Tenerife, Canary Islands
I arrived by plane on Tenerife, Canary Islands on Monday, June 30. Issuma was berthed at Marina del Atlantico, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, unique with a backdrop of dark, craggy mountains beyond the swaying masts. From Monday 6/30 to Thursday 7/3, Richard and I scoured, organized and repaired the boat, went on multiple errands and missions to interesting shops such as Effectos Navales, Spinnaker, Firpe, El Kilo and multiple ferreterias for boat hardware. I’m quite certain that Issuma’s head has never been this clean! Mixed into the work and errands, we enjoyed the perpetually sunny, warm weather, exotic flowering trees, and were also fortunate to discover very friendly and festive fellow boaters in neighboring yachts. We invited them over to Issuma for cookies and Doradas (local cervezas deliciosas) on our very first night, which naturally triggered a mini-party circuit on a different friend’s boat on each ensuing night. Paul from Oysterama across the pier mixed delicious gin & tonics and great conversation, while Maryann and Tommy of Audacious II shared wine, champagne, cigars and many laughs. Nicole and Chris were charming, and Steve of Cheng Feng was a lovely dinner guest on our last night there. We were sad to miss our friend Marco from Trattoria da Gigi on our last day in Santa Cruz, but it was time to move on. Our enthusiastic friends made it difficult to leave Marina del Atlantico, but we were finally able to break away and depart for our first sail, auspiciously on the 4th of July.

For those interested in the technical details of the boat, this is the sailplan of the Damien II design, as drawn by the designer. I believe that Issuma is the 25th and last boat built to this design. Issuma has also been modified by extending the transom, making her somewhat longer (15.3m instead of 14.14m). The text at the bottom of the picture is probably hard to read, so here is most of what it says:
Length 14.14m (46′ 5″)
LWL 12.30m (40′ 4″)
Beam 4.40m (14′ 4″)
Min Draft 0.80m (2′ 7″)
Max Draft 3.08m (10′ 1″)
Empty Displacement 13,500kg (29,762 lbs)
Loaded Displacement 18,000 kg (35,683 lbs)
Ballast 4,500 kg (9921 lbs)
Engine HP 70 CV (70 HP)

Base Sail Area 147 m2 (1,581 sq ft)
Total Sail Area 468.5 m2 (5,040 sq ft)

28 27.9’N:016 14.6’W
We had a pleasant sail from Madeira to the Canary Islands. This is the coast of the island of Tenerife.

30 N:17 W
All is well.

~

Madeira
Madeira is a busy hopping/happening place.

Madeira
Dark dinghy.

Funchal, Madeira
Don’t know if we would have had such a good trip without it from Spain to the anchorage here in Funchal, on the island of Madeira.

Funchal, Madeira
The wind decided we should go to Madeira, and we are now in Funchal, a beautiful harbor in this warm and very pleasant island.

34 43.0’N:16 6.00’W
All is well.