Yachting

LEARNING CURVELEARNING CURVE

32 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com MAY 2016

I

set sail from Lagos, Portugal,

heading for Lanzarote with

my friends, Will and Jane, on

their Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 41

Bounder. They were going

to base the boat in Lanzarote and

had sailed from the UK to Portugal

themselves. However, the last leg of the

journey involved five days at sea so I

offered to join them because, if anything

happened to one of them, they could be

‘Offshore

sailing

is not

for me’

Graham Snelgrove learns

a lesson about himself

on a rough delivery from

Portugal to the Canaries

forecast. We had arranged to do four-

hour watches with Will and me taking

the majority of the darkness hours.

Around midday we had our first

minor drama. The Atlantic swells

had increased from astern and a

particularly large wave hit Bounder’s

transom, dislodging the tender from

its davits. Will effected repairs while

hanging precariously over the stern.

The wind was building steadily and

by mid-afternoon we had over 35

knots – gale force 8! The waves were

becoming very uncomfortable and

Will made the decision to run before the

wind, changing course to keep the wind

and the waves directly on the stern. We

furled the mainsail, reduced the genoa

but unfortunately our heading was now

towards Morocco!

PHOTOS: GRAHAM SNELGROVE

in trouble a long way from assistance.

Will studied the forecasts and conditions

seemed to be ideal for our southwesterly

course, with winds from the north or

northwest, force 4-5. As we set out with

full sail set, the conditions were exactly as

It started happily, but soon we were clinging on, scared and hallucinating with fatigue

Bounder lies peacefully alongside in Lagos Marina,

Portugal, before the fateful delivery to Lanzarote

Before we left,

skipper Will

checked the

GRIBs, which

forecast force

4-5. We ended up

with force 7-9