Talk to Me

I just got off the phone with Martin and unfortunately the trip was postponed until Thursday.  The swells are too high and they want to wait it out before they attempt to cross the Atlantic.  Better to be safe.  Of course, I would have liked to have seen Martin sooner rather than later.  It will be almost 9 weeks by the time we see each other again.  Way too long.

Even though Martin and his crew weren't able to shove off today, it was nice to have a long, relaxed conversation with him tonight.  A lot of the times that we talk, it's late into the night for Martin and he is on his cell—which isn't cheap.  As much as he wants to talk, he's exhausted and in the back of our minds, we know the bill is quickly racking up charges.  Today, Martin went to an internet cafe and we were able to do some much needed Skyping on our computers.  Lily especially enjoyed seeing her dad on the computer screen.

When traveling, if you see something that says, "Zona Wi-fi"  you stop and pull out all your gadgets and start downloading.  Martin and Garry couldn't look happier to get in contact with the outside world.

Because of Lily's disability, she doesn't talk.  She does most of her communicating through her eyes.  When Lily meets someone she usually takes a good 15 seconds and looks deep into their soul with her eyes.  It's disarming and so tender.  During our Skype time with Martin, Lily nuzzled up to the computer screen and looked deep into her daddy's eyes, as if telling him that she loved her daddy.  It really was so special to see her responding to her dad and wanting as much as she could to communicate with him.  I am so grateful that she could have some much needed daddy-daughter time with him.

Projects.  Constant projects.  

It seems that every time Martin and I talk, he is hard at work on the boat and elbow deep into a project.  Martin said that they worked almost 14 hours on the boat just fixing things today.  I asked him if this was going to be a "constant" and all he could say was, "I sure hope not."  Luckily we will always have crew there to help us.  However, the ongoing joke with cruisers is that projects never end and lists just get longer.  Hopefully those lists will lessen by the time we reach the Panama Canal and we will have most of the kinks worked out and be able to just enjoy one another AND Amara.  Maybe we'll even be able to enjoy all those sunsets that I keep reading about.

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While Amara has been tied to the dock, Martin said that he has seen some beautiful boats.  This one for example.  This is one gorgeous BIG sailboat!  What a beaut!

He has also seen a family carrying on with their daily life... just on a boat.

What Martin has come to understand is that regardless of the things that we see as impressive when it comes to boats is that a man's boat is HIS boat... or HERS.  Everyone loves their home, because that is truly where their heart is.  The size, the luxury and the sails—it doesn't matter.  A love for one's boat is truly a labor of love.  Take for instance, José and his boat...

The entire time that Martin, Patrice and Garry have been busily fixing and maintaining Amara these past 5 days, José has been working just as hard on his.

I love that José has the same pride for his boat that Martin and I have for Amara... perhaps he even has a little more.  I'm always impressed when I see someone living out their dreams.  I would hope that everyone we know doesn't let circumstances hold them back and that they can shoot for the stars and live out their dreams.  That means YOU!

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Now for a tour...

While in Las Palmas, Martin and Garry have had a chance to take in the sights of the city.  Here are some great photos that capture the essence of the Gran Canarias.

More updates tomorrow.  As always, I'll keep you posted.

Sunday Best

Martin at the top of the Mast.  I really love this photo of Martin.

Sunday proved to be a fruitful day.  Martin and Garry started out the day looking for a place to go to church.

Luckily, there was a local LDS branch (congregation) in the Canaries.  Unfortunately, Martin forgot to pack a white shirt (No worries. I got that covered).

Martin at the local Mormon church in the Canaries.

While Martin and Garry were there, they met a wonderful missionary couple from Colorado, Elder and Sister Buhler.  The Buhler's are serving an 18-month mission for the Mormon church in the Canaries.

Of course, once Martin met the Buhler's, he invited them over for dinner on Monday night.  This would be Amara's first hosting event and the crew cooked up a fabulous meal of fresh tuna, potatoes, and a green salad.  Martin said that Patrice seared the tuna just right and as I type this, it's making my mouth water. Tuna happens to be one of my very favorite meals!

Elder and Sister Buhler

Martin really enjoyed his time that he spent with the Buhler's.  He was especially glad that they were the first ones of many more fast friends to help break in Amara.  One of the reasons we are going on this adventure is to meet lots of people from all over, and all walks of life, to help us enjoy Amara and all the lovely sunsets we foresee her bringing.

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Today, along with preparing dinner for our first guests, Martin and his crew did some more provisioning. This time they had to make sure that they would have enough food to last them for the next 17 days.  I can't even imaging shopping for 3 hungry men.  Martin admitted to me today that Lily's allotted bedroom on Amara is now a storage and provisioning room stacked with spare parts and food.  (I was afraid that was going to happen.)

After provisioning the boat, Martin and Garry took off and went on a tour of the city and visited Christopher Columbus' home and saw the route that he took on his first voyage in 1492 to the New World. It goes without saying that I would have loved to have seen the Canaries.   I served a LDS (Mormon) mission to Madrid, Spain 24 years ago, and it was always my desire to get the Canaries.  Bummer that I'm not there and couldn't take advantage of seeing the sites.

It looks like the team will be taking off in the morning.  Patrice thinks there will be a break in the weather, but it's still not set in stone.  I hope it happens because that means that Lily and I are a few days closer to seeing Martin.  Finger's crossed!

Like Flying a Kite

A first look at our new parasailor.

