Leaving Porto Santo

We left PS early on Monday 30th July a little bit blase about the 300M trip perhaps - it was less than our Biscay crossing after all & with none of the hype. The first day was fine & skipper & crew stripped off under the hot sun & passed the time reading & trailing Rapala (our expensive & much praised fishing lure which allways faithfully follows Vega 1494 (but hasn't caught anything yet)). The night was OK too but early on Tuesday the wind & waves began to build and build so that, by 1000, we had all 3 reefs in the main & 2/3 genoa rolled away. The mainsl with 3 reefs in is about the size of a childs' kite so I did not expect to be overpowered. However, by 1400 there was nothing else for it but to take down the main completely & continue under a scrap of genoa!

It was a horrible, horrible trip! Uncomfortable, unpleasant, wet, tiring, scary. We couldn't cook & the waves made it difficult to spot other ships. One ship "????? Canarias" clearly had no one on the bridge & we had to gybe to avoid her.

Anyway, unpleasant though it was, Vega 1494 performed admirably: No gear failures (my main worry) & we were able to hold our course the whole time, rarely having to hand-steer thanks to Jackie.

I was the 1st to spot land for a change & when we finally tied up at 2100 on Wednesday we were v v pleased to be back on dry land. The skipper took the crew out for a slap-up meal (& sod the expense!) & walking to the restaurant we both left our shoes off so that we could savour the feeling of the solid land under our feet!

More details of where in the Canary Islands we actually made landfall & what we have been up to since (inc. photos) in the next thrilling installment of the adventures of Vega 1494............