Gibraltar to Canaries for ARC

[fieldtrip400]

thanks to all for responses to us, too.

terah--ARC...are you doing ARC+? Tell me about your kiddos! It would be great to meet up in las palmas or long before. What is your plan for the summer? Our boys are 10 and 12. My hair is turning gray quickly though as we plan to leave LA with a lot undone waiting in greece!!

[terah]

Originally Posted by fieldtrip400

thanks to all for responses to us, too.

terah--ARC...are you doing ARC+? Tell me about your kiddos! It would be great to meet up in las palmas or long before. What is your plan for the summer? Our boys are 10 and 12. My hair is turning gray quickly though as we plan to leave LA with a lot undone waiting in greece!!

ARC as well for us. Our boys are 6 and 9.

We're starting from Italy in July. Plans are all fluid just now - we're basically working backwards from ARC start.

We're doing our planning from the UK, which is bad enough! Will PM with more details.

[captmikem]

Originally Posted by CarinaPDX

Mostly true, - this trip may usually be a milkrun but that is not always the case.

I would advise not delaying departure until November, or even late October - Gibraltar is not so far south as to be free of the effects of the autumnal gales, once they set in. Getting out of the Straight can require waiting at Gib for days for the winds at Tarifa to come down - Force 6 (on the nose) seems to be the norm there, with stronger winds frequently experienced. The later in the season the greater likelihood that longer delays will be necessary to find a good window for the passage. If you delay you will be forced to sail to a schedule - the cardinal no-no for cruisers.

Greg

Greg,
That does not sound like fun.
One time crossing, a friend of mine in a Frers 40 had left a bit before me, about a week later I started getting close to him and we would talk twice per day on the HF. He was complaining about a miserable ride and taking water aboard. I was having a great sail, wind was 22 to 24 steady with a pretty good sized swell, I had the 130 on the pole, wing and wing with a full main locked down and prevented forward. I asked him what sail he was carrying and he said a reefed main and small jib. I suggested maybe he was under-canvased, He said no, he thought it was right for the conditions. Next day we spoke and life aboard had changed, he went to a bigger jib and shook out the reef and the boat steadied right up and he was having a great time.
Not saying this is your case at all, just downwind I have found some folks see 24 or 26 kts on their meter and hesitate to carry much sail.

Sunrise often brings a few knots more for a short while, I had a chute blow off mid Atlantic when the morning “lift” went up to 30, boat healed, rudder stalled and things got a bit western then bang. Got everything cleaned up and put the 130 out on the 2ed pole, and we made the same noon to noon we had the previous day with the chute!

And I agree hole heartedly about getting out of Gib early. Before November is best. Take some time and explore the other Canary Islands, or stop at Madeira. Much better than getting beat up off the Moroccan coast.

You are in Portland? I am over at Cathlamet! PM me, we will have a drink some time!

M

[captmikem]

Originally Posted by fieldtrip400

Terah,
We are going also...first time. Will follow along on your thread :-)!

Captmikem,

Sounds great. As above, our first time, 2 kids on board, too. What's the best way to secure a couple of people who have a lot more experience with watches Etc to join us? Anyone you would recommend?

Thank you!

Fieldtrip,

You know, this is such a nice sail, you want to be careful who you bring along because you can not (legally and probably morally) put them off mid ocean. You will want to look back at this passage and remember the beauty, serenity and enjoyment, not the bad habits or nastiness of a pick up crew. As I favor I have taken a few people along across an ocean and over half the time regretted it. PM me, and I will give you a few friends who might be an asset to you and would be fun to have along. I would spend at least a week aboard with anyone though, before I committed to having them aboard for a passage of more than an hours length.

Lots of dockwalkers in many med ports looking for passage, really hard to bring a stranger into your family on a small boat without problems. With a couple of kids it would be handy to have an extra hand aboard, but it is not an easy task to find good ones. I wish you luck though, and pleasant passage.

