Day 17
Gins.pt
Fri 11 Dec 2009 02:16
|
I will write this last report in phases as we will
approach the finish line in St. Lucia.
Sailing during the night was smooth with the wind
which carried us on a direct line towards the channel between St.Lucia and
Martinique. We made 176 miles in the last 24 hours. (noon till noon ). The
afternoon was sunny , the wind weakened despite the weather forecast which
promised the opposite. Nevertheless, we are progressing with 6 to 7 miles per
hour.
The count-down has started !
It is now the last 24 hours till the finish line.
At 6 pm local time we still have about 120 miles to sail. Crew is already making
the plan to explore the island while I worry how to get the defective
things fixed.
There are over 200 boats arriving in a week and
many of them have some problems. I called for the service of generator but got
no committment.
I will visit them tomorrow afternoon to get a date.
I also have to decide
how I will get my spinnaker for repair to
Martinique. Going by boat would be the simplest - a 30 mile trip. But there are
2 visits to the customs in St. Lucia and Martinique. We shall most likely do the
trip on Sunday and be back on Monday.
During the night the wind turned from ESE to
S und we were pushed more towards the north. We did a gybe at least 2 to 3 hours
too late
and then we spent the whole morning sailing south
along the coast of Martinique and the St. Lucia channel. We were listening on
the YHF
radio how the boats we were sailing together last
night were crossing
the finish line. We did enjoy good wind on this
last 60 miles and crossed the finish line at
12:19:59 by the end of the day 17.
Considering that we lost spinnaker very early in
the Rally and that we decided not to stretch the rigging and the sails, the
position 109 among
230 boats on the start line is reasonably good and
the whole crew is happy with the voyage itself and the outcome.
After crossing the finish line, we continued to the
beach, threw anchor and jumped into the warm sea ( 28 degrees ). Only then we
motored into Marina, got a space with 110V and connector we did not
have.
After the welcome drink - fruit jus with a lot of
rhum, we moved the boat to a 220v pier. I then did all the customs and
immigration formalities and reserved the space for GIN'S untill January 25,
2010. I still need to find somebody who will take a look at the boat every
day.
Wish me good luck in finding the service people to
get the boat ready again. I am flying home on Wednesday
to decorate the Christmas tree and will continue with the
blog at the end of January when I will start exploring the Windward and Leeward
islands... Let me know if you are interested to join me either in the Carribean
or on the way back to Europe in May/June next year ( British Virgin
Islands, Bermuda, Azores, Southern England )...
Merry Christmas and a happy New
Year
|