These single-handed boats can sail at speeds up to 25 knots!

While in Lanzarote, we made many new friends, some who were also crossing the Atlantic in our rally--Peter and Ulrike on Blue Moon, Bill and Judy on Bebe (crossing in January), Hajo and Julia on Serafine (who decided to sail back to the Med and who taught us the correct way to pour a Bavarian beer), and many more fellow cruisers.

Jimmy Cornell, world-renowned sailor and author, and his team provided interesting seminars, videos, and safety checks, which we greatly appreciated, along with cocktail parties to mingle and get to know each other. We would highly recommend joining one of the Cornell Atlantic Odyssey rallies.

We also took the time to extensively tour three of the Canary Islands – Lanzarote, , and Tenerife. These three islands are all very different. Lanzarote is all volcanic, barren yet beautiful. A well-known island artist, Cesar Manrique, heavily influenced Lanzarote’s development. All houses and buildings are painted white in stark contrast to the black lava. Many homes and tourist attractions around the island have incorporated lava and craters as part of the infrastructure in a truly amazing way.

Timanfaya National Park is a great place to tour the volcanic landscape by park bus and to experience first- hand the power and heat of the active vents. We watched as steak and chicken were cooked over an open lava vent for the park restaurant. In another area, water was poured into one of the vents and steamy water exploded upward, showering all of us standing nearby. Yet another vent disintegrated dried bushes tossed into it.

We walked among the largest and most beautiful cactus garden we have ever seen, the “Jardin de Cactus”, with hundreds if not thousands of cacti from around the world, planted in a lava crater four tiers high and a thousand feet across. We also toured the “Jameos del Agua”, with a garden lake, restaurant, and concert hall inside a lava tube.

The wineries (bodegas) of Lanzarote are a must see, as they are like no other wineries. What makes them unique is how the grapes are grown. The vines are planted directly into the lava fields, without a trellis or support, each with a semicircle of volcanic rock to protect them from the prevailing wind. They survive on what little rain the island gets. A lava vineyard is definitely a strange sight to see, and the tastings were a fun experience, too.

Rather than taking Lazy Bones to visit the other islands, we decided to fly and rent cars. Our next island was Gran Canaria. It is much greener and more mountainous than Lanzarote. We drove up a winding road with a unique landscape of lush green plants and cacti to the Tagaror Cave Restaurant in Barranco de Guayadeque. We had lunch at a stone table in one of the many rooms carved inside a huge cave. Cappadocia in Turkey and the Flintstones’ house came to mind as we made our way through the cave maze.

We continued after lunch on another winding mountain road up to the Parador Hotel in Cruz de , driving through seriously dense fog and rain until we got near the summit above the clouds where it was sunny again. The mountain peaks in this area are known for their amazing rock formations, the most famous being Roque Nublo, where we took a nice hike through the pines. Jeff hiked further up to the “Frog Rock” for an even more spectacular view.

Wanting to see the south of the island, we drove to , known for its miles of beautiful sand dunes at the shoreline. Unfortunately, it is also crammed with lots of touristy package vacation hotels on the inland side of the dunes. We wanted to continue clockwise around the island, but some of the roads were closed due to flooding, so we circled back around the way we came to , a very small fishing village where we spent the night. The next morning we headed to Cueva Pintada (the painted caves) and to the Cenobio de Valeron, where over 350 small caves were carved into the mountain for grain storage (aptly named “the holy land” by one of our friends). We spent our last night in , the capital and main port, where we walked along the waterfront and enjoyed a nice dinner.

The next morning we flew to the island of Tenerife, picked up our rental car, stopped for lunch in the old town of La Laguna, and then headed for the main attraction, Teide, the tallest mountain in (12,200 feet) and the third highest volcano in the world. We were advised to try to beat the crowds for the tram to the summit of Teide, so we opted to get a hotel room at the Parador, a beautiful lodge near the base of the tram at an elevation of 7,200 feet.

We walked over to Roques de Garcia, a nearby group of spectacular rock formations, and watched a gorgeous sunset while we sipped champagne. In the evening we enjoyed a nice dinner by the fireplace, and then we went outside in the very cold air to star gaze. There are no lights around, so the night sky was absolutely brilliant, filled with constellations, satellites, stars galore, and, of course, the Milky Way, which was the brightest we have ever seen it.

The next morning, October 30th, we woke up to rain and thick fog and were told that the tram was closed. Extremely disappointed, we went to breakfast. As we gazed forlornly out the dining room window, the clouds slowly disappeared, the sun started shining, and we were told that the tram was open again. We immediately hopped in the car and drove ten minutes to the station. The tram took us up another 5,000 feet in eight minutes to a height of 12,200 feet. The view was a bit surreal, with the clouds below us and intermittent views of the mountains and coastline below us. It was very cold and windy, with bits of snow on the shady side of the rocks. We walked a few of the trails, but we didn’t stay long, as we were not acclimated to the extreme altitude.

