Europeans begin tomorrow

I arrived here in Las Palmas yesterday morning and had to take 2 buses from the airport to the yacht club. In my jet lagged state, I left my wallet on the bus. I managed to track it down with the help of 4 different bus drivers who called the dispatcher and drove me to the bus station. I wasn't really awake enough to remember how to speak spanish well. It took a little bit to figure out that the bus driver was calling the dispatcher for the blue bus company and looking for my wallet on blue number 01 instead of the yellow bus number 1. Eventually they figured it out and took me to the yellow bus station and I got it back! It's a nice feeling when when you lose something valuable and it gets returned to you thanks to the good graces of strangers.

I got back to the sailing center and picked up my charter boat and all the different spars and blades and fixed the small things that needed fixing on my boat. I didn't have time to sail yesterday, but today I did after measurement and registration. About 18 knots and big waves. Similar to a big wave day at third beach, but these waves push right downwind as opposed to the left biased ones I am used to practicing in. Our course area is pretty far away, which will be fine for getting out to the racecourse for the next few days since it is downwind, but the sail home will be long. Hopefully I can snag a tow.

Racing starts tomorrow at noon, and we have six days of two races per day. Here are a few pics:

View of the race area from the bus:

Measuring in:

The apartment where I am staying: