Closing in on the Finish

Mollihawk's Atlantic Circumnavigation
eddie/david nicholson
Wed 10 Dec 2008 13:17
Temp: 29.3 C
 
With less than 370 n miles to the finish we have company for the first time in 17 days as all boats of different sizes and classes start to converge for the final leg into Saint Lucia.Our arrival time seems to be late Friday night if the winds continue as predicted. As dawn broke this morning 6.30 am (9.30 am Irish time) we had 4 boats around us.
 
The crew are very excited as we have had an unconfirmed report that the leading boat in our class 'Savage' has retired from the race which could put us in first place.This has fellows on board jumping out of their bunks to start their shifts at all times in the day and night and onto the wheel in an effort to keep the lead.There is as little as 8 n miles between a few of us and after over 2500 miles we don't want to be beaten at this late stage.
 
As we come into range of other boats we can pick up the chit chat on VHF which we miss out on as we don't have an SSB on board like some others which allows them to converse at much greater distances. We can only talk to other boats in line of sight which is about 11 miles.By the sounds of it we are all having a very similar passage to the others.
 
MHS  out.