Sunday Best

Martin at the top of the Mast.  I really love this photo of Martin.

Sunday proved to be a fruitful day.  Martin and Garry started out the day looking for a place to go to church.

Luckily, there was a local LDS branch (congregation) in the Canaries.  Unfortunately, Martin forgot to pack a white shirt (No worries. I got that covered).

Martin at the local Mormon church in the Canaries.

While Martin and Garry were there, they met a wonderful missionary couple from Colorado, Elder and Sister Buhler.  The Buhler's are serving an 18-month mission for the Mormon church in the Canaries.

Of course, once Martin met the Buhler's, he invited them over for dinner on Monday night.  This would be Amara's first hosting event and the crew cooked up a fabulous meal of fresh tuna, potatoes, and a green salad.  Martin said that Patrice seared the tuna just right and as I type this, it's making my mouth water. Tuna happens to be one of my very favorite meals!

Elder and Sister Buhler

Martin really enjoyed his time that he spent with the Buhler's.  He was especially glad that they were the first ones of many more fast friends to help break in Amara.  One of the reasons we are going on this adventure is to meet lots of people from all over, and all walks of life, to help us enjoy Amara and all the lovely sunsets we foresee her bringing.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Today, along with preparing dinner for our first guests, Martin and his crew did some more provisioning. This time they had to make sure that they would have enough food to last them for the next 17 days.  I can't even imaging shopping for 3 hungry men.  Martin admitted to me today that Lily's allotted bedroom on Amara is now a storage and provisioning room stacked with spare parts and food.  (I was afraid that was going to happen.)

After provisioning the boat, Martin and Garry took off and went on a tour of the city and visited Christopher Columbus' home and saw the route that he took on his first voyage in 1492 to the New World. It goes without saying that I would have loved to have seen the Canaries.   I served a LDS (Mormon) mission to Madrid, Spain 24 years ago, and it was always my desire to get the Canaries.  Bummer that I'm not there and couldn't take advantage of seeing the sites.

It looks like the team will be taking off in the morning.  Patrice thinks there will be a break in the weather, but it's still not set in stone.  I hope it happens because that means that Lily and I are a few days closer to seeing Martin.  Finger's crossed!

Like Flying a Kite

A first look at our new parasailor.

When Martin and I bought Amara, it was evident that we were going to need to buy a few new sails for her—especially a new spinnaker.  A spinnaker is a special type of sail designed to sail off the wind from a reaching course to a downwind, with the wind 90° — 180° off the bow .  For you non-sailors, it's usually the big, fancy, colorful sail that gives your boat a bit of personality.

When Martin and I were doing our research on catamarans, we had heard a lot of opinions about using a parasailor in place of a spinnaker.  A parasailor is lighter in weight (made out of similar material to a parachute) and known to be able to take on more wind.  It is also a lot more stable and easier for a smaller crew to handle than a heavier spinnaker.  What makes a parasailor unique is that towards the upper part of the sail, there is a hole.  This helps prevent the parasailor from collapsing or rolling and lets the wind pass through and fill up more easily with less stress on it (unlike the big "bang" that you hear when the wind fills up a spinnaker).

Doing our research on the pros and cons of a parasailor, Martin and I put out feelers and went into online forums asking other cruisers their opinions between a spinnaker versus a parasailor.  After receiving lots of positive responses on the pluses of sailing with a parasailor (Jimmy Cornell swears by his)—we decided to get our feet wet and purchase one.

In the process of purchasing a parasailor—the purchaser can choose from the manufacturer's (ISTEC) designs, or pay a little more and submit their own design.  Since I always love the idea of being unique, Martin told me that I had complete creative license to come up with my own design.  I knew that I wanted ours to look like the stars in the night while sailing against the sky.  I also added the red to the lip (below the opening in the sail) to give it some depth.  Then I showed my final design to Martin.  Of course, he loved it and submitted the design to the manufacturer.

After much anticipation on my part, I give you our end product...

Since Amara is on the bigger end for catamarans, the parasailor ended up being 252 sq meters.  It's interesting to note that I thought our mainsail was huge!  Check out this post showing it's size.  Now look at how much bigger the parasailor is compared to the mainsail in the photo above.  That's one big sail!

These are the first photos of Martin sailing with our new parasailor.  I think it definitely gives Amara some "personality" and really "classes up the joint."  I can't wait to sail on Amara and see her sailing with the parasailor for myself.

Martin checking out the parasailor in full bloom.

If you are a fellow cruiser, here is more information on ISTEC—the company that manufactured our parasailor.

The Gran Canaria

Amara at the harbor in Gran Tarajel, Canaries

Amara arrived in Gran Tarajel, Canaries early yesterday.  The journey was smooth and the wind pushed Amara along the water making it an ideal trip.

Garry was even able to catch a tuna for another night's dinner.

Our friend and third mate, Garry, showing off his first catch!

And they got to experience beautiful sunsets...

When they finally pulled into the harbor in Gran Tarajel, the weather was a warm 70° Farenheit (21° Celsius).  This made a huge difference in Martin, Patrice and Garry's spirits.  Warm weather can do this to anyone after months of cold.

