Sunday, 7 Jan: And so finally Cloudy Bay departs Puerto Calero at midday on 7th Jan – Oana’s name-day in Romania. Glen says this will be a name-day we won’t forget where we were!
Leaving the marina in gusty offshore winds, the sails were soon set (reefed main and staysail) and the engine off before it was even warm. We headed south down the lee side of Fuertaventura protecting us from the big seas to the north. Within an hour we were joined by a large school of dolphins which were performing spectacular 2-3 meter jumps into the air as if to welcome Cloudy Bay back into the open ocean.
The first rain squall we duly reefed down. But in fact, the expected wind didn’t come. So next squall we kept full genoa with reefed main. Big mistake! The squall produced 36Knots that spun us to wind and pinned us down. All hands on buttons to reef the genoa and all well again with Cloudy surfing along at 9-11 knots. So we churned up the miles during the afternoon ending in watching a stormy sunset, rainbows and more gusty conditions.
The night was very black and the smooth sea turned nasty as we crossed the gap between Fuertaventura and Grand Canaria. We are now heading SW …. towards our destination – Barbados.