100 Miles to Lanzarote

One hundred miles to run to Lanzarote and we are sailing fast, consistently over 9 knots in 11 knots of wind. It is impressive that a fat cruising boat (sorry Juno) weighing 32 tons can convert wind into boat speed so efficiently.

Kerry woke me at 2am this morning to tell me that the wind had increased and backed to the north west, allowing us to set sail. As the day has gone on the wind has moved progressively forwards, increasing our apparent wind speed and now we are close-reaching at full speed towards Lanzarote in bright sunshine.

The reason for the wind shift is the deep low to the north of us, moving south and bringing a strong westerly airflow with it.  Gibraltar airport reported 50 knots of wind from the west this morning with huge seas running through the straits. If we had departed today as originally planned, we would be storm bound in Gibraltar for the next week.   As it is, the cold front at the southern edge of this weather system is chasing us south bringing rain and stronger winds. Large banks of cumulus nimbus cloud are piling up on the northern horizon and beautiful wisps of altus stratus high in the atmosphere are winged messengers, foretelling the approaching front of slow moving rain clouds marching behind.  I am hoping that at our current speed we should just escape the clutches of the front as it drifts eastward and dumps most of its energy over Morocco. It is always dangerous to extrapolate from these boat speeds, but at the current rate of progress we should be in Puerto Calero by around midnight tonight. What a difference a day makes.

Thermo is looking smug today: with no apparent effort he produced perfect rice to accompany our chilli last night, followed by a frozen fruit mousse. To make matters worse, our angle of heel allows him to lean back and luxuriate on his foam throne in the galley, a look of disdain on his digital panel as we challenge him with such rudimentary culinary feats that are beneath his Michelin capabilities. Rather like asking Gordon Ramsay to boil an egg.    I am pleased to say that Zoll remains firmly in his box, in the first aid locker, where he will be shortly forgotten.