Slowing down

• Posted in Blog
• On November 3, 2019
• 3 Comments.

After 4 months, 4,500 nautical miles, 41 stops and many, many old churches and Roman ruins, it is time to chill out a bit. A two day crossing took us to Arrecife in Lanzarote where we were forced to wait for a new propeller having spun one off coming out of Morocco. It was strange to stop after not having stayed in one place for more than a few days, but there are really are many benefits to slowing down as we soon found… For one you can use the laundry and marina showers to your heart’s content, you can shop in supermarkets that deliver to the dock and you can return to favourite bars and restaurants. You can teach boatschool without pitching and rolling and take your time over it with the aid of Google, which for someone with limited knowledge of yr 6 arithmetic is a very good thing!

But really, the best bit about Arrecife was that we finally met some like-minded souls, a great group of people, some of whom also had children around the same age as the girls. How refreshing to have some adult conversation whilst the kids larked around with each other. We seriously did not realise how much we were craving a bit more social interaction.

Trick or treating took on a whole new meaning when the 25 odd boat kids got together to stampede the docks . They were a scary bunch, especially on mass. Ryan was afraid he would be crushed by the apocalyptic barge for sweets! Jocie commented that it was the best trick or treating EVER, although health and safety was a bit lacking when the children all squeezed onto a 2ft narrow finger pontoon, it was a miracle no one fell in but also a testament to how agile these kids get whilst they live on boats.

We are looking forward to meeting up with these new friends in other far flung places but for now we have moved on and our Atlantic adventure awaits. With a week to go before kick off we are docked in Gran Canaria, surrounded by the bustle of ARC boats prepping for the crossing. The organisers in their ever-helpful way have put us on a pontoon with all the other families, there is a great sense of comradery, sharing sailing stories and the girls are having a ball. we are all looking forward to Grandad Keith’s arrival in a couple of days, he is helping us with the 1st leg to the Cape Verdes, but more importantly, he is bringing teabags!

We will leave Gran Canaria with a fleet of around 90 boats to make passage to the Cape Verde islands on November 10th, we have been busy exalting the merits of our trusty vessel to other boat owners, our staple comment being – she may be old, but she’s fast…. the proof is in the pudding – there’s no hiding from the results which are posted online, here’s hoping we are right!

To find out results go to https://www.worldcruising.com/arc_plus/event.aspx.

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