Cowes to Gran Canaria - October ‘26

Richard Hughes

ARC ‘26 Delivery Leg Cowes to Gran Canaria We are about 76 hours or 550 miles in. The first day was mostly motor sailing but calm and sunny so a pleasant start to get the hang of the boat. On board we have; Derek - Skipper and Owner of Incisor Mark Hutchings George Hutchings Andy White Summer White Robbo James And me. We had a lovely send off by a few of Incisors full time crew before heading down towards the Needles. Followed my first night sail which found us waking up somewhere in the middle of the channel between Swanage & Brest. Sea state was still calm and we had a great view of biophosphoresence and then a pod of dolphins played off the bow as we carried on towards the Atlantic coast of France. We settled in to our 4 on 4 off shift pattern and I’m sharing my time with Hutch which I’m very grateful for as not only does he know what he is doing and thats so reassuring he is also surprisingly caring for everyone on his watch and try’s hard to keep us talking and active and always has an eye on those of who go quiet. The Bay! Next major “water mark” was the BoB. We had all heard stories of the Bay and how big the seas could be and therefore how dangerous. We had two options; 1 - Add a few days to our journey and go around the edge, hugging the coast with plentiful safe harbours to run to if it got nasty. 2 - Head straight across saving a few days and as the weather was forecast as a slight 2m sea state and following winds of 25 knots that seemed to be the best option, fast and not rough. During the day the Bay was fantatsic fun, the high winds and high seas led to great adventurous sailing a fantastic views. As the evening came on we decided to drop the Jib and put a storm sail to make controlling the boat easier in the dark. Hutch and I made our way forwards and clipped on to the safety line. We fought against wind and wave to get the first sail down and the next up. Your supposed to kneel down at the front but I couldn’t even do that and was laid down sliding all over the deck just being stopped from going over the edge or into Mark by my safety line. Then off shift and off to bed until 10pm…. Sadly……. 35 Knots storm force winds and the sea state was nearer 4m, rough and breaking 🌊 waves. The fight below deck as the boat is thrown around all over the place. It genuinely felt like we were in an out of control freight train speeding through a tunnel. The noise was incredible in the dark as I try and get into thermals and foul weather gear, finally my life jacket and safety straps then up on deck and ……. Seasickness hit with a vengeance. I felt terrible as the huge waves (apparently the 4m estimate is taken from the mid way point of the wave) smashed around pushing the boat off course and making steering so hard as we shot down the waves whilst we were pushed sideways by the following waves. It was really horrible and reasonably frightening to me as I didn’t know what the boat was capable of and how bad this storm really was. I went to bed and once laying down the sea sickness left me and although I couldn’t sleep at all due to the pounding of the waves and noise from above deck. Then 4 hours later I’m back into it, feeling weak and cold from the sickness I kind of curled up on the deck with occasional waves soaking me and good old Hutch took on the helm for 4 hours which I think he deserved a medal for as it is so stressful. Pleased to say when I woke this morning the sun had come out and the wind and sea state calmed although it took till 6pm (uk) for the sea sickness to leave me. Today 8th was spent mending torn sails from last night and removing the storm jib and putting number 1 Jib up. As I write this we are having a cup of tea and watching the next low pressure head towards us and planning the nights work. Probably dropping the mainsail so we just run on the jib making a slightly easier evening and night. We are about 75 miles from Accarunia northern Spain and the our next concern is Orca’s attacking the rudder on our yacht. Friday the 9th Had the 6am till 10am shift this morning as we approached the Northern Tip of Spain. As the sun rose layers quickly came off and now at lunchtime we are all up on deck. Summer is making home made coleslaw at the back and the rest of us catching up with loved ones at home. The foul weather gear has been stowed and shorts, t-shirts and sunnies are the order of the day. Looks like the coming forecast is so poor, no wind at all, we are probably motor sailing around to a nearby port then refilling fuel and carrying on. Tomorrow puts us in Orca Alley 🫍 Sat 10th So haven’t stopped anywhere and around 6am this morning we were somewhere off Porto. The wind has died and now as I write the sun is beating down and we are still motor sailing. The day has been spent tidying up below decks. Moving food around and clearing the mess. Just enjoyed a cheese and tomato sarnie and regretting letting go of the diet as all there seems to be is choccie, crisps, biscuit and savoury pastries. We generally get one decent meal a day. Tonight is vegetarian bean curry. We’ve been accompanied all day by Bottle Nose dolphins which are jumping along side the boat. One interesting thing we have all