7th December 2024

We have made the start line! After only one more passage, from Pasito Blanco on the South of Gran Canaria to the capital at Las Palmas, we are now on a pontoon in the marina meeting our fellow Vikings Explorers sailors.

The last couple of weeks have been more than a little frustrating. When we flew back to the Canaries from the UK we arrived in the boatyard in Pasito Blanco to find we had been badly let down. We had only asked for two jobs to be done – to fix a leaking water tank, and to fix a leaking seacock. The former had been done badly (it still leaked) and the latter – the most important job, and a crucial safety requirement – had not been done at all. On top of that, the yard, despite us asking them not to, had painted the hull with new antifoul. We were not happy, and even less so when, despite acknowledging that they were at fault, they demanded we pay them for the unwanted antifoul, and said they would be unable to fix the seacocks! We have had no choice but to sail up to Las Palmas where we are still trying to get the seacock replaced before we can safely sail across the Atlantic.

Still, we are here, and we have already met many of our fellow sailors, all of us busy doing last minute repairs, cleaning, provisioning, and generally passing the time before the start of the rally. We have had time to explore a bit of Las Palmas, and hired a car for a few days to take some trips inland. We have visited the Caldera de Bandama – a old volcanic crater where we were able to walk down to the crater floor. We have also spent time in the towns of Teror and Moya, enjoying some lovely lunches and walking along a spectacular gorge.