What a sail, what a ship, what a team

We have made it to Tenerife. Perhaps the silence says as much as writing this logbook entry—but I still wanted to describe the last few days of this amazing sail.

What began in Harlingen, with a few days of Waddenzee sailing on board Overwinning, turned into one of the fastest and most enjoyable passages to Tenerife we have ever had.

The last 105 miles, however, did not come as easily as I made them sound in the previous logbook entry. A maddening flogging started that got my blood boiling, and we had to alter course so many times that at one point we were heading straight into Tenerife—or even north of it.

But luckily, this was not our first time in this corner of the ocean. While Martin, Mike and Mike took turns steering and steering clear of me (with comments like “I’m cutting that mast down…” or worse… due to the flogging…), we headed for an area where I expected the wind to increase and shift around the island. I know this corner well, and with the steady winds of the past days I trusted our reefed main and mizzen to withstand the expected increase—and I was putting all my faith in the shift… which would come… soon… ish.

Martin started looking at me confused: “You sure you want to keep going?”

Mike checked the chart again—after all, the ocean floor only begins to rise a few hundred meters before the rocky bits in the north.

But slowly, every few cables, we could bear away a little more, curving ourselves around the corner—and my smile grew bigger and bigger. The wind increase pushed us around even better than expected. The larger swells disappeared, and soon we had to take down the jib as we were aiming for an anchorage in the north before heading to the harbor the next day.

But we were still too fast. We took down the mainsail quick and dirty. Martin steered a course for the anchorage.

5.9 knots under forestaysail and mizzen… shiiiiii—

Forestaysail down, peak eased on the mizzen, and slowly we glided to a halt. Anchor ready on the bow, one short burst of engine to stay clear of the yachts already anchored—and there we were!

The sun had just set. We cleaned the deck together, hung some lights, and finally our cruise could begin. Dinner was served after that, and a quiet, pleasant evening at anchor was all that remained for us.

The next morning we put out the pilot ladder for a swim. I had mine before breakfast; others went twice—before and after breakfast—and by 10:30 we were underway again. This time under engine toward Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

We moored, met with our amazing agents Lidia and Thierry. It feels a bit like coming home—the temperature is perfect, the people are lovely, and the food… ach!

All was well on board.

Jet