noticed is that the boat talks to us….and not in a good way. All the sound on deck is echoed below decks to a terrific extent so trying to sleep is incredibly hard. All the ropes, cables and wires under immense pressure creak and groan adding to the sound of torment that the boat is going through. Up on deck the whinches and lines creak and so far we have all agreed we have heard the ropes calling out, “hello, help, cooeee” and various other words. It really is unnerving. Sun 11 The day started well as our routines start to firm up. Mark and i on the 4am to 8am shift and bring the boat through a dark and misty night into a misty morning off the Portuguese coast. Visibility reasonably poor and a few large container vessels to avoid. Today’s enjoyment came as we pottered along at around 8 knots and decided to practise race conditions and flew the spinnaker. I became a “fore decker” for an hour, a role normally admirably managed by George and one that Derek said is the role most attractive to the fairer sex for its daring and dangerous condition’s. We flew the “Spinny” for a few hours which allowed us to sail closer to the wind and therefore more directly towards Gran Canaria and at a slightly faster speed. We are now around 600 miles away and discussion has turned strangely to an intense desire for Diet Coke by just about all of us. Finally a few hours before dusk it was time to drop the spinny and my turn to shine. ✨ I had to “fire” the spinny which turned out to be easier said than done. The spinny is a huge sail at the front of the boat, very light in materials it flys in front holding a massive amount of wind and under considerable force as it drags the boat downwind. It’s attached to the very front of the boat by a metal cleat attached to the end of the Bow Sprit, a 2m long extension outside the normal protection of the deck rails and guards designed to keep us sailors on the boat and not in the water. I had to push a “plodger” through the eye of the cleat to release it and let the sail fly free so it could be recovered by the rest of the crew. I was chosen as I have the longest arms!! I clipped my harness to the “jack stays”, Long security ribbons that run the length of the boat on either side to offer a modicum of extra safety at night or in very rough conditions. My harness tether is about 1.5m long so as I made my away around the safety fence and out past the forestay and on to bow sprit I could feel it become strained as I reached the last few inches out across the ocean below before finally shouting “FIRE” I’d hit it and released the cleat and the sail was flying and equally quickly being letterboxed. The letter boxing is pretty clever, the lines from the Spinny had already been passed between the boom and the main-sail, so as soon as it was free 4 of the crew started hauling on the rope and pulled the huge Spinny through this narrow letter box and down into the crew area below where its flaked and stowed in the sail locker till next time. Dinner was a lovely sweet & sour noodle thing cooked up by Summer, it really is something how she manages to knock out these meals for all of us with a smile and a joke as she is thrown all over the place in the tiny galley. The galley consists of a small oven and two gas rings and small sink. The oven and hob are on a gimble so no matter what angle the boat is the oven and rings are always horizontal. I’m now in bed 6pm-10pm off shift and can’t sleep. The noises are loud and constant as everything is echoed through out the boat with little consideration for those of us desperate for sleep, we all just grind on heading to Gran Canaria. Next shift is 2 hours away and will be 10pm till 2am and will also see me turn 59 and finally after being confused for three days now the Orcas are the issue for the next 24 hours! We are heading into the danger ⚠️ zone. My thoughts as I lay here in my tiny cot being thrown from side to side by every wave are also starting to show signs of home sickness. We get a tiny opportunity to the use the onboard Starlink so I know Jo is unwell probably due to all the stress of dealing with everything whilst I’m out here having a great time. Dan isn’t having a great time at work and of course our lovely dog Bella is awaiting possibly horrible news whilst suffering post operative infection. We had hoped to have a brief holiday once I arrived in GC but I think that’ll have to wait for home life to settle down. The feelings are difficult as there really is nothing I can do, 30 minutes of connection a day and no option to get off earlier - I have to just crack on and hope our friends around to continue to offer her such generous support whilst I appreciate her more everyday for letting me up sticks to pursue this challenge. Note to self - be a better man to Jo when I’m home…… Mon 12th. Happy Birthday me ! Best wishes all round this morning and a pack of special biscuits. Wind has died as the sun came up, we flew the spinny and it had little effect. Just about to bring it down and 🫍⚠️ two of them passed us at about 200m thankfully no attack and they haven’t come back yet but we are all ‼️ alert and keeping a keen eye on the seas around us. Awake again after 2 hours sleep and seems the spinny has been