Red Hot Hooters in the Canaries
One of the few disadvantages of getting off the beaten path in Lanzarotte and Fuertaventurta is that every so often you come face to face with a large scary person staring at you over an enormous pair of pendulous hooters – or worse. What makes it even more scary is that the owners of said hooters are completely oblivious to pain. The reason I know this is that they ( the hooters) are universally scarlet and blistering can only be minutes away , yet none of the owners seem in any obvious discomfort. Worse still , if you can see Mrs Hooters , then Mr Wobbly Bits cannot be far away , usually scrambling over rocks – which in itself is pretty insane.
Lynda and I are too public spirited to have even considered baring all for the world to see for many many years – yet we are Mr and Mrs Adonis compared to this lot. Its a strange world!
You may wonder what this has got to do with sailing – but all will be revealed ( er … perhaps that was an unfortunate choice of words ……..!) The Canaries is sitting under a high at the moment and we crossed from Fuertaventura to Gran Canaria at an average speed of 3.5 knots – which was not bad considering the wind speed never rose above 5 knots.We were meant to be going to La Gomera but with no end of the light winds in site , we chose a deserted bay at the S tip of Gran Canaria and crept in at midnight to find that it wasnt deserted at all , but fronted by an elegant tourist development at one end and a marina at the other. Oh well , it was sheltered from the swell so we anchored and turned in .
Next morning we were greeted by the site of a tractor manicuring the beach into a perfect smooth finish , except that is for one end where an early arrival had placed beach chair and umbrella and wasnt moving for anyone , leaving an untidy circle of sand. At each end of the beach the shoreline is rocky – and by 0900 much of this was inhabited by – you guessed it – Mr and Mrs Wobbly bits in all their obese finery ( or perhaps lack of it). Did they follow us from Fuertaventura ?Stranger things have happened ; apparently there is a whole tribe in New Guinea who worship effigies of Phil the Greek . Im not sure which would be more disturbing, although on the whole feel that a tribe of Wobblies following us from Island to Island would beat even P the G worship for utter madness.
We have now been here for 36 hours, and the weather system is looking a bit strange in that we are expecting a period of cyclonic weather due to a small low over Madeira to the North. Pretty much all the anchorages are only OK in NE winds so the plan is to wait here til the wind pipes up from the South and see if we can take it to la Gomera to our NW. Now as every good yachty knows cyclonic winds end up in the NW so this plan could go pear shaped – watch this space.
Finally , its Sunday and we have no internet access so are relying on you all to e-mail us with your racing adventures this weekend.
Anchored 27 44 .7N 15 37W All well and waiting for wind.