Project Description

My son Seb joins me for the next leg of my journey. We would Canary island hop. After some final work to my anchor bowsprit, we would leave Lanzarote island for good and head to La Graciosa. I didn’t know how my son would deal with the first journey. But he was set to go to La Graciosa which is 9 hour sail upwind. It was a great sail for me, and gut wrenching day for Seb, but once there he was cured of his ills. Together we discover another part of the island and prepare for another day long sail to Isla De Lobos. A beautiful journey along the western coast of Lanzarote.

It wasn’t without excitement as the sea, wind and waves were in good Canary style. Seb was definitely cured and took on the challenge as a proper sailor. We anchored at Isla de Lobos in more than 20 knots of wind. We were rocked all night and the next day we explored the island just long enough to be on solid ground before we headed south. The wind and waves were back, pushing us fiercely along the East Coast of Fuerteventura Island. It was another day where Neptune tested our vigour. We moored in 3o knots of wind and visited Gran Tarajal.

We continued sailing down the east coast of Fuerteventura and moored at Morro Jable. The mooring is in an adjacent part of the marina where you are left to moor on your own. We are immediately warned that there are rats that climb aboard and try to get inside your boat if not careful. We spent a couple of grey days there and realized the town is a haven for German tourists, but we discovered a large empty beach right next to the marina. We managed to stay two days for free as well as escaping rat free.

The big open ocean is intimidating, at times. For Seb, it’s scary at all times. But on his journey on Galopin, conquering that fear was part pf his Winded Voyage. Which he did. We also saw whales! And this voyage took us to Gran Canaria to meet friends’ of Seb and discovered a bit of Gran Canaria. Which meant seeing lots of tourists and having dinner with new local friends. Cruising on Seb’s Winded Voyage was fun, but at one point we felt it was time to sail on.

Leaving Puerto Megan on the southern side of Gran Canaria island, we were sheltered by the prevailing northern winds. I was warned of the acceleration zones between the islands, and with one reef in both sails I thought we were ready for what we are heading into. Boy was I wrong. The wind and waves hit us hard. Galopin was healing hard. It was the first time Seb said “Dad, I’m really scared here”. We quickly took another reef and then a third and last reef and had the boat under control. But the waves were still battering us as we had to got upwind for several hours before we could begin to cross over to Tenerife overnight. It was the roughest sail we’d had together so far, no bullshit sailing. After cruising around 6 Canary Islands, Galopin was moored at Marina Santa Cruz which at the city’s feet.