Page 41 - Folk Boat Year Book 2023

Given the way the rocky sea bottoms slope down so rapidly it is difficult to get
enough scope for the anchor lines anyway. And then there’s the wind. Just about
every day the trade winds blow from the North-East, a good Force 5. Lovely, but you
forget these are islands, which cause a Venturi effect in the channels between them.
The Trades, blowing happily across the open sea, suddenly find some great hunks of
rock in their way and so we get the “street corner effect”: the wind has to squeeze
between the islands and speeds up, with quite alarming effects. Once I was sailing
along the north coast of Gran Canaria on a calm day, and then once we were crossing
the channel between it and Tenerife, as we approached the coast of the latter the
wind rapidly picked up: we ended the sail with two reefs and a 30knot wind! Even
though constant, the wind direction can be a bit of a restriction. My marina is on the
North East of the island, and coastal sailing is very limited: either a run down to the
other marinas, which is easy, but then there’s a hard day’s beat into the wind to get
back home. I thought originally I would buy a new genoa, but settled for a smaller jib
because of the wind strengths.

One drawback of the limited tidal range is that there is never any shallow water., so
things like scrubbing posts just do not exist. My marina does have a generous access
ramp (designed for hovercraft!) but it is difficult to get enough time and clearance
above water level to do any constructive work on the hull. And given the shape and
spacing of the islands once you are out of your harbour or marina, then you are
immediately blue water sailing. There are no sheltered bays or estuaries, though the
southern coasts are a little more in the lee of the land. This is where a hull like the
Folkboat’s comes into its own. It has plenty of ballast low down, and the lines of the
forefoot slice through the swells efficiently. Even so, I usually motor sail to windward:
with a one metre swell it’s slightly quicker and less lumpy.

So, there we are, or at least, here am I. Sailing here is wonderful even if not perfect,
and on a warm sunny day with a good breeze on a reach and with dolphins playing
around your prow, it takes a lot of beating.

41