Past Buyan Island, into the Realm of the Glorious... How the Captain and Lady Mary Sailed from Morocco to the Canaries

Past Buyan Island Part 3, the final part (Part 1 — Wind, Wind, Mighty Are You , Part 2 — On It Runs amid the Waves ) There’s something nerve-racking about approaching land after an offshore passage. Not in the sense of “Ah, land at last!” but rather, “I hope I don’t miss the sea and plough straight into that land!” The course may be plotted on the navigation display, and you can see exactly where all the islands are, but a thought still rises from the depths of the subconscious: what if, while I’ve been bobbing about out here at sea, the Americans have shifted GPS a couple of miles? Out of sheer spite, or carelessness, for that matter (though for carelessness, you’d be better off looking closer to home :)). And what if the course I’ve plotted on the electronic chart is taking me straight onto the rocky shores of the longed-for island! Night Vigil So here I sit, peering into the darkness, waiting for the lighthouse to finally come into view. Surely they couldn’t have broken both GPS and the lighthouse at the same time! But the lighthouse still doesn’t appear, and doesn’t appear! The light characteristics say it should be visible from 12 miles away, and we’re already within 7, but it still isn’t shining.... And the 4–5-metre swell does nothing to improve visibility. When the boat is on the crest of a wave, of course, everything ought to be clearly visible at that instant. The only trouble is, at that moment I’d need to be standing on deck, looking to leeward. And the deck is wet, with spray flying about, too. So I’m in the wheelhouse, on the low, leeward side, sitting on the settee and straining to make out a light through glass streaked with salt. But at least it’s dry and comfortable! Changing Course Well, there it is: 6 miles from Alegranza (that’s the island’s name), the lighthouse finally came into view. I compared its bearing with the electronic chart—it looked about right. So America hadn’t had time to mess up GPS while I was bobbing about on the ocean blue :). Once abeam of the island, we bore away by 25 degrees. At last, the long-awaited broad reach. The roller coaster of the beam reach instantly turned into a young ladies’ swing in the park by the pond. Now there was only rolling, but compared with the previous two days of waves coming at us at 90 degrees, that was nothing! And the wind had dropped to 25 knots. At this rate, proper yachting will begin soon—girls in bikinis will start appearing on deck, lounging in deckchairs with champagne... Pah, ever since the first mate flew off with the young sailors, all sorts of nonsense has been creeping into my head. I hope I don’t get it in the neck when I arrive 😉 ... Morning In the morning, after sunrise, I set a little more sail. The genoa is now furled to the third reef. We covered just over 140 miles in twenty-four hours. By our calculations, we should arrive by evening. But our calculations are one thing, and Poseidon and Boreas may have plans of their own, so we’re making no predictions... After noon, there are about 40 miles left to Gran Canaria. We begin encountering vessels heading both ways much more frequently. A couple of times an hour, we have to keep clear of some tanker or bulk carrier. The wind is around 20 knots, and we’re carrying the full genoa. Gran Canaria At around 7 in the evening, we finally reached Gran Canaria. We let a couple of ships leave the cargo port under the guidance of a pilot boat, then ducked into the marina. We tied up until morning at the pontoon in front of the office. In the morning, they’ll assign us a permanent berth. We covered 343 nautical miles in 60 hours. The engine ran for just 2 hours—to leave port and enter port. The entire rest of the passage was under sail—or rather, under the genoa alone, reefed to varying degrees depending on the wind strength. Everything described here is based on actual events; there are no fictional characters. During the passage, no one aboard this particular yacht was harmed :). (From the captain’s notes)