Cat Leya : getting ready for the ARC on a Lagoon 52 SporTop

Who : Jean-Pierre and his dog, Hades
Where ? Atlantic ocean
Boat : Lagoon 52 Sportop
Blog : www.sailingcatleya.blue

My first sailing experience was what gave me the bug. Six months later, we decided to set off around the Atlantic on an Oceanis 370. After a few years I took a different tack on a Bavaria 38 Match, of which I have great memories of racing and sailing under high-performance North 3DL sails. However, in 2013 we said goodbye to racing and continued our sailing on a Bavaria 45 Cruiser. What a fantastic rear space! It was a big boat, yet despite this I often sailed her on my own. And finally, as we considered another big journey, we adopted a catamaran: a Lagoon 52 SporTop, also equipped with North 3DL sails. Leaving Madeira, we had promised ourselves that we would visit the little known Desertas and Selvagem Islands. Visiting them requires an advance autorisation. After this, Cat Leya arrived in the Canary Islands, the departure point of the ARC. On Hierro, the nature was very varied, from luxuriant in the north and centre, to dry and wild in the south, with some pretty impressive and abrupt altitude differences. When we returned to Tenerife, we watched the ferries criss-crossing the route between El Hierro and Los Christianos. They headed due east before moving into the wind shadow of La Gomera, and then along the channel towards Tenerife. In this way they protected themselves from sudden increases in wind speed and from the swell! They did this in both directions. Sailing around Gran Canaria provided us with some wonderful conditions and calm seas. Cat Leya was in her element…