Hasta Luego, Gran Canaria

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Young sailors preparing Optimist sailboats

Every Saturday at the Real Club Nautico in Las Palmas, a children's sailing club comes to learn to sail . They are taught how to rig their Optimist boats, how to navigate, and what to do if there is trouble. Then, they push their little boats into the sea, and give it all a try.

So long, pavement.

As of today, there will be no cafés. The sidewalk lottery ticket sellers will be no more. The sidewalks themselves will be a memory. As of today, there will be no internet. Who sang that song? The answer will have to come from somewhere other than Google. No more popping down to the local mercado for a loaf of bread, a cup of espresso, or perhaps 400 hams on the hoof.

We have taken the Maverick Dream out to sea to test the sails, the generator, the instruments. On the way back in to port, we put diesel in her tanks, but very few hours will be spent running the two Volvo engines. The engines will not be used at all to power us forward; only to recharge the massive batteries and heat water. This crossing will be made with strong tradewinds at our backs and sails aloft.


















This morning as the sun rose, we caught a glimpse of what our next two to three weeks will look like. Five guys, from very different backgrounds, in a fiberglass tub. The Maverick Dream is as long as four parallel parking spaces. A luxury of space, to be sure. There are many, many smaller boats; monohulls of less than 10 meters making the journey with us.

As we pull away from the dock in the morning, and line up for the Grand Start, we say goodbye to land and all its connotations. Our world will dramatically shrink, and the importance of good manners will be clear.

While we are at sea, I will keep a daily journal and log our position. If you would like to follow our progress, you can. Our position will be posted daily in this space, as well as on the official ARC site. You can track us using Google Earth as well. There will be a lot fewer pictures. While at sea, we will only upload one image a day, using the satellite phone.

The decks are swabbed. Everything is stowed. What little clothing we have is cleaned. We've stolen our last hot showers at the pool locker room. Are we ready to set sail? Yes, we are. Today, we are all Optimists.

Buena Mar.

Weather Outlook for the Start
High pressure is intensifying to the west of Biscay near 45N 25W, and a small area of low pressure is over N Africa moving to the east. This is giving us a moderate to strong N to NE’ly flow. This will continue for the next 24 hours, moderating Sunday morning.

The air is unstable making the occasional shower likely. A band of rain is expected to cross the Canary Islands during tonight.

Today the wind will be N-NE force 4 to 5 occasionally 6 with the chance of showers and some sunshine. The temperature is expected to reach 25-27C depending on the number of showers that we get.

On Sunday the wind will be N-NE force 4-5 occasionally 6 easing during the afternoon, however there will be a significant acceleration zone near the south of the island.

Barometer reading at Las Palmas airport at 0830 : 1020mb








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