Page 216 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL FALL 2024 SPAIN
P. 216
or so mid-morning plotting our course back crewmates were Mary Arnold-Forster, a
to Tenerife and the marina at Las Galletas, Scottish architect; Peterson (the St. Louis
which, comically, translates as “The Cook- native) and Adrian Pop, a Romanian engi-
ies.” It wasn’t far from another port we neer who was planning to move the Ca-
visited later called Los Abrigos, which naries.
means “The Pants” in English. The week began with a bang. We
Regardless, we sailed on a broad reach headed north and most of the sailing was
much of the way back to Tenerife until the mild until we several miles off Santa Cruz,
winds abated. Then we motored to the port when the winds rose to 35-plus knots, gust-
and - under Michele’s watchful eye - I ing to 43 knots or almost 50 mph. We
backed our sailboat safely into its berth brought in the genoa, reefed our mainsail
and we secured it for the night. and made it into the port.
That evening, we walked into Las Gal- In the marina, I saw a 2008, 37-foot
letas and dined at a restaurant called Va- Sunbeam center-cockpit with a sign that
radero Viejo (the Old Shipyard) and said “se vende” (for sale). I lusted over it
enjoyed a delicious paella disk with for a while, until our skipper looked it up on
chicken, shellfish, peppers and lemons. the Internet and discovered the asking
In the morning, the winds were blowing price was $180,000. Way over my budget.
from the south up to 20 knots, which made The next morning, I did the passage
for some of the best sailing of the week. plan (with Bart’s guidance) from Santa
We drilled on heaving to, a maneuver in Cruz on Tenerife - a distance of 52.5 nauti-
which the sails essentially balance them- cal miles - to the Muelle Deportivo marina
selves out, so the boat stays in roughly the in the city of Las Palmas on the island of
same spot. Gran Canaria. We docked near a stunning,
Back in San Miguel on our final morn- 80-foot, matte black catamaran. A 2020
ing, we watched an Eastern European char- model was listed on the Boat International
ter crew play bumper cars as they website for 5.8 million Euros, a whopping
attempted to dock their 40-foot sailboat in $6.2 million. Again, not in my budget.
the marina. We sailed for about four hours The harbor was busy with big container
that day, working on our tacking and gy- ships. It was also home to several giant
bing maneuvers before we docked for the “floatells,” which are used for housing
final time. All totaled, we’d sailed more crews that work on offshore oil rigs. And in
than 125 nautical miles over the course of the marina, I saw my first sailboat with a
our week. Swedish flag. One of these days, I want to
When the boat was securely berthed, charter a boat sail from Stockholm - where
Michele met with each of us for a review. I I have family - through the archipelago in
sweated a bit while waiting, but needn’t the Baltic and on Helsinki.
have worried. While he said I should con- We dined that night at a restaurant on
tinue to sail with more advanced partners, a quiet street called Tela Marinara, which
he awarded me my Day Skipper card. translates as Sailor Cloth, and I had a tasty
The second week-long session was dish of artichokes with goat cheese. I slept
called a Mile Builder, one of the steps to well that night.
gain practical experience before students The crossing back to Tenerife was chal-
can go on to the more advanced Coastal lenging with big winds, but all four students
Skipper course. This time around, my got our time on the tiller.
216 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2024
