Leaving Las Palmas

so....here we are!
so many months, weeks, days of preparations for our first big ocean crossing!
the last days were ....bloody hell - well, if you read our blog, you know I wrote quite often how busy we were - but compared to the last days, these days retrospectively feel like holidays.

I got all the fruit, veg and meat order delivered - our boat looks like a fruit market with all the nets up inside the salon now.
all the boat stuff is done, every corner cleaned, every pair of underpants is freshly washed....to put it in a nutshell: we are SO ready to go.

today 12:00 - skippers briefing for the trip.
the last safety instructions are given, and then: the final weather report for the next couple of days.
and the weather is looking foul - actually more than just foul! really rotten!!!! 6-8m waves and the wind from a SSW direction with 35kn - a very deep low just north of the canaries is causing all the havoc.
this was probably the first time I got physically sick when seeing a weather chart! - and looking at Mark  I could see he's not well either!
2 days of bashing into heavy weather....if we would not be in the arc, we would never go out in such a forecast!
so we made the hard decision not to. in order to protect our crew, ourselves and of course our beloved maloo and in order to have a good time and a safe crossing, this is in our case the only decision we can make!

thank god the people from the arc think so too and decided for the second time ever in the last 27 years of arc to postpone the start for those who wish to leave in better weather and strongly recommended the "cruising devision" (the one we're in) not to go out!

so....as I wrote in the begining: here we are - and we will stay here until tuesday!

finally a couple of days to catch up on sleep! - and time to celebrate my captain mark's birthday!