Cruising

Eagle - An extended stopover in the Canary Islands

Postcards

Article published on 26/05/2023

By Gilles Ruffet

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published inn°190july / aug.

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In order to provide the best conditions for their eldest daughter’s studies, Ivan and Marion opted for a less crowded program by preferring long stopovers in the ports.

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Who : Ivan & Marion, Anne, Claire, Agathe & Antoine
Where: Canary Islands
Multihull: Wauquiez Kronos 45
Facebook: @lancreetlesvoiles

I think it’s worthwhile here to provide a little background on our projects over the past few months. As you may know, travelling skippers often say, «On sailing boats, plans are written on the sand at low tide”. Well, we have been confirming that every day since we bought Eagle! This shows how much we have to constantly revisit our projects, to redesign them according to the needs of each and everyone. While Eagle was under construction, we had planned to go down to the Canaries in the fall and then cross the Atlantic. But after our departure, in June, in full decompression phase, discovering and adapting to this new life, it turned out that our eldest daughter, Anne, was very sensitive to the movements of the boat and could not stand the anchorages and the sailing. This was worrying news at a time when we had left everything behind to embark our family on this new way of life, with no defined return date. As Anne was entering her final year of high school, she would need a minimum of comfort to work in decent conditions. We therefore revised our plans, staying more in port than at anchor, and postponed the Atlantic. After much deliberation, we decided to stay in the Canaries until the summer. The anchorages in the Canaries are few and far between, all are exposed to swell, and with Anne’s need for stability, we would have to stay in port, even if this was not in the budget. In October, when we were in Gibraltar, all the ports in the Canary Islands said they were full, so we changed our plans a second time and took the opportunity to hang out in Morocco, where we spent almost three months! So, we’re not in a hurry anymore. We might as well take our time at our ports of call... All this not because of, but thanks to Anne! We’ve been in Lanzarote for three weeks and will stay there until July. We’ll be taking advantage of this time to finish preparing Eagle for the big blue. Then we’ll head down through the Canary Islands during the summer, before heading to Cape Verde and Senegal in the fall, to cruise up some of the African rivers, and then to reach Brazil in early 2024. To be continued...