Because the weather was so lovely, the crew was able to spend 4 hours washing down the inside and outside of the boat in their shorts and bare feet.  The sun made everything so much more enjoyable—even scrubbing down a boat.  Those of us in Utah right now can only imagine what that must be like, since we have had a particularly cold and grueling February.  After hearing this news, I wanted to leave it all behind and join Martin in the Canaries.  Unfortunately, duty and responsibility call and I continue to get all our ducks in a row here in Utah before I take off for the sun.

More pictures to follow in the next few days...

The Sea Can Make You Do Funny Things

Here is a funny email that I just received from Martin and Garry while they were sailing to the Canaries from Gibraltar.

Martin writes: 

"Well it happened.  After 5 days at sea, Garry is wearing women’s clothing.  I guess, that if it gets cold enough for a long enough period of time; a man will resort to wearing women’s clothes. 




Garry came from sunny, warm Hawaii, where it never gets below 70° Fahrenheit.  Lacking proper clothing for the winter in Europe, Garry borrowed a hat, gloves and fleece pants from me.  Then he purchased a heavy sailing coat and boots.  From France to Gibraltar, he wore everything that he owned under his sailing jacket, trying to stay warm. At times he would wear his four mid-weight shirts and a fleece jacket under his layers of clothing for his night watches.

However, finally the cold and harsh elements got to him and he broke.  He knew that Kym had a brand new pair of Gill sailing overalls that I had brought over to France.  He couldn’t stand the cold any longer and squeezed into her overalls.  He said, ‘Sorry Kym.  They’re tight but they’re warm…'

Since they were made for a woman, he couldn’t figure out which was the front from the back since there was no zipper.  I wasn’t too much help either in helping him to decipher between each side.  So, each night that he wore them, he would switch to a different side.  Saying, ‘Thanks Kym for helping me to stay warm.’ 

It was always comical to come up each morning, seeing Garry at the helm, keeping us safe and on route… in women’s clothing.”

Because Garry would not be photographed in Kym's 
gear, this is Garry at the safety class in Gibraltar—NOT in Kym's clothing.

Interesting fact: In 1519, it took Magellan 6 days to sail from Gibraltar to the Grand Canary islands.  This being the first stop of his circumnavigation around the globe.  It only took Amara 4 days to reach the Canaries from Gibraltar.  …However, there is no record of Magellan ever wearing women’s pants.

*It should be noted, that I (Kym) purchased a LARGE pair of overalls not knowing who was going to need them and wanted there to be ample room for anyone that needed to use them.  Of course, any woman’s worst nightmare is to have a man fit into any piece of any kind of her clothing—or maybe just MY worst nightmare.  What I didn’t factor in, is that these VERY large (wink. wink) pair of overalls would be needed for a man!  I hope they kept you warm, Garry. 

The Journey Continues

Martin captured this picture yesterday from the top of the mast.

I had a great call with Martin today.  He was calling me during his 10pm-2am shift.  It was so much fun killing time with him and knowing he was sailing in the middle of the ocean so far away.  

Martin and his crew are over halfway to the Canary Islands with around 225 miles to go.  The 30 knot winds have been pushing them along with just a reefed genoa.  He sounded to be in great spirits and said that they are still having a wonderful time.  All of this was great news for me to hear!  

During this passage, Martin told me that they have seen sea turtles floating on the surface of the water and have had Pilot whales swim up beside the boat.  They even had a pod of dolphins, and their babies, play in front of the bow for a good 30 minutes.  Now I'm getting jealous.

News Flash:  It looks like those huge fishing rods that Martin lugged to France (and paid a hefty price to get onto the plane) have finally earned their keep.  They got their first catch!  It was a Bonito, which they promptly gutted, cleaned and ate for dinner.

Amara is set to arrive in the Canaries (Las Palmas) on Friday.  Once Martin and his crew arrive, it looks as if the weather will still be working against them.  So, they'll probably have to sit in the Canaries for a few days and wait out the storm... again.  

Meanwhile, I am home and still packing.  A typical scenario for me is that I pack up all the boxes, sit on them for an evening, then wake up in the morning and say to myself, "We don't need that.  Now which box is such-and-such in?"  Then I proceed to unpack all the boxes until I finally find the item.  Another typical scenario is that I'll think of something that, "I forgot to pack", then I'll get up, grab the item, take it downstairs to the boxes and throw it inside of one of them.  Tuesday night I stayed up late into the night and finally itemized each box.  First, because I'll need to do it for customs forms anyway, but mainly because I can't play this game of "go fish" another day.  Luckily, the boxes leave next week so I can stop playing this "song and dance" every day.  It's all so exhausting.  

Honestly, I don't think that I'll be able to relax until I am finally at the dock in St. Maarten and have Martin in my line of vision.  It's all just too much not having him here in Utah with me.  Last night, I had a dream that Martin was in bed next to me.  I even remember taking my foot and reaching out to touch his leg. This is something that I do so often and obviously take for granted.  When I woke up, I reached over to his side of the bed and realized that no one was there.  It took me a good 30 seconds before my brain could catch up and realize that he is still so far from Lily and me.  

We really miss him.