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We had a full week at the Las Palmas Marina in the Canary Islands for final preparations before the start of our Atlantic crossing. The crew and some contractors were busy every day with a long list of chores. Some examples:
From left to right: Jonno patching our trade wind sail, Megan decorating the boat for pre-rally festivities, Erik polishing the metal fittings.
From left to right: Christine preparing 8 dinners for the freezer, Megan unclogging the bilge pump under her bunk, Dan conducting an inventory of provisioned food.
Dale testing the replacement toilet, ultimately deciding the nav station wasn't the best place for it.
We maintained the below, running task list on the dining table for that week, constantly adding items and ultimately completing all the necessary ones.
Our Pre-Departure Checklist
Some of the more important items on the list above included:
Repair the broken mainsail sheet block that blew out the prior week
Service the engines (oil and filter changes)
Purchase and mount a new life raft (we couldn't repair and repack the accidentally deployed life raft in time for our departure)
Setup satellite email and weather forecast download capability
Stem-to-stern loose screw check
Pre-clear boat and crew entry with Grenada customs
Purchase and administer required Grenada pre-entry COVID-19 tests
Purchase Caribbean electronic charts
Repair the trade wind sail
Purchase emergency water
Test man-overboard beacons on each of our life jackets
Test the boat's EPIRB emergency signaling device
Purchase a spare halyard, engine fluids, spare parts, etc. (lots of marine store visits)
Fuel the boat (tanks hold 1,000 liters)
Repair broken stern life-lines
Reorganize tools and spare parts
Pass the ARC+ safety inspection
Fix the trade wind sail fuller ratchet
Install jack lines (nylon webbing around the boat's perimeter for attaching our safety harnesses when walking the decks in heavy weather)
Rig a boom jibe preventer
Refill cooking gas canisters
and about 2 dozen other tasks....