After a Christmas break the VE2022 fleet is ready for departure and is looking forward to a journey across the Atlantic towards the beautiful island of Grenada in the Caribbean.
Its been a few weeks since they all met in Las Palmas on the 12th of December and enjoyed a full week of seminars, parties and get-together and got help from the Viking Explorers team to prepare their boats.
During the week participants attended the various seminars from Safety to the very interesting Tips and Tricks for the Caribbean, with the knowledge of the core organizers Oliver and Carlota, who have spent their last 4 years sailing the Windward Islands and leave their boat at hurricane safe Grenada while assisting the fleet on the Canary Islands.
Carlota, PR for Viking Explorers and who is local from Las Palmas ensured the deliveries and orders and organized a walk along the old town of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a town with a lot of history. Do you know Columbus ?
Sailors handed over their shopping lists for meat and fruits and last medicines to stock up so to be fully ready before the departure.
The Canarian Evening at restaurant “Adago” with all kinds of Canarian food tasting and free wine and beer was more than very welcomed by participants that enjoyed a very fun evening.
The Viking Explorers also donated some presents for children in Gran Canaria contributing to the community in need, in this case in collaboration with the “La Casa de Galicia”.
The designated T pontoon in the Marina La Palmas for the Viking Explorers 2022 is now full of flags and one can feel the excitement and the friendly atmosphere in this fleet of 21 boats and 72 crews from all around the world.
Food deliveries, last minute shopping and spare parts have now been delivered, the tracking fleet map is active and communications have been tested.
By now, everyone knows each other, everyone is helping out, even those fishing experts are giving away their precious knowledge and we will see who catches the biggest one!
The fleet should be ready by know after this Christmas break and the fleet is now being instructed by the Viking Explorers team for the PCR testing which has been preformed with the collaboration of a local hospital.
After these testing, participants are advised to follow a strict social distancing protocols and create a “ bubble “ within their fleet.
The Skippers Briefing at the prestigious Royal Yacht Club of Gran Canaria was attended by 2 crews per boat and following a very strict Covid-19 protocol. At this briefing, the routing, weather and special requirements were discussed and the fleet decided to leave on the expected departure, the 6th of January after checking all weather models. Indeed, the fleet looks into a strong start with the prevailing Tradewinds. A strong positioned Azores High will give some 20knt+ winds and 2-3 meter waves for the first days. A nice strong downwind sailing for a few days before the weather settles.
The Viking Explorers offers two routes so from the 21 boats 11 will sail to Mindelo, on the Cape Verde Islands for an intermediate stop. The Mindelo Marina and Viking Explorers staff will be awaiting the fleet and give them a warm welcome and after a few days they will depart to Grenada.
The rest of the fleet will sail on a direct route to Grenada and wait for the rest of the family.
You can follow our fleet at this link : VikingExplorersRally2022 (predictwind.com)
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