LOG 18 S/Y Liv

Date: Sunday 5 November 2021

Position: 28° 7.700’ N 15° 25.541’ W

SOG: 10 kn

Location: Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain

Distance Sailed during the week: 123 NM

Distance Sailed total: 3279 NM

Weather: , 21°

Most popular on the menu: Alma’s cinnamon buns

Animals spotted: Crabs, flying fish

Comment of the week: “Where is the starting line?”

As lovely as it is to be together, as heartbreaking it is to say goodbye. After some wonderful days spent with friends in Corralejo it was time to say goodbye and continue south. The forecast showed strong winds, but above all really high waves towards the end of the week. Due to that we changed our plan to try to reach Las Palmas before Friday evening rather than by the end of the week.

We decided to go from Corralejo to Morro Jable and enjoy two nights on anchor before staying two weeks in a marina in Las Palmas. Such a good plan: the beach in Morro Jable was absolutely beautiful. The kids had so much fun, swimming in the big waves . Or actually, the waves were fun until everyone realized that we were going back to the boat in the dinghy in those waves. Conclusion: big waves are fun to swim in, not so fun trying to manoeuver the dinghy in. After some trouble, and a few bruises, we managed to get past the breaking waves and get out to our boat. Something tells us that this wasn’t the last time we will take the dinghy through breaking waves.

After over two months of school on the boat, we asked the kids how they wanted to plan a day. The answer – having school on the beach. Success! Why haven’t we asked them earlier? But good to know that it works, and a lesson learned for the adults – ask the kids how they want it and let them be a part of the decision making.

Alma and Atle were a bit sad, missing their friends and getting homesick after leaving Corralejo – what better way to cure that than to dock on to a pontoon full of ARC+ and ARC boats with kids, tonnes of friends running up and down the jetty. Most of the kids, and adults, that are here now are actually doing the ARC+ and will start heading to Cape Verde two weeks before our start. As a parent it makes me so happy to see how easy and including it’s for the kids who come from all over the world to get to know each other.

We had the opportunity to join Blue Elixir and head out to see the start for ARC+. Although it was hard (or impossible) to actually see the starting line, it was fun to see all the boats leaving at the same time. It was a bouncy start for them with big choppy waves. I hope we will have more calm water in our start. We wish all the ARC+ boats a safe crossing!