Graciosa to Lanzarote

Hi everyone,

We spent two nights at Graciosa.  The first day was spent relaxing after our early morning arrival.  On the second we went ashore with the crew of OCC sv Asteria.  We dinghied to the beach Playa de la Cochina.  From there Adam and I walked up to the top of Montana Amarillo, a ~170m peak with a great view.  After the walk we joined the ladies snorkelling the bay.  Lots of colourful fish.

Zen Again at Graciosa

Dinghying ashore

Playa de la Cochina

Playa Francesa anchorage from Montana Amarillo

Exploring Graciosa

That evening we had sundowners aboard OCC sv Saffron Star.  Thanks guys!

The following day we were up early for a dawn departure to motor to Marina Rubicon on the south side of Lanzarote.  The outlook for wind was poor so we decided to get the passage done.

Here are the plots...

Track (note the oscillating course)

Arrival

Graphs

Unfortunately our second Pelagic autopilot actuator failed soon after departure.  It had lasted only two months.  The failure left us with one very old Raymarine actuator.  This will constrain our cruising over the next few weeks before we fly to the UK where we have replacements waiting.

Fifteen minutes later the autopilot controller started misbehaving.  It wasn't holding course.  Requesting a 2 degree change of course produced a 10 degree course change after several minutes.  As the track above shows we oscillated around our desired course for some time.  Eventually we gave up and replaced it with the spare.  Pelagic autopilots don't need to be calibrated so it came to life immediately and held course.

We've now had two actuator and one controller failure in our 6-month old Pelagic system.  Unimpressed.  But Pelagic have provided great support and agreed to replace all of the failures under warranty.  So we're sticking with Pelagic for the time being.  We'll be collecting a new controller and three actuators in the UK.

Replacement autopilot controller masking-taped in place

It was a long motor to Marina Rubicon waiting for the old Raymarine actuator to die.  Happily it survived.  We anchored off the marina for one night before entering.  Nice to be back after previously visiting in 2021.  We've been joined by OCC Macaronesia cruisers Caballito del Mar, Metzi and Asteria.

For our first two days in the marina we were busy removing parts of the forepeak headliner.  Hooray for multitools!  Our multitool cut out the outboard and forward parts of moulded GRP headliner easily.  Less easy was tidying up the underside of the deck which had large areas of rock-hard resin 'bog' holding the headliner in place.  Hours of hard work with multitool, mallet and chisel.

Headliner Down!

The headliner had to come down to provide access to the forward mooring cleats.  With the headliner down we can easily inspect their mounting bolts.  Two are badly rusted and may be the source of our foredeck leak.

Zen Again at Marina Rubicon reception dock

After two days of hard work we joined the Caballitos and Metzis to hire a car and tour the island.  But that's another story!

Trust all's well where you are.