Lanzarote November 2014

Lanzarote November 2014

Getting away from the UK for two weeks in November we decided to combine a week in Gambia with a week sailing in the Canary Islands where we planned that I would hopefully add a practical qualification to my recently acquired Yacht Master Coastal theory qualification, while Kathleen enjoyed a week of relaxed sailing without having to do any examinations. 

Having flown from Edinburgh to Lanzarote on the previous Friday (6th) and having spent a couple of days exploring the north west of the island while staying at the excellent Casa de Hilario in Yaiza we presented ourselves at Puerto Calerno on the afternoon of Sunday the 9th of November to join Endeavour Sailing for the forthcoming week. The original plan was for Kathleen just to sail for a week while I was joining a course which would lead to me sitting my RYA Yacht Master Costal exam. Having sailed with Endeavour previously when we both sat our Day Skipper exam we were looking forward to an enjoyable week on board.

At the evening get together we were introduced to the others who would be sailing with us. Surprisingly the course was catering for not just Yacht Master, but for Competent Crew, Day Skipper and Coastal Skipper as well. The attendees had varying experience ranging from none – (Competent Crew) to a lot (Coastal Skipper. It was hard to imagine how Endeavour was going to adequately address the needs of everyone on one boat in a week. The short answer was they didn’t and not by a long way!

In other posts in the Blog I have been fairly descriptive about our sailing trips, but this time there was little to say as the instruction was pitched mainly at Competent Crew level, out of 5 days on board we managed to sail for less than 3 which meant that I probably helmed for a total of four hours. All in all it was a week that has for the meantime put me off doing any further RYA courses.

Sunday 9th November- arrival – welcome meeting and shown to our yacht

Monday 10th November – The morning and part of the afternoon was spent on a safety briefing. While this is obviously an important subject; boy was it long winded! Eventually we ventured out to sea to learn the basics of tacking (not what I expected on a Yacht Master Course). 

On returning to the pontoon we spend an inordinate length of time tying the boat up as we were taught that the initial mooting line could not be used to secure the boat and that we should have different mooring lines and slipping lines. 

Mooring lines are thicker than slipping lines. The ends of mooring lines are too thick to drop between the jetty slats and therefore cannot become accidentally trapped when being slipped. Slipping lines are thinner than mooring lines and can easily fall between the slats of the jetty and become trapped. You cannot slip mooring lines as it is bad practice and so mooring lines must be changed for slipping lines – yes I know change the lines that cannot become trapped for lines that can become trapped – makes no sense whatsoever! 

To make tying the boat up even more of a pain in the butt, Endeavour use different coloured ropes for warps and springs. Using the wrong coloured rope means having to take it off and change it. Needless to say all of this became a bit of a palaver and is certainly not something that I will do ever again on any boat.

After the boat was secured I suggested to Keith that I sit the Coastal Skipper exam instead of the Yachtmaster Coastal exam as it was obvious that there was no way I was going to get the pre exam skills brush up that I knew I needed. As events unfolded this was a good decision.

Tuesday 11th November – After spending most of the morning tying knots (for the benefit of the Competent Crew) we once again set out with the intention of going sailing, however the engine which would quite happily start and power the boat through the water at a speed greater than was allowed in the marina , would not run at full revs so rather than venture beyond the breakwater without full engine capabilities, Keith who was our Instructor and owner of Endeavour, decided to pull alongside the refueling berth and investigate the problem. 

The issue appeared to be with the throttle linkage which he started to dismantle. When stripping any bit of machinery down – especially on a boat – it is good practice to put all the bits that are taken off into a container of some sort so that they do not go missing or are dropped overboard. Obviously this was not RYA / Endeavour practice, so soon there were bits strewn all around the cockpit; a cockpit which is open at the stern and which has nothing to stop anything on the deck from being kicked or knocked overboard. While the boat was being taken to bits Kathleen and I walked along the breakwater just for the sake of doing something.

The fault was reported as a broken throttle lever which now being stripped needed to be repaired or an alternative part made. This involved Keith’s mate and his wife (Stephanie; another Yachtmaster Instructor) all becoming involved. Rather than set us navigation exercise or anything course like to do – all Endeavour staff were deployed on boat repairing, leaving everyone on the course at a loose end. Thinking that Keith’s prediction of the time needed to repair the boat was totally unrealistically optimistic Kathleen and I decided that rather than spend all day sitting on the refueling jetty we would go for a walk to the nearby village of Playa Quemada

Playa Quemada is a lovely little village about 40 minutes away from the marina along a cliff top path. Upon reaching it we enjoyed a drink and some olives at a waterside bar before walking back to the marina late in the afternoon just as the sun was setting. 

Returning to the marina we found that the boat was still alongside the refueling jetty (no real surprise there) and that everyone had spent the afternoon just sitting around waiting and while bits were sought elsewhere. This had obviously spoilt their afternoon. 

Not only had no instruction at all been given during the afternoon, but repairs had been delayed and were not yet completed as a critical nut had been dropped overboard – see previous note on storing things safely in a container!

