Sail La Gomera to La Palma 11 November 2010

Left San Sebastian on La Gomera at the crack of dawn this morning (0700 hrs 11/11) and motored all the 50 nMiles to La Palma without incident, without enough wind to sail and without catching a fish.

Although the wind was light, the northerly swell was 1 to 3 meters so it was quite a rolly trip. Unlike the first time we attempted this trip 5 days ago when we had current with us , this time there was a strong ebb against us between La Gomera and Tenerife and we were only making 3.5 knots SOG. As we rounded the north of La Gomera, the current eased off and with some genny out we motored at 6 to 7 knots SOG the rest of the way.

The visibility was quite amazing. La Palma was visible as soon as we reached the north of La Gomera - almost 50 nmiles away. The top half of the over 2000 m high island (highest point 2426m) was covered in cloud.

Had to wait for the cruise ship Voyager of the Seas to leave before we could enter the harbour (around 1600 hours).

As we were calling the marina on VHF, our old friends Alberto and Patrick from the Argentinian yacht Louanjo called us up - last seen in Horta on Faial in the Azores. Unfortunately they are leaving early tomorrow so only managed a brief chat.

There is quite a surge in the marina but the very friendly marina staff allocated us one of the least swell affected berths in the NE of the marina.

First impressions are that this is one of the greenest islands we have seen in the Canaries so far.

Wifi is a disappointment - so far have not been able to connect to the marina wifi which we understood was supposed to be very good.

La Gomera San Sebastian New Mainsail 10 November 2010

Yesterday we laid out the old mainsail in external sail loft (ie. the street in front of the sailmaker's shop) and Thomas took the necessary measurements for the about to be ordered new sail.



Close to the marina are a group of magnificent old trees, Laurel de las Indias, which provide shade for the cafe below.


This are joins another which is shaded by palms - also very pleasant place to enjoy one's latte.
Tomorrow, Thursday 11 November, we plan to make a second attempt to sail to La Palma - watch this to see if we are successful this time.

La Gomera San Sebastian, 8 November 2010

Spent several hours yesterday removing damaged mainsail from mast and boom. Today took the sail to Tomas, the resident sailmaker in San Sebastian.
For some reason the song of Molley Malone came into my head as I wheeled the mainsail in the marina's wheelbarrow through the streets broad and narrow of San Sebastian!

Tomas the sailmaker took one look and declared the sail to be "dead" . After asking if I wanted him to demonstrate what he meant, he gripped the sail in two hands and almost effortlessly tore a part of the sail - thinking of our not so long ago Atlantic crossing sent a couple of shivers down the spine.
The sail is in its 11th season and has been exposed to the sun's merciless rays for many many months so it was not such a surprise. However, it was a very special sail made by a very good sailmaker in Les Sables d'Olonne , Olivier Tarot , following the recommendations of the Dashwoods , makers of the Deerfoot long distance cruising yachts in their Cruising Encyclopedia. The sail still looked OK but I never thought of carrying out the sailmaker's destructive test!
Plan now is for Tomas to make a temporary repair to the mainsail today so we can use it , with caution. Meanwhile he is arranging for a new mainsail to be made by Lee Sails in Hong Kong with whom he has some sort of long term arrangement.

The new sail should be in San Sebastian well before Xmas. We then need to give the sailmaker our old sail for him to transfer some of the fittings which are still good.
Plan is to sail back from Las Palmas, where we will leave the boat over Xmas, early in the New Year for Tomas to do this.


Noticed the very ornate manhole covers in the street in which the sailmaker has his shop.

After staring at the Spanish words underneath the coat of arms for a while, realised that even the manhole covers were reminding us that ""From Here Left Colon (ie. Christopher Columbus)" a nice touch.

