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Month: December 2022

Nearly stealing an anchor

Nearly stealing an anchor

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There we were, in La Gomera, snorkeling around the anchorage looking at all the little fishies, when on the bottom we saw an anchor lying sideways that didn’t appear to be attached to a boat.

After diving down, looking for chain, and taking a picture we decided that it must have been dropped at some point? And who knows, maybe this is a free anchor for us? It’s certainly not set as it should be (in the correct orientation).

(Yes while writing this now we can see the 3 links of anchor chain just covered by sand)

We went back to the boat to prepare to try and retrieve it, bringing back the dinghy, a bouy and ropes etc.

After another dive down to ~10 meters we had a rope around the anchor, however just as we attached it we lifted the anchor revealing the chain attached to it. (sadface)

After a more thorough investigation, this anchor was indeed attached to a boat, however, the boat was much further away than we were expecting for the depth (they must have had lots of chain out), and was not in the direction you would expect it to be (the anchor was pointing the wrong way and the chain running back underneath it).

The conclusion here is that they anchored by dumping their anchor and a bunch of chain as fast as possible, never really pulled back on it to set it properly. So rather than dug in, it just lay at an odd angle on the surface.

For comparison, this is what our anchor looks like while set…

Note you can barely see it, as most of it is beneath the sand.

Anyway…

We had to dive down once again to remove the ropes! No free anchor for us, but also glad we didn’t actually pull it up at all…

Make sure you set your anchor!!!! Otherwise 1) you might drift off and 2) We might come and try to steal it

You can read more about setting an anchor on WikiHow (but I am sure there are better resources).

6. Use your engine to give the anchor a final hard set.

This is called snubbing the anchor, and jams a set anchor more firmly into the bottom. Have your helmsman reverse hard until the rode straightens out, then kill the engine.
Check your bearings again as your helmsman does this, to double check the anchor hasn’t pulled free.

How to Anchor a Boat – WikiHow
Gran Canaria, Tenerife & La Gomera

Gran Canaria, Tenerife & La Gomera

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After Lanzarote & Fuerteventura we headed on to 3 more Canary Islands.

Gran Canaria

We did a night sail across to Gran Canaria, arriving in the early morning, which lead to some lovely views around the busy port.

The anchorage here is attached to the marina, and thus you have to pay a small fee just to anchor. The small fee is only a couple of euros, and this is great in comparison to some anchorages in the UK such as Salcombe that require you to pay around £15 a night to anchor near the river mouth…

We didn’t have lots planned from Gran Canaria, but generally explored, relaxed and ate some tasty food.

On one of our trips to land, we spotted the boat Magic of Bermuda whom we had previously met in Gibraltar. We ended up spending most of the day aboard Magic chatting, drinking tea, and telling stories. On the dock, we also met a French couple looking for a lift to Tenerife, and we decided to pickup our first hitchhikers.

The ARC leaves from this marina in Gran Canaria, so the marina was extremely busy with ARC boats.

Another little tradition of the ARC is boats painting rocks on the breakwater before they leave.

We had a very peaceful night sail to Tenerife with our 2 new friends. They cooked, we sailed. One of them, unfortunately, got a little seasick, but a good sleep out on deck helped them out. They were planning on taking part in a residential art project starting the next week in Tenerife, where they sail across the Atlantic on a catamaran and create art (a project run by @circusspacepirates)

Tenerife

We stopped off in Tenerife, dropping off our 2 hitchhikers. Our next guest was also going to be arriving in while we were here. The plan was for them to join us down to Cape Verde and then across the Atlantic.

As soon as Gareth arrived we sent him straight up the mast!

On the whole, Tenerife was another short stop off, where we restocked on Gas, food and did some final maintenance before setting off on what would be our longest crossing yet in the next weeks.

La Gomera

The sail to La Gomera was once again a night sail, but this time with 3 crew, meaning we could try with just a single shift each on watch.

Here we met up with SV Blue Note who we had planned to sail from the Canaries to Cape Verde with us in a little race, and they had also joined another Dutch boat called Extress who would also leave on the same day.

The story that we have to tell for La Gomera is the afternoon we nearly stole another boat’s anchor!!!

But that’ll come in the next post!

Lanzarote & Fuerteventura

Lanzarote & Fuerteventura

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As you may be able to tell, we have fallen quite behind with our blog posts, we have just been having far too much fun and doing too many longer crossings.

We are currently in Barbados having just celebrated Christmas in an Airbnb!

But enough about what’s happening now, time to jump back and catch up!

You can already read about our adventure to the Canaries from Tarifa, exploring the first island, and hopping down to Lanzarote, and that’s where this post will start, exploring the Canaries.

Lanzarote

From the marina in Puerto Calero we hired a car to explore Lanzarote. Apparently, all hire cars here are hybrid Fiat 500s.

We headed to one of the main island tourist attractions (the volcano and park) to get our first volcano experiences of the trip.

There were hot water jets, volcanic ovens which cooked food you could eat in the restaurant, burning of wood, not gravel etc.

For some of us, this included a little flashback to our childhood, having visited the island before.

While exploring the Island we spotted a Decathalon and finally bought something we have been thinking about for some time… a SUP!

(It’s going to be getting quite some usage in the future)

Fuerteventura

On the way to Fuerteventura we saw a very nice-looking Risso dolphin or 2.

We ended up in a cheap marina recommended by our friends on SV Blue Note called Grand Tarajal.

Though generally sunny, one evening we got our first real thunderstorms here since setting off from the UK. The lightning was all in the distance and we managed to get a few nice pictures.

From the marina, we got a local bus up the coast to a town with a resort and hired another car, once again a Fiat 500, and started exploring the island some more.

We headed to the northwest coast to find some surf to try out our new SUP.

And you know what they always say, the best car for unpaved road exploration is a hire car. And that car is a Fiat 500!!! The video below doesn’t do the whole journey justice, and some parts felt like true offroading.

After a 30-minute bumpy ride which nearly caused us to turn around twice, we found ourselves at a lovely beach (and also saw that the northerly route might have been a little easier drive).

The SUP was a “Medium” Itiwit Inflatable Stand Up Paddle SUP (Length: 9′ (274.5 cm) Width: 33.1″ (84 cm) Thickness: 4.9″ (12.5 cm)), one of the surfiest looking SUP they had in Decathlon when we bought it. Also with 232 liters of buoyancy, it should be floaty enough for both of us to use to paddle to shore in the future.

It was quite a bit of fun…

This beach also had a great set of rocks which included a little pool of warm water that got the occasional wave into it.

And horses!

Thanks, Fuerteventura, you were great!