That afternoon we had lunch in the old town of Orotava, strolled through the beautiful gardens in the rain, and then continued on to Puerto de La Cruz on the north coast of Tenerife. This was one of our favorite towns— charming, relaxing, beautiful architecture, and a tropical botanical garden. In the evening we cooked our steak on a hot stone brought to our table, with lots of interesting side dishes.

The next day we drove to El Sauzal and visited a popular winery called Casa del Vino, located in a beautiful old wooden estate. We sat at the u-shaped bar with several other tourists and enjoyed the wines, cheeses, and interesting conversations while the rain poured outside. We headed on to Santa Cruz, the capital and main port of Tenerife, checked into our hotel, and walked through a large park to the Plaza Espana, a large pool and fountain with several outdoor restaurants and bars near the waterfront and marina. We enjoyed some drinks while we watched the sunset, then strolled through town before finding an excellent Chinese restaurant.

The following morning, on November 1st, we flew back to Lanzarote and settled back into our life aboard Lazy Bones. The week was filled with boat projects, provisioning for the crossing, and meeting other cruisers.

Prep Week for the Jimmy Cornell Atlantic Odyssey began on November 9th. Each day we attended two or three excellent seminars on such topics as route and weather planning, downwind sails, medical emergencies, etc. The rally sponsored several cocktail parties so we could mingle and make new friends. We can’t say enough about Jimmy Cornell and his team, plus the marina staff, who were all extremely helpful in preparing us for the crossing. Once underway, we would be posting our position three times a day. We also established a radio net schedule for those of us with single side band radios. You would think after 40,000 miles of sailing we would have it all down, but we continued to learn and put some of the suggestions from the seminars into practice.

The Atlantic Crossing:

Having crossed the Pacific Ocean several times and been in some fairly tough weather at times, we both had an idea of what a crossing could be like. We double checked everything on the boat, discussed many issues with fellow cruisers, and felt we were as ready as we would ever be. We had attended the seminars on possible routes, and the rhumb line, the most direct route straight across to Martinique, was our choice. The downside of this route was that it may have less wind and require some motoring to get to the northeast trade winds. We carry plenty of fuel, so that was not a problem for us if we had to motor, though we would prefer to sail, of course.

The second and third routes recommend heading southwest toward the Cape Verde Islands and then turning right or west once you catch the trade winds. These routes are a bit longer, but the wind may be more consistent.

On November 18th we motored out of the marina in Lanzarote and crossed the rally start line at 12:20 p.m. with forty other sailboats all headed for Martinique. We started in 25 knots of wind and covered 175 miles during the first 24 hours. Three days out, our primary autopilot stopped working. We turned on the backup pilot, which was the original one installed in 1990. It was working fine, but we were concerned about the potential failure of this older autopilot. We did not want to hand steer with only the two of us aboard, as it gets very tiring, especially in the confused seas that we were experiencing.

In the cruising guide there was a special note about a Raymarine autopilot specialist in Mindelo in the Cape Verde Islands. We made the decision to stop there and let him look at the autopilot. Had that opportunity not existed, we would have just carried on and as it turned out, we would have fixed it ourselves. But, we took what seemed to be the safe and prudent choice to divert.

We arrived in Mindelo at 4:00 in the morning on November 24th. It was pitch black, but fortunately, Peter on Blue Moon had given us the approach instructions and way points which allowed us to slowly make our way into the busy commercial harbor and drop the anchor. In the morning we went into a slip in the marina. Another Cornell rally was there and with the help of Peter and the Cornell team, the autopilot specialist, Gilson, had already been alerted.

Gilson did a few tests and determined that a solenoid was defective. Jeff felt it was not possible that the solenoid was responsible for the problem, but Gilson magically got the pilot working with a few taps of a hammer and some twists of some wiring, so we did not question it any further.

We took off again for Martinique the following day around noon. On the third day out, the autopilot failed again. Jeff tried the tricks that Gilson had done to no avail. It was much more difficult to deal with this as we were sailing in big seas. We also had the challenge of having a much more difficult sailing angle to Martinique from the Cape Verde’s, being dead down wind. This is where we put into practice what we had learned at one of the seminars, to use two genoas instead of a mainsail and a genoa. In Lanzarote we had our spare genoa re-cut to fit our staysail, giving us two equally large sails to run wing-on-wing, which is called “goose wing”. This avoids using the mainsail and a possible jibe downwind. It also allows the boat to sail more smoothly and be more forgiving in downwind sailing. It worked great. One sail was held out by the spinnaker pole, the other by the end of the boom.