Sail La Gomera to La Palma ? 6 November 2010

At 0700 hrs just after daybreak we slipped our mooring and headed for the most NWerly Canaries island of La Palma


We had about 12 knots wind in the Acceleration zone which soon dropped to about 6 knots true as we rounded the NE point of La Gomera. However, the forecast easterly wind did not materialise and we were motoring in a light head wind. The route took us just a few miles off the quite spectacular north coast of La Gomera, passing the picturesque town of Agulo, perched on a sort of plateau with towering cliffs behind it.


Soon afterwards, Jeannette happened to look up at the mainsail and found that the stitching between two panels had broken. Checked in our pilot books to find that there is no sailmaker on La Palma. So after contacting the San Sebastian Marina to see if our berth was still free and ringing the sailmaker to make a reservation for repair to the mainsail for Monday Morning, we made a 180 degree course change and headed back to San Sebastian.

Soon after turning back, the clutch on the fishing reel started to slip and, yes we had hooked a smallish Mahi Mahi.
Small but big enough to eat this evening.

Re-entered the by now familiar yacht channel


and remoored in our old berth in San Sebastian, La Gomera.

These two pictures show the 3 ferries all of which make 3 trips a day between Los Cristianos and San Sebastian, two of them car ferries and the mall one just passengers. They also call at La Palma and El Hierro.


So back to enjoying our daily swim from one or other of the two beaches either side of the marina until the sail is repaired. Below is the calm beach within the outer harbour mole

Below is the more exciting beach just north of the marina which frequently has heavy surf.

La Gomera 25 Oct to 1 Nov 2010

San Sebastian is proving to be a very pleasant place to stay. The marina and town are tucked into a valley surrounded by high cliffs and hills.
Either side of the marina are black sand beaches with fresh water showers - very convenient for a swim.

The three ferries which provide a link with Los Cristianos (South Tenerife) three times a day, are just a couple of minutes walk from the marina - very handy for crew changes.

The old town of San Sebastian is very pleasant to walk around - its most important claim to fame is that it was the port from which Christopher Columbus left 0n 6 September 1492 to discover the Americas. These days few sailing boats would dream of making the Atlantic crossing so early the vast majority wait till mid November after the official Hurricane season is over.

Together with Jeannette's sister Margreet, we made a tour around the island in a rental car.

Similar to Madeira, moving around the island was, until the mid 1900s , very slow and difficult due to the mountainous terrain. Communities were very isolated and had to be self sufficient. In order to communicate over longish distances, a "whistle Language" (El Silbo) was practised - the different tones represented certain key words and it is claimed could be heard 4 kms away.
The trip started by visiting the very green mountainous interior which, as it is most of the time, was often in the cloud with a light drizzle and quite cool. The moist trade winds are forced to above 1400 meters (highest peak is 1487 meters) and most of the time water condenses out giving rise to luscious Laurel Forests. This area has become the Garajonay National Park and is one of the world's oldest natural forests - it has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.



From the National Park we took the road down the Valle Gran Rey to the Puerto de Las Vueltas. As one descended the forest gave way to a more scrub and cactii vegitation. Lower down the valley there was evidence of terraces for growing bananas and other crops intersperced with palm trees.

Cesar Manrique of Lanzarote has left his mark here too in the form of a Mirador which has similarities to the one overlooking Graciosa. Unfortunately it was closed when we were there.

Similar to Madeira, many road tunnels have been built in the last few years, facilitating movement across the island.
Massive breakwaters protect the ferry port of Vueltas and provide shelter for yachts to anchor under the towering crumbling cliffs.


Our trip took us back into the mountains where we stopped to visit the Chorros de Epina - springs above Vallehermosa which are supposed to have magical powers - women must drink from the uneven and men from the even springs starting from the left - otherwise their luck turns negative.

One of the most picturesque villages we visited was the 17th century town of Agulo perched above the sea at the foot of high cliffs with views of Mount Teide on Tenerife.



Many Banana plantations surround the village, a hang-glider just happened to descend as we took this photo.

We plan to stay in San Sebastian till Friday 5th November when the current forecast is for the wind to shift to the east facilitating our planned sail to La Palma.