Bareboat chartering Canaries experiences?

[Ceirwan]

Thinking of bareboat chartering for a week in Tennerife some time in October. Beats the current weather here in the UK.

Anyone who's cruised around the area got any tips on anchorages / good places to stay and visit etc?
Looking for a mix of quiet & isolated as well as some stops with nice food and culture etc.

Thanks

 

[capnsensible]

Hiya. Will it be from somewhere like San Miguel in the south?

Beware wind acceleration zones especially between Tenerife and Gran Canaria.

It can often be better to get across to La Gomera for shelter from the prevailing winds. Lovely marina at San Sebastián plus some nice anchorages around the southern side.

Again, may well be a bumpy ride but hey, rental boats like rental cars, you can push them for a great ride!!!

Hope you enjoy your charter. ?

 

[Finbar]

I have been sailing the Canaries on charter boats in February for some time. You tend to get what you pay for in boat terms, but we have gone cheap and cheerful with mostly manageable problems. Remember you are in the North East trades, so plan your sailing accordingly. Graciosa is a beautiful if quiet island, but generally a hard slog to get there from Tenerife, downhill all the way back. If you go this route, you can visit Fuertaventura and Lanzarote on your way.
The best plan from Tenerife is to Valle Gran Rey or San Sebastian on La Gomera, then La Palma, if the volcano allows, Tazacorte or Santa Cruz, then La Restinga on Hierro, back to base, or take in Gran Canaria.

This is ocean sailing with good winds and often big swells, just have a look at harbour defences. There are coastal day anchorages in bays to be found, but most sailors plan to be tied up to a pontoon at night, swell being the issue. Indeed if swell is in the forecast, which you should check, some places such as the harbour at Valle Gran Rey can be untenable.

Get hold of a sketch map of the acceleration zones much loved by the sailing schools who can put dazed skippers predictably into 35 knots off la Gomera or the Southern tip of Tenerife. If you watch carefully as you sail in 20kn you will see disturbed water ahead and put in an early reef

Bavaria 36's used to be the boat of choice, and very good they were too. Now its hard to get anything under 45 ft, with Spanish charter boats overwintering in the Canaries, and generally well used, even if not old. Th e Harbours and Marinas are not any bigger, so make sure your bow thruster is working, it will be needed especially reversing in tight corridors in a cross wind. The Marineros are generally helpful, and don't be afraid to ask for a nudge from a rib if needed. In general a shakedown day is worthwhile as charter companies turn their boats around very quickly, and the previous skipper may not have been keen to admit problems. Many of these boats are crewed by young people out to party and may do little more than motor along the coast.

Watch out for ocean storms often off the African coast and carrying Sahara dust, but they will be well forecasted.

Take a look at the Los Indianos festival in La Palma, its timing is unpredictable year to year but the whole island goes into three day party mode centred on Santa Cruz de la Palma.

We hope to be back again in 2022 after a blank 2021.

Enjoy

Barry