1. november 2011  
  Ceuta to Lanzarote - or "The heat is coming"
 
 

Sailed distance: 603 nautical miles

The longest leg so far, and a nice exercise in reality for the next stage. After much waiting in Gibraltar and Ceuta opened up a weather window with high pressure from the west. This would give us good speed in the south-westerly direction towards Lanzarote. But first we had out of the Gibraltar Strait. There, we know the Strait capricious nature. From the sea, rose the sharp waves of 7-8 meters. Power and wind met each other in a very adverse way, and we had run ourselves properly.

With Gibraltar behind us we set courses 220-230 degrees directly in Lanzarote. It was nice day, but the wind varied quite widely. At times there was no wind, while in other periods it was blowing 15-20 - perfect sailing weather. We held, among other things genakeren up to 11 / 2 days in a row. Genoa is a little too heavy on the lens and shroud when the wind crept down to 10 knots. But then genakeren perfect.

10-armed cephalopods (squid) landed on the deck. We knew that the fish can "fly", but the octopus wants a "free ride" was unknown to us. It's a mystery how this got into the middle deck.
Finally, we also caught the ears, and we have actually found a technique that gives us good catches. The picture shows one of dora doene we got. This is one of the best edible fish found in the sea - and with virtually no legs! Dora's room is bright blue when it is in the sea, but as soon as it is on land it is completely yellow. When it dies, it reduces the yellow color, and dora loo is silver.

The only door kids got knocked on during Halloween was our own in the boat. It was decorated with self-produced pumpkins, bats and effects from the underground.

We spent a little less than 5 days at this stage. It is equivalent in excess of five knots. It is not particularly impressive, and we have to NOK at least one knot in the next stage if we are to get across to the other side with a certain motivation intact.

But the heat has arrived! The last week of hot and humid nights are now dry. Shorts is the outfit most of the night shift.