18 Dec 2012

[Captains Blog] Day 22 St Lucia!



Last night after several days becalmed, the wind decided to return and we could finally switch the engine off and give it a rest. The poor thing had been going non-stop and had done sterling service. We still have just under ½ tank of fuel left, plus the reserve jerry can, so we can pat ourselves on the back for that. We passed a couple of other boats yesterday who either had no fuel left or chose to be sailing purists and refused to put their engines on, either way, they were not making any real progress. We had to keep our progress rates up as we all have flights to catch this week.

So with the wind on our tail, we had full sails set to port and were bowling along very nicely, reefing down as night fell in case the forecast increase in the wind speed materialised. We finally passed the finish post in Rodney Bay at 08:36:20 this morning to a rapturous welcome from many of the ARC participants who had already checked in. It was a very gratifying experience. We were met in the bay by Elaine, Ed's wife who had hired a water taxi to take her out to meet us. No-one expected this to happen and it was a real surprise. We had several photographs taken by a professional photographer as we neared the bay, it will be great to see the results and might even be a keepsake to have pride of place in the office. We already have received a certificate of congratulation on a successful Atlantic crossing to add to the souvenirs.