We left port around 10AM on Sunday the 6th of October after the formalities at the marina, police and customs were done and set sail for the Canaries. We had a good 15kts of wind and about 2 meters of swell, but we were going along nicely at around 7 knots.
Our first full day at see was quite shaky, since we had low winds and about 2m waves hitting us on the side, so we were all a bit miserable. I did my watch from midnight to 3AM and saw lots of stars, some cargo ships and fishing boats.
On the second day we tried to put out the spinnaker pole for our genoa to catch more of the wind that was coming almost straight from behind us but it was still too weak so we took it down again. When downwind sailing (the wind comes from behind the boat) the winds needs to be stronger because we are moving in the direction of the wind so the actual wind is lower than what you measure.
We had to run the engine for quite some time and the boat was not very stable, but that also meant that we had hot water for a shower, which was nice. Cooking turned out to be quite difficult and down below in the moving boat you quickly get seasick. We then had dinner outside to watch the sunset.
Day 3 and the wind is finally picking up, which makes for smoother and faster sailing without the engine. We had sailed through the night which meant that my cabin which is next to the engine was finally more quiet and I could get more sleep. We are all starting to be quite tired but with the smoother conditions, spirits are high again. We even play some cardgames in the evening before going to bed.
Our final day started very eventful with catching a fish at 9AM in the morning! We think that it was a dorada, the family has sushi and fried fish for lunch. It was a small one so I am more than happy to pass it up ;)
Navigating food has become more and more easy and we normally come up with a decent selection of food, for both me and the fam. However cooking on passage on the rolling boat has been quite difficult.
We saw land around midday on our 4th day at sea on Wednesday the 9th and were nearing the little rocky islands in the very north of the Canaries. We ended up going to a quiet and protected anchorage on the isla de graciosa, just north of Lanzarote.
I think the dog was the happiest of all of us to see land. See the before and after below!
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