22/11/2009 by admin.

Well, here we are , at last. It’s 0500 on 22^nd November and we cross the start line of the 2009 ARC in 8 hours time. Liz Absalom and John Pryke joined us on Friday just in time for the final ARC farewell party in the Sotovento centre here in the Marina. It was a great event with over 2,000 crew, friends and family partying through to the early hours. It is amazing to think that the next time we all get together, we will all be on the other side of the Atlantic. The final week has flown by in a blur of last minute preparations, provisioning, and partying. One of the highlights of the entertainment laid on for the ARC crew here in Las Palmas was the Fancy Dress party last Wednesday night. The theme was Children’s TV programmes, and Pam managed to conjure up brilliant Noddy costumes for the Fizz crew in about 3 hours, complete with yellow scarves and blue floppy hats with bells on. Although we didn’t win any prizes, we had a brilliant time. Our costumes were so good that one of our crew, who shall remain nameless (David), even managed to trade his Noddy hat with a co-incidentally rather attractive waitress in the bar for a couple of free drinks.

Taffy has wasted no time in the last few days, partying hard till the early hours. He didn’t make any effort to put a fancy dress costume on, but still managed to get a highly commended award, which I thought was a little unfair. It probably says more about his dress sense, or lack of it, than anything else. We are all still getting over the hugely embarrassing incident at the flag-raising ceremony last Sunday, when Taffy insisted on carrying a Welsh flag, even though there was no official Welsh entry in the race. He had to be restrained after being caught trying to elbow the Lithuanian flag-bearer out of the way as the national flags were being raised. Anyway, our letter of apology to the organisers, now a standard letter saved on my laptop, seems to have done the trick.

Pam has been working particularly hard this last week making sure we have enough food for the trip. Our neighbouring boats on the pontoon have been enviously smelling the wonderful cooking aromas emanating from Fizz as Pam prepares another gastronomic feast for freezing. We certainly won’t be starving on this trip.

Yesterday afternoon we had a demonstration out on deck of a new man-overboard recovery system which Liz Peach from Kalandia has designed . It all went very well until we realised that the crew of the German boat next to us had chosen this exact time to try out their shower in the cockpit of their boat. One particularly large gentleman was lathering himself up without a stitch on, only feet away from our man overboard sling. A little alarming, but at least Liz and Pam had something to focus on.

John and I attended the Skipper’s briefing yesterday at noon, where we were given the race start procedures and an updated weather forecast. At the moment it is looking good for the next 3-4 days with NNE winds of 15-25 knots. We will probably head south for a few days to get into the trade wind belt, before turning west , but you should be able to follow our progress on the Fizz website, also on the ARC website.

Today is the big day. We, the boat and crew, are as ready as we will ever be. It feels good to be on our way at last, although I am sure our final farewell as we leave the dock will be an emotional one. After we finished our crew safety briefing last evening, Pam produced a poster collage family and friends for each member of the crew, which bought a tear to everyone’s eyes, well apart from Stu and David of course. This is now stuck on the fridge door and will, I am sure, be a great morale-booster for the crew.

John, Stu and David had a last-minute visit to the fish tackle shop yesterday so we are now well kitted out and are hoping to supplement our diet with some freshly caught tuna or dorade.

Well, that’s it from me for now. Better get going. I am hoping to post daily blogs during the trip which Pam will put on the website. Many thanks to everyone who has been following our progress on our website and supporting us with messages of good luck.  I would particularly like to thank Pam for her brilliant and unstinting support and help over the last few months. Without her,we would not be where we are today.   It makes a big difference to us knowing that so many of our family and friends are taking a keen interest in our progress .

See you in St Lucia !

Chris

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14/11/2009 by admin.

Pam and I arrived back in Las Palmas on Monday 9^th November and have started final preparations on Fizz for the ARC. There are loads of activities laid on every day here by the  organisers including a happy hour every night at the ARC bar , seminars and group dinners. On Wednesday evening after the obligatory happy hour at the ARC bar, we had dinner in a local restaurant in the marina with Bill, Dick, Richard and Leila of Kalandia. It was a great fun evening, and the excessively large gin & tonics were a particular highlight.  On Thursday we took the ferry over to Santa Cruz de Tenerife to meet up with Isabel and John, Pam’s sister and brother-in-law, who are on holiday there for a week. We had lunch in a very rustic restaurant called La Hierbita where the locally caught tuna and cherne (sea perch) were particularly good. It was great to see them, and we had a great day out in Santa Cruz. Last night we were all invited to the Las Palmas town hall for the welcome party given by the tourist office. After various speeches, the local carnival dance group featuring the drag queen 2009 plus his 2 chums and a drum group put on an amazing display of dance and music followed by fireworks. It was a spectacular evening. Great fun had by all.

Today , Saturday, we had our ARC safety inspection, which went well, no outstanding problems. Pam is now patiently sorting our signal flags, all 40 of them, into order so they can be hoisted up the mast for the ARC opening ceremony tomorrow.

The sun is shining out here, it’s 30’ C , there is a gentle southwesterly breeze,, very different to the weather back home at the moment.   Chris & Pam

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