M

[CarinaPDX]

@captmikem: I did quite a few sail changes (all hanked on) as conditions changed, but mostly didn't need the main. IIRC I did get up to the yankee and staysail winged out opposite, on 2 poles. I shoot for 6kn+/-0.5kn - less and the waves toss Carina around, more and it is a wild ride.

OP: Madeira is a very nice stop, but is almost directly west of Gib and out in the Atlantic quite a ways and exposed to the weather. I recommend it, but it is best to have a reservation at a marina if possible. There are a few marginal anchorages as long as the prevailing north wind holds - if it turns out of the south there are no good anchorages. I hauled out at a large boatyard there and was the only one on the hard - it was fishing season. They had a large travel-lift, and put a diver down to set the straps - all very professional and at a reasonable price. Otherwise there are lots of harbors and anchorages in the Canaries, and much to see, while awaiting the start of the ARC. It would be a mistake to not spend some cruising time there.

FWIW there are a lot of wannabe crew around Las Palmas for the ARC - no problem finding them as they are as thick as flies on poop. Each dock there has a security gate with its own unique key, but they "tailgate" after anyone with a key. As a result security can be an issue as there are crowds of people who shouldn't be inside. Quality of crew is very mixed - definitely arrive early and take a short trip to another island with any prospect before committing. And remember that upon arrival in the Caribbean you will be responsible for returning your crew home - no, they are not likely to find another boat once the passage is finished - so make sure they have a return ticket.

Mike - If you are up in PDX stop by at the Island Cafe on Tomahawk Island (Jantzen Beach exit) - I am moored in that marina.

Greg

[Mark Thurlow]

We are also doing the ARC this year. We are in the Med already. I am considering doing some coastal hops in Morocco as we transit Gib to Canaries in Sep. Has anyone done that?

Would love to hear of recent experience.
Mark

[mbartosch]

Our crew of two finished our one year cruise (Spain - Canaries - Grenada - Cruising the West Indies up to the BVIs - Azores - Spain) last autumn. We did not join the ARC, but did the Atlantic crossing on our own schedule.

We left La Linea (near Gibraltar) end of July 2016 and it took us a little more than 5 days to La Palma (Canaries) with our 43 ft Monohull.
Crossing the strait traffic was not that much of a problem, we stayed north of the traffic until it "fizzled off" then crossed south. Once the strait was behind us, there was very little traffic until we approached La Palma.

The weather was quite OK, but we seldom had less than 20 kn of wind on the passage, most of the time on a broad reach at about 25 kn. We crossed some really nasty weather half way out with 35 - 37 kn peak. Not pleasant, and one of the two worst weather conditions on the one year trip.

If we did the crossing (Gibraltar - Canaries) again, we'd probably do it not much later in the year based on our experience.

We left the boat in La Palma for a few months, finishing up at home and flew back to La Palma in late autumn.

Getting a bit off-topic, but it may be interesting for some in this context:

The Atlantic crossing was unusual that year. We left on November 10th 2016. The weather was OK at first, but we had a lot of squalls (once we experienced 8 squalls on one single day about one week into the cruise), one some days we were totally exhausted due to the constant necessity to change sails.

In hindsight we left too early, because hurricane Otto caused the weather conditions on the Atlantic much further south to go all wonky. This hurricane had "sucked the air out of the ocean" and subsequently we were literally stuck in a calm for 13 days. There was no point in running the engine, as there were 700 nm of dead calm around us shown on our GRIB files, and the forecast kept showing us that it would stay that way for several days. So we waited it out.

On the plus side: flat water around us up to the horizon. Swimming around the boat in the middle of the Atlantic (one at a time...), and in the night the stars and the milky way reflected from the water. It was pure magic for a few days, and although it was emotionally hard to simply wait it out we will absolutely never forget this experience and the awesome skies we sometimes had (see attached image).

Later we checked with other crews how they managed. The pattern was
- those who left much later later (mid December) had much better and steadier weather, they had steady winds and were able to fly their chutes for prolonged times
- among those who left early only those who went a really long way south (way beyond the Capverdes) did get decent winds on their passage

After the calm was done, we finally had steady winds of 22 - 28 kn for more than a week until we arrived at Grenada.
Our parasailor was totally unnecessary, during the calm there was not enough wind, and otherwise either the frequent sqalls made using it impractical or it was simply too much wind (or, well, enough for the normal sails).