up and down two more times! Everyone taking fast dislike to the spinny and the last time I’ll mention it. Pretty uneventful rest of day just ploughing a course towards Gran Canaria. Final shift of the day and Birthday cake and rousing chorus of “happy birthday “ for me. First and last time I’ll experience a birthday in the Atlantic I’m sure. Tues 13th Back on watch from 10pm till 2am. Certainly my favourite watch as when the sky is clear the stars are fantastic with so many shooting stars to see as well. Sadly tonight isn’t one of those nights, it’s dark, really dark! No stars, no moon just blackness all around. It’s a great place to feel lonely. The wind has picked up so we’ve been flying along in the 9-10 Knot range. Steering is very hard as there is nothing to set on the horizon just blackness and the red dials. Follow 208 degrees for hour after hour after hour. To put that in perspective in 12 hours we have seen 9 knots most of the time and travelled 83 miles in 12 hours. Still nothing in sight, no land, no ships, no birds and no sea life. Just wave after wave. The only thing that seems to change is the colour and size of the wave. Yesterday afternoon and gorgeous deep navy blue then all night black and ominous with white caps as they break, chasing down and knocking us off course. Now we’re back to dawn and the blueness is coming back. Summer had an interesting evening, a crash jibe in strong winds led to a wave crashing over the deck and over everyone. Once gone we had a visitor! Summer had the delight of live slightly pissed off squid in her lap. This mornings jobs are going to include bottling more water and trying to get a connection to download the weather forecast. Expected time to GC is now Thursday morning. Back on the night shift and what a day we had, wind speed in the high teens and lumpy seas and sunshine. The day was more like a beach party as we all sat out chatting and laughing as the boat barrelled along on its steady progress. Switch to tonight and during our 4 hour sleep break the wind and sea conditions had both built considerably and it was clearly becoming difficult to steer and control the boat. Mark, George and I - The foredeckers - got back into our foul weather gear and harnesses and made our way out to the bow in the pitch dark and rolling seas then the Jib was dropped and we packed it away. The adrenaline was coursing through all 3 of us and we really enjoyed the experience. Another long night awaits but we are within 48 hours of GC and getting very close and excited. Reasonably quiet night followed and we were back on deck for 6am - 10am. Rigged various variations of sail. Whisper pole, No. 4 Jib and both Spinnakers as the wind has died so progress towards our goal has slowed again. However, a quick chat with Jo on WhatsApp while the internet was on and the plan is return home on Saturday. Can’t wait to be back Thursday 15th The excitement is palpable! But we have had a super slow night, running the engine most of the night to keep moving as zero wind. Then as dawn broke we were joined by new dolphins 🐬 small and mottled in colour that didn’t jump but glided along beside us. The pack out has started, Mark and I cleared and repacked the sail locker, Summer is going through the food inventory as we prepare ourselves to get off this evening and find a bar. 15:43 and progress is so slow we are motoring still and think we may not have enough fuel. We are looking at 51 miles to go which is about 7 hours so little chance of much need beer. Current thinking is tidy boat tomorrow morning beers and farewell meal tomorrow night and flights home on Saturday morning. Flying fish spotted for the first time on the trip. Amazing little creatures that fly across the surface of the sea up to 150 metres to escape danger. Big update - Land Ahoy!! At approximately 19:17 land was spotted briefly on the horizon and assumed to be GC. Still 30 miles to go so middle of the night arrival. Can’t bloody wait. This evening for tea, chicken curry and another watch. Im in bed after last watch as others are on deck enjoying the sunset. Friday 16 Land is such a welcome relief! We got in around 1am and enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine before hoisting the yellow flag (Border Control clearance required) and the Spanish Courtesy Flag. The sleep was wonderful, no noise and not at an angle. The morning was a surprise, no wind to cool the boat or us so most of us woke early sweating and couldn’t wait to get up. The morning was spent tidying, cleaning and packing away until the heat become too much to bear below decks and we headed to the Sailors Bay bar. Oh dear, all got very pissed and headed to bed by about 11pm. Another hot night. Saturday 18th Woke to even more cleaning but exciting with a hangover this time. But as the morning progressed we could see the end of it. Finally around 15:30 we piled into a taxi and headed to the airport. Now at 19:25 I’m in the air, heading back to Gatwick and then finally home by 02:00 and a night in a proper bed. Asked Jo for roast chicken tomorrow and am really looking forward to seeing everyone and walking the dogs. That’s it, all finished, at least for 5 more weeks when the big challenge starts. ARC 2026