When Martin and I bought Amara, it was evident that we were going to need to buy a few new sails for her—especially a new spinnaker.  A spinnaker is a special type of sail designed to sail off the wind from a reaching course to a downwind, with the wind 90° — 180° off the bow .  For you non-sailors, it's usually the big, fancy, colorful sail that gives your boat a bit of personality.

When Martin and I were doing our research on catamarans, we had heard a lot of opinions about using a parasailor in place of a spinnaker.  A parasailor is lighter in weight (made out of similar material to a parachute) and known to be able to take on more wind.  It is also a lot more stable and easier for a smaller crew to handle than a heavier spinnaker.  What makes a parasailor unique is that towards the upper part of the sail, there is a hole.  This helps prevent the parasailor from collapsing or rolling and lets the wind pass through and fill up more easily with less stress on it (unlike the big "bang" that you hear when the wind fills up a spinnaker).

Doing our research on the pros and cons of a parasailor, Martin and I put out feelers and went into online forums asking other cruisers their opinions between a spinnaker versus a parasailor.  After receiving lots of positive responses on the pluses of sailing with a parasailor (Jimmy Cornell swears by his)—we decided to get our feet wet and purchase one.

In the process of purchasing a parasailor—the purchaser can choose from the manufacturer's (ISTEC) designs, or pay a little more and submit their own design.  Since I always love the idea of being unique, Martin told me that I had complete creative license to come up with my own design.  I knew that I wanted ours to look like the stars in the night while sailing against the sky.  I also added the red to the lip (below the opening in the sail) to give it some depth.  Then I showed my final design to Martin.  Of course, he loved it and submitted the design to the manufacturer.

After much anticipation on my part, I give you our end product...

Since Amara is on the bigger end for catamarans, the parasailor ended up being 252 sq meters.  It's interesting to note that I thought our mainsail was huge!  Check out this post showing it's size.  Now look at how much bigger the parasailor is compared to the mainsail in the photo above.  That's one big sail!

These are the first photos of Martin sailing with our new parasailor.  I think it definitely gives Amara some "personality" and really "classes up the joint."  I can't wait to sail on Amara and see her sailing with the parasailor for myself.

Martin checking out the parasailor in full bloom.

If you are a fellow cruiser, here is more information on ISTEC—the company that manufactured our parasailor.

The Gran Canaria

Amara at the harbor in Gran Tarajel, Canaries

Amara arrived in Gran Tarajel, Canaries early yesterday.  The journey was smooth and the wind pushed Amara along the water making it an ideal trip.

Garry was even able to catch a tuna for another night's dinner.

Our friend and third mate, Garry, showing off his first catch!

And they got to experience beautiful sunsets...

When they finally pulled into the harbor in Gran Tarajel, the weather was a warm 70° Farenheit (21° Celsius).  This made a huge difference in Martin, Patrice and Garry's spirits.  Warm weather can do this to anyone after months of cold.

Because the weather was so lovely, the crew was able to spend 4 hours washing down the inside and outside of the boat in their shorts and bare feet.  The sun made everything so much more enjoyable—even scrubbing down a boat.  Those of us in Utah right now can only imagine what that must be like, since we have had a particularly cold and grueling February.  After hearing this news, I wanted to leave it all behind and join Martin in the Canaries.  Unfortunately, duty and responsibility call and I continue to get all our ducks in a row here in Utah before I take off for the sun.

More pictures to follow in the next few days...

The Sea Can Make You Do Funny Things

Here is a funny email that I just received from Martin and Garry while they were sailing to the Canaries from Gibraltar.

Martin writes: 

"Well it happened.  After 5 days at sea, Garry is wearing women’s clothing.  I guess, that if it gets cold enough for a long enough period of time; a man will resort to wearing women’s clothes. 




Garry came from sunny, warm Hawaii, where it never gets below 70° Fahrenheit.  Lacking proper clothing for the winter in Europe, Garry borrowed a hat, gloves and fleece pants from me.  Then he purchased a heavy sailing coat and boots.  From France to Gibraltar, he wore everything that he owned under his sailing jacket, trying to stay warm. At times he would wear his four mid-weight shirts and a fleece jacket under his layers of clothing for his night watches.

However, finally the cold and harsh elements got to him and he broke.  He knew that Kym had a brand new pair of Gill sailing overalls that I had brought over to France.  He couldn’t stand the cold any longer and squeezed into her overalls.  He said, ‘Sorry Kym.  They’re tight but they’re warm…'

Since they were made for a woman, he couldn’t figure out which was the front from the back since there was no zipper.  I wasn’t too much help either in helping him to decipher between each side.  So, each night that he wore them, he would switch to a different side.  Saying, ‘Thanks Kym for helping me to stay warm.’ 

It was always comical to come up each morning, seeing Garry at the helm, keeping us safe and on route… in women’s clothing.”

Because Garry would not be photographed in Kym's 
gear, this is Garry at the safety class in Gibraltar—NOT in Kym's clothing.

Interesting fact: In 1519, it took Magellan 6 days to sail from Gibraltar to the Grand Canary islands.  This being the first stop of his circumnavigation around the globe.  It only took Amara 4 days to reach the Canaries from Gibraltar.  …However, there is no record of Magellan ever wearing women’s pants.

*It should be noted, that I (Kym) purchased a LARGE pair of overalls not knowing who was going to need them and wanted there to be ample room for anyone that needed to use them.  Of course, any woman’s worst nightmare is to have a man fit into any piece of any kind of her clothing—or maybe just MY worst nightmare.  What I didn’t factor in, is that these VERY large (wink. wink) pair of overalls would be needed for a man!  I hope they kept you warm, Garry.