In hindsight, the trip back from Guadeloupe to the Azores was actually the most steady, quite pleasant ocean crossing leg on OUR journey.

My lesson learned: don't take the "usual favourable weather" on any longer crossing as granted.

[Sojourner]

Sooner or later I'll be making a thread about this, but maybe in the interim I'll find some food for thought: We're crossing next year, but on the late side, due to various obligations and repair schedule...closer to January. Intended route is from Italy to Cape Verde, then over. From CV, I know and have been monitoring this year the winds, which are very very nice for the crossing in Feb; it's getting down there in Jan that is causing worry. Delivering the boat a few months ago in the dead of the Med winter from Mallorca to Italy was rough as guts, but coastal hopping and waiting for weather windows to Gib is not a problem. But any advice from Gib to Cape Verde? As far as I can tell, the only good port of refuge in W Morocco in all weather is Mohammedia, and possibly Agadir because of the geography..... Strategy? Wait for weather westerlies and hour before slack tide to leave Gib, got that far But from there, stay well off and accept there ain't no place to run if we get caught on the way to the Canaries?

[conachair]

If you look at the pilot charts or watch the weather there's not actually that much difference year round. I've motored nearly all the way to canaries before from Cadiz late November.

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by Sojourner

. Strategy? Wait for weather westerlies and hour before slack tide to leave Gib, got that far But from there, stay well off and accept there ain't no place to run if we get caught on the way to the Canaries?

Dunno why you want want to wait for a westerly to leave Gib. Tarifia is the funnel point where the wind speed briefly goes up by a factor of 2. I'd much rather have 35 knots up the bum than on the nose. In an Easterly, the seas don't build much, and you will be fine as long as you reef down in anticipation.

Another option is to take a daysail from Gib to Cadiz and wait for a weather window there. Way nicer town than La Linea, with good anchorage at Puerto Sherry.

[boatman61]

You want E'lies to get outa Gib.. or very light W'lies..
Why go all the way up to Cadiz where your back in Schengen when you can sit in Gib watching the cloud.. when it moves you go..

[Suijin]

Don’t underestimate the time you’ll need provisioning and preparing in the Canaries. Little things like finding unwashed eggs or dealing with butane and finding an adapter and stuff like that can literally eat up days. I suppose the ARC folks supply some logistical support but all the same I’d want at least two weeks to deal with the “odds and ends” of prepping for a crossing.

[gmakhs]

Gibraltar is easy , I did it with my boat Beneteu first 26 last year,just wait for east winds and go for it ,it took me 10 days at first I was aiming for Madeira but a West storm forced me to head for Las Palmas and skip Madeira.
In the strait I had about 30 to 35 knots of wind but with short waves it was so enjoyable, use navionics or ask in the marina at la linea for the tide time tables and leave with good tide .
If the strait I did 12 knots on gps so you don't really want this kind of current against you .
I will be in Las Palmas until November so looking forward to meet and drink a beer
My next steps are Africa the. Cape varde and Caribbean so probably we will meet along the way

[CarinaPDX]

To add to @Suijin's comments, the ARC horde scours the chandleries of supplies. It is best to deal with these things before the Canaries, or give yourself plenty of time for ordering in parts. The chandleries are quite good, just overwhelmed. Also, NARCs (Not-ARCs) will find it best to stay clear of Las Palmas until after the ARC leaves - no slips available (all reserved for the ARC), chandleries mobbed, supermarkets drained of some items. There is a small anchorage but spaces are hard to find. After the ARC leaves it is easy to get into the marina and shopping is less crowded - if picked over. Supermarkets are not close to the marina - my friends and I made multiple trips on foot/bike to provision. In short, arriving a few days before the start and expecting to provision and obtain parts in time may be a bit too optimistic.

Greg

[boatman61]

Hence my suggestion to get as much done as possible while killing time in Gib..