49:35.0N 005:50.7W at 0915bst

 

Morning all,

this is probably going to be the last blog update as we close-in on the Cornwall coast, the wind has headed us a bit and we are now close-hauled on port tack heading for the lizard (that’s Lizard point for the non-sailors).  I believe we are currently forecast to be 5th place in class but until we cross the line it is all to play for.

 

I think it is going to take some time to digest the last few weeks of sailing as there have been so many ups and downs since we arrived in Falmouth a few days before the start.  Many friends have been made along the way and many new experiences gained both on and off the water that will be drawn on in the future. 

 

I’m sure there are many over the coming weeks that will ask Mark and I the simple question  “how was it?” and I have not yet worked out how to answer.  Am I pleased that I signed up and did the race? – absolutely!  Where there times when I would have done anything to be sitting under a tree – again Absolutely! but those times were challenges that we had to meet and overcome and the trip was all the richer for it.  I have always been a believer that there is a great deal of satisfaction to be had from completing something that was a struggle and takes you beyond your comfort zone.  As an old boss of mine used to say – “if it was easy everyone would be doing it”.

 

I can’t signoff without thanking some folks that have made this trip possible.... 

 

First and foremost we need to thank our lovely ladies at home for letting us go to sea leaving them with children to look after alone alone.  Mark and I are extremely grateful for your support and we have some serious brownie points to earn back.

 

Next the folks at the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club who organised the race, parties and support when things go wrong. 

 

Simon Keeling at www.SailingWeather.co.uk for emailing forecasts and the folks at www.mailasail.com for their help on the Satellite coms that we found essential while away at sea. 

 

Many thanks Jeremy and Fiona Rogers (www.jeremyrogers.co.uk) their help and advice while getting repairs. 

 

Huge thanks must go to Keith and Pam Feltham for their support in Ponta Delgada, having a fresh clean and non-moving bed to sleep in was wonderful, as was the home cooked food and a base from which to recover and regroup for leg two.

 

We particularly want to thank Sue (Mother Hen) from Taymar Swallow and Richard from Carolina for their support on Leg one when we had some problems to overcome.  Sue’s supporting conversations on the VHF radio made a world of difference to Mark and I.

 

Lastly and most importantly Mark, my trusted co-skipper, who knows me well enough to tell me to shut-up and go to bed when I am grumpy and knackered, he also kept me buoyed up when the boat was in bad shape on the way across.  I’m pleased that we work well as a team and not-once have I had any regrets about asking him.