Eventually the boat was repaired and brought back to the pontoon where the protracted mooring ritual was undertaken yet again. The replacement nut was we were told temporary and would need to be changed again before we went out the next day. Rather than change the nut that evening, Keith felt that a beer was more important and invited everyone to the nearby pub. Personally I would have spent the time changing the nut to ensure that the boat was ready for his fee paying clients in the morning.

Wednesday 12th November – As already mentioned, the temporary nut had to be changed before we went sailing – a 10 minute job we were told, however it was after lunch before we could set sail as the throttle lever snapped while Keith was working on it. Again there was nothing to do while the boat was again taken to pieces so we wandered around the marina and had an early lunch at one of the cafes there.

Early in the afternoon we set out to sail to Rubicon where we planned to stay for the next two nights. The sail was pretty uneventful and after again practicing tacking and berthing we finally tied up in Rubicon Marina for the night. 

Thursday 13th November - The course so far had been a total non-event. We were not learning anything of interest – tying a boat up using 42 bits of different coloured rope is not only anal but is completely uninteresting. The course so far was aimed primarily at the Competent Crew and Day Skipper candidates. Neither I nor the other Coastal skipper candidate felt that we were really learning anything. The sailing had been unexciting. With 5 pupils on board you only get to helm for 1 hr. in 5 that you are sailing. 

As we were staying in Rubicon again that night, Kathleen decided that she had had enough of the boat and spent the day exploring the Rubicon area – to be honest I was not the only one on board who wished they could join her.

The highlights of today would include more time reversing in and out of the marina to allow the Competent Crew and Day Skipper candidates to practice their manoeuvres and stunningly a 2 hr. session where we sailed on the same bearing for an hour before turning round and sailing on basically a reciprocal bearing back to allow the Competent Crew to practice steering a straight course. 

That evening we had night sail planned – well an evening sail to allow us to enter the Marina in the dark. My task was to navigate and I must confess I missed the first mark as I had noted down the wrong bearing when making up my notes, however this was nothing compared to our instructor taking us off the correct bearing and off in the wrong direction on the basis that he knew best and he had a chart plotter to assist him! 

Friday 14th November – Our last day on board (relief) with Kathleen back on board (great) we were sailing back to Puerto Calerno but first some more boat handling practice which involved sailing up to and stopping at buoys. Having sailed to the buoy and stopped exactly at it, we started to drift drifted backwards while we waited for further instructions from our instructor. 

Worried that we were too close to the buoy (he said sail up to it and stop as close as we could to it) Keith instructed the mainsail to be backed to take us away from the buoy, however he made a basic mistake by instructing the mainsail to be backed on the wrong side which put us over the buoy – the buoy was a large inflatable one marking a jet ski course and one which we should have been nowhere near in the first place as it marked a corner on the jet ski course! With the buoy now firmly caught under us we drifted backwards collecting another two buoys as we went, much to the delight of a number of onlookers on shore and in pedallos around us. Talk about stupid places to take a yacht! 

With shallow water rapidly approaching the anchor had to be dropped and very quickly – surprisingly this task was given to the Competent Crew who had never seen an anchor before let alone dropped one. Eventually the yacht came to a stop before we went aground and just as the hirer of the jet skis came to see what we were doing with his buoy.

In the absence of any other volunteers I went over the side to free the buoy from the rudder after which as we were at anchor Kathleen and I went for a swim

On our way back to Puerto Calerno I sat a blind navigation exam which resulted in me obtaining my Costal Skipper qualification

Saturday 15th November – Up early for our taxi we were soon on our way to the airport where we would board a Binter Canarias flight to Gambia via Gran Canaria

This had been our second time sailing with Endeavour Sailing. The first time had been a great week and on the back of that our son Scott had spent two weeks sailing with them during the summer. Scott really enjoyed his course and gained his Day Skipper qualification at the end of it.

Unfortunately this week had not been good; in fact sailing wise it was very poor. There were too many pupils on board especially as each was sitting a different qualification. The boat broke down – something that happens to us all – but when it broke down Endeavour just lost the plot and failed to provide any form of teaching or instruction for a day and a half choosing instead to concentrate on fixing the boat – (one instructor simply drove a car around!) rather than make use of their lecture room for navigation or other exercises. To make this even more galling was the fact that the boat was still functional albeit the engine did not operate at full revs. For other sailors this would have been an inconvenience and something that would be dealt with at an appropriate time. For Endeavour this was a show stopper and highlights the reliance of some sailors on engines as opposed to sails!

When at sea the sailing itself was pretty uninteresting as there was not a lot of wind and I probably helmed for a total of 4 hrs. during the whole week and really learned nothing new. 

The course run by Endeavour is aimed at people who sail yachts with standard Bermuda rigged sloop and Keith was unable to relate what he was teaching to our own boat which is yawl. Iin fact some of the stuff he told us regarding sailing with a mizzen sail was just basically wrong! 

All in all a disappointing week and one which would discourage me from sitting any more RYA qualifications 

Mileage for the week – not worth adding up!