ARC+ crew sign off – for now

‘Marina Lanzarote’ has turned out to be a real find. It is less than a year old with the staff so keen to make one happy it borders on obsequiousness. With a 10% discount for ARC participants and superb shore side facilities, what could be missing.

Well, it would be ‘nit picking’ but, a bar with Sky Sports 1 would have been helpful so we could have watched the England vs Ireland triumph (my daughter in Dublin has told me that we have some Irish followers of the blog) so we had to take a taxi to the nearest tattoo resort to watch it in a ubiquitous Irish bar – very pleasant! Having said that, with the crew comprising two Welshmen and a Scot, I was severely outnumbered and I promise I didn’t labour any points, particularly with the tests to come in the not too distant future.

The trials with the water maker continue and after dismantling the unit, replacing the spool valve and checking the unit out, it still didn’t produce any fresh water, it is now in pieces and in the returning crew’s luggage to be sent back to the UK agent. This ‘bit of kit’ is rather essential to our crossing aspirations and we MUST have it functioning properly. It may be another example of the Northshore ‘curse’ as they fitted it and, on dismantling the unit, bits of silicon sealant and PTFE tape were found in the innards – not good once again!

So, it’s a meal out tonight then a tidy up and final jobs before the arrival of Nigel Campling (Southerly Owners Association Chairman) and the departure of the ARC crew that have taken us so successfully from the Algarve to the Canaries.

 

Stephen writes:-

It seems strange to be moored up and not to have to adopt the triple brace to use the heads. The marina is very welcoming and the facilities are excellent. Getting my land legs is proving a problem and not helped out by our taxi driver`s attempt to emulate Sterling Moss on our return following the match watched in Puerto del Carmen , I hope the pedestrians have now recovered but I suspect the curb  damage will remain as a testament to his driving ability. However we all survived the journey and are preparing for the final tidy up before Bob and my flight home. Yesterday on the final  few miles of passage we discovered 2 semi-cooked flying fish on deck both unfortunately too small to try out the recipe kindly given to me by John Fraser (will no doubt need it on the ARC John). The crew seem to have survived my first chicken and prawn risotto (did not tell them of my frantic texts to my wife Mary for last minute advice how to improve its flavour, but as confession is good for the soul I have now come clean). It seems odd to be going home and reality tomorrow but despite by initial poleaxing by Mal de Mer I am now looking forward to the final push to St. Lucia in November.

MO report: crew full of vim and vigour and skipper has not mentioned his great toe for days.

 

Bob writes:-

The re-acquisition of land legs is a very real problem, made worse when in a confined space, such as a bog cubicle ashore! Contrary to Stephen’s findings, I find myself adopting the ‘triple brace’ position when using the on-shore facilities in an attempt to stop the dreadful ‘swirling pit syndrome’, but then that could be down to the beer I suppose! Final night for ‘the Doc’ and me this evening before the great steam cleaning and general fumigation of berths before we get on the aircraft tomorrow and we are looking forward to another round of obtuse references to a vast range of philosophers from Stephen once we have loaded him up with sufficient rosé to un-leash what is clearly a very deep seated facet of his psyche! The overall trip has been a great experience and a superb pre-cursor to the magnum opus due to begin in November.

 

 

Barry doesn’t write!

 

As a post script to the departure of the ARC+ crew I have to say that I think it has been a really productive experience. The recommendation of the ARC organisers for the participating crews to have carried out a 500+ mile passage is clearly well advised. We have managed to iron out a few issues, settled on a watch system that suits our particular crew and banished any pre-conceptions which might have been misplaced. All good stuff.