We soon learned that the Atlantic is known for having two swells, one from the northeast and one from the east. This makes surfing a bit difficult. Instead of a long smooth ride like the Pacific, we would climb one swell and as we would slide down that swell the other swell would take over from the other angle. The net effect was like a sled ride from one side to the other. As so many others have aptly described it, we felt like we were in a washing machine! Sleeping and cooking were very difficult.

As we carried on, we were very concerned about the old autopilot handling these large seas. Jeff went below and started from scratch, testing each component one step at a time. Each time we wanted to test the newer autopilot to see if it worked, we would turn off the old pilot, Gayle would steer, and we would try to engage it. Once the pilot is engaged we cannot turn the wheel, so we had to be quick about the test.

The next day Jeff discovered the real cause of the failure. As preventative maintenance, Jeff changes all the impellers and other components on the boat. In this case, Jeff installed new motor brushes for the primary autopilot. It turns out these brushes were the wrong type, even though they came from the manufacturer. They left a carbon film that caused the motor to fail. Jeff put the old brushes back in and the pilot worked perfectly all the way to Martinique. We were disappointed that we had stopped at the Cape Verde Islands, as that had put us back three days.

On December 7th, nineteen days after leaving the Canary Islands and 3,026 miles later (including the three day stop in the Cape Verde Islands) we arrived at 5:40 p.m. at the dock in Port Marin, Martinique. We were very tired, Lazy Bones was pretty beat up, and we were ecstatic to finally be there! Waiting at the dock to greet us were our long-time cruising friends Gary and Venessa, and their children Marina and Elliot, from Neptune II, who had made a very special effort to be there for our arrival. It was great to see them again, and we really appreciated their support. Pascal and Pascal, husband and wife from the Cornell team, were also there to welcome us to Martinique.

That night there was a cocktail party for the Atlantic Odyssey arrivals. Lazy Bones was barely tied to the dock when we were on our way to the party with a slight detour to the local bar where Gary and Vanessa bought us our first Ti Punch. Wow—all rum and no punch! We enjoyed meeting up with our fellow rally participants at the party and sharing stories of our crossing. We learned that nine other boats out of the 41 had also diverted to Mindelo for repairs. The Atlantic is a tough ocean.

We had hoped to rest up from our passage, but the next ten days were fairly busy. Gary (on the sax) and Jeff (on the guitar and vocals) played music for five hours the next night on Lazy Bones, so much so that Jeff lost his voice temporarily. He managed to recover it just in time to play for a rally party the next night. They also played with a local reggae band at a jam session night at a local restaurant and again at a dock party the night before we flew back to Los Angeles. Jeff was definitely in heaven being able to play music with Gary again.

We spent the days cleaning Lazy Bones and getting her ready for her three week nap while we flew home. We also arranged for the repairs that need to be done, as we are changing all the standing rigging the day after we return to Martinique.

On December 17th, we flew home to Los Angeles for a three week whirlwind trip to visit all the families on both sides and take care of doctor and dentist appointments. The day after we arrived we drove down to San Diego, where Dede had organized a family get-together at her father’s house. All of Jeff’s children and our grandchildren were there, and we all enjoyed the delicious Christmas dinner Dede and Lee had prepared. It was fun to watch the kids open their gifts from all of us and from Santa the next morning.

It was back to L.A. the next day for dinner with Judy and Gene at the yacht club, followed by a visit from Jeff’s brother John and his family from the east coast. We drove to Glendale to see Gayle’s sons, then on to Blythe for Christmas to visit Gayle’s father, who will be 91 next month. We filled the next week with doctor and dentist visits, then another trip to Blythe to see Gayle’s dad for New Years and then on to Phoenix to see Kimberly and Patrick’s new home. Couple all that with ordering all the spare parts we need to take back with us and closing the house up yet once again, and you can see why we call it our whirlwind trip.

We fly back to Martinique on Jan 10th. We will replace the rigging and then begin cruising the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean, the Virgin Islands, the Bahamas/Exumas, and many of the islands in between, ending up in Florida by the end of May.

We welcome your e-mails and would love to hear from you. Please e-mail us at: [email protected]. Attachments and travelogues are always welcome. Thanks!

If you want to track us, use the following link: www.shiptrak.org and enter our call sign WA6CZL to see our most current route. Parts of our earlier tracks were lost in a system crash from Shiptrak, but we have continued to keep a log since the beginning. We have anchored and spent the night at more than 700 anchorages since February 2005!

Wishing you all a healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year!

Jeff and Gayle SV Lazy Bones