Sunriser

Twenty days and nights Sunriser sat in Tangiers together with many other boats and expectant crews waiting for a weather window to cross to the Canary Islands. The weather forecast was intensively followed, and the fridges repeatedly stocked in preparation for departure. After deliberation among the skippers and crew of other boats we settled to leave on the afternoon of the 30th October. In the good of company of Adriana I, Traveller IV, Britt and Matahari, we set sail out of Tangiers on our longest passage for now, estimated to take about four days as a general repetition for the next big crossing in January.

Experienced sailors say that the first three days at sea are always the roughest, trying to adapt to the movement and figuring out a schedule of wake and sleep while accomplishing the daily necessary tasks like navigating, changing sails, cooking and cleaning. Truly, this time, having the luxury of a crew of four people with Matthias and Sandra on board, a mere day was sufficient to overcome the worst of the seasickness and settle into a comfortable routine for everyone.

We divided the night in four watches of three hours so that we all got sufficient sleep, with occasional afternoon siesta’s when needed, and managed to have three meals a day together seating at the table, a true luxury on a boat in the open sea. After a first day of partly motoring due to lack of wind, we were blessed with a good steady stern wind most of the time, allowing us to try a new sail setting of Genoa and Gennaker, in wing on wing.

In true cruiser’s spirit we had a fishing competition among the five boats, rather than a sailing regatta. Our designated representative was Matthias who caught a tuna, readily devoured in the form of sashimi, and a Mahi-mahi which provided us with sushi and ceviche. The overall winner was Traveller IV with the impressive catch of 2 tuna, 1 mahi-mahi, 1 flying fish and 1 squid, though the flying fish and the squid were unanimously rejected not having been caught with a fishing line, but landing accidentally on deck.

Further, on the fauna sightings Sunriser was visited three times by dolphins, to the delight of the crew. We also saw bioluminescence in the water at night under a spectacular sky full of stars.

In the morning of the fourth day the contour of the Canary Islands appeared in the horizon and the 3rd of November, at 13:00, exactly 4 days after departure we threw anchor at Playa Francesa in the island of La Graciosa having sailed 588 miles. Adriana I was already there and we were soon followed by Traveller IV, Britt and Matahari, having left some hours after us arrived later that night. With a feeling of accomplishment, the five crews set themselves the following day onto the exploration of the small volcanic island La Graciosa.

After 4 days at sea we were itching for walking and no mountain would be too high for these intrepid sailors, so we climbed up the volcano, walked over the crater and descended on the other side to walk over the beach to a well deserved meal in a local restaurant. The way back, though, was less speedy with a stomach well full of beer and food.

With upcoming strong north winds our fleet of five moved to the south of Lanzarote, where we bid our farewells to Matthias and Sandra and will start cruising through these beautiful islands.