Page 212 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL FALL 2024 SPAIN

zones are often created along the edges of again. Then I told myself “You wanted ad-
the islands.
As we approached La Gomera, wind
speeds ticked up and then up some more,
ultimately gusting to 45 knots (almost 52
miles per hour) and we heeled over so
much that the boom of the Alphados
touched the water. Worse, 12-foot swells
slammed into our starboard side, cascaded
over the foredeck and then crashed into
the spray dodger before soaking most of
us in the cockpit.
We’d already minimized the size of the
genoa foresail to almost nothing and
reefed in (reduced) our main sail signifi-
cantly to better control the boat. To pre-
vent from being tossed overboard, all
members of the crew were tethered to indi-
vidual D rings in the cockpit. We also
cinched our life vests extra tight as our
sailboat was tossed around like a toy.
Before things had gotten exceptionally
rough, Pintelon - who looked like a Viking
mariner with his bushy blond beard - took
command of the helm. For good reason:
The rest of us on board were Canary Sail
students with varying skill levels, none of
them adequate to helm a sailboat in such
heavy weather.
“Those were the most challenging con-
ditions I’d ever encountered in the Ca-
naries,” Pintelon told us later. “Yet the
Alphados handled it well.”
I was slightly seasick, but that was the
least of my worries. During the worst of it, I
gripped a winch tightly on the right side of
the companionway, which was closed to
keep waves from dousing the boat’s living
area.
I held on for all I was worth (which didn’t
seem like much at the time) as the waves
washed up and over our boat. And even
though we were less than five miles from
the San Sebastian marina, the port’s break-
water seemed a world away.
“It’s been a good life,” I mumbled, won-
dering if I’d ever see my three children
212 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2024
venture, you got it in spades.”
Getting there
This latest escapade began this past
spring, when I flew to Detroit from my
home port in Madison, Wisconsin, where I'm
a member of the University of Wisconsin’s
Hoofers Sailing Club. Then it was on to Am-
sterdam before continuing south 2,300
miles to the Canaries, a Spanish possession
located off the southern coast of Morocco -
on the northwest corner of Africa.
Though it might appear that the islands
are named after the diminutive greenish/
yellow canary birds, that's incorrect. The
name actually comes from the Latin word
for the big dogs (canis) that the first Euro-
peans encountered when they visited 2,000
years ago. They didn't stay, however, and it
wasn't until the 1400s that Spaniards con-
quered the native Guanches and colonized
the islands.
Once there, I met up with Jim Grey, an
Englishman who runs Canary Sail at his
headquarters in the San Miguel marina on
Tenerife. Grey told me he’d first sailed in
the Canaries about 25 years ago with some
Irish friends, became enamored with the is-
lands and later earned his skipper’s license
there.
He moved his family to the Canaries be-
cause one of his sons suffered from a lung
malady called cystic fibrosis and the is-
lands’ dry climate and clean air improved
his health. The boy is now 22, thriving and
rides motorcycles with his father and an-
other brother.
Canary Sail uses the Royal Yachting As-
sociation teaching program. Novice stu-
dents can start with a week-long course
called Competent Crew, move on next to
the Day Skipper level and - if they have
enough time and money - advance all the
way to earning the Yachtmaster Coastal
Offshore certificate.