Hardcore Sailing to Las Palmas

Finally, we are here, we are in Las Palmas! The fact that the next step on our adventure is the Atlantic Ocean is little scary but very exciting! It is quite cool to think about how far Maria and I actually have sailed to get here, all the way from Sweden! However, when looking at the map of the world situated on the wall next to me at the Sailor’s bar here in Las Palmas, I realize the area we have covered isn’t that huge; there are certainly more places to sail to!

We left Puerto de Mogan (and the sun) yesterday morning and arrived 16 hours later in Las Palmas, which make an average speed of about 2 knots an hour. Yeah, we had day full of tacking! We rounded Maspalomas, the southeast corner of Gran Canaria and were hit by the northerly winds. Our dear old Yanmar with 12 horse powers couldn’t fight the waves we were facing, and I mean, we are sailors, and sailors sail, not run the engine. However, despite being drowned by the waves when steering, it felt really nice getting a real hardcore sailing before the take off of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers the 22nd of November.

Our first day in Las Palmas couldn’t have started better. After having done the check in, we, two tired sailors with a broken fridge, were invited to lunch onboard HMS Gladan. HMS Gladan, one of the Swedish Navy’s school ships, the one we met in Lisbon, happened to be moored next to the gas station were we filled our tanks with diesel. Thanks for a superb lunch guys! Now we have two weeks full of preparations and parties to look forward to here in Las Palmas. Maria just put up our “what-to-do-before-the-Atlantic-Ocean-list” on our bathroom door and tomorrow morning we will start by visiting a well-equipped chandlery outside Las Palmas to tick some of the things of our “what-to-buy-before-the-Atlantic-Ocean-list”. /First Mate