Mainsail only in the Canaries

[RupertW]

Tenerife, west side of the island. Not a sailing holiday, but stayed in a shore-front apartment and enjoyed watching the boats, from the patio, most days. To be fair, there weren't a high number, maybe 5 - 10 per day. I didn't notice a single one with a hesdsail out, which made me wonder if there is something about the conditions of wind and tide that makes main only preferable. The mains didn't seem to be reefed.

That was part of our standard route from our base on the south coast. There is virtually no wind up the west side of Tenerife so we would motor up that coast until we had a good slot to get across to La Gomera. No point in a headsail until we turned left and hit the blast of the Wind Acceleration Zone a mile or two out. Then it was triple reefed main and a scrap of jib.