09 Dec - Day 23 Position at 14.30 hrs 17:04.157N 061:53.06W

Imagine Of Falmouth Online Log
Jon Constantine
Sun 9 Dec 2007 21:13
Day 23 Distance to Antigua 0 nm (nautical miles).

Distance covered since yesterday at 16.00 -129  nm. Average speed to arrival time - About 7 kts.

Well, after an all night all out mammoth effort, we arrived off Falmouth Harbour at 10.30 hrs.  We had dropped the pole at about 06.00 and changed the headsail over to the port side as the wind had shifted to the north east.  At that point, we were about 30 nm from Falmouth.  The wind did not drop as forecasted neither did it come from ESE.  Instead it increased steadily to 25/30 kts and the sea state was "rough" but at least we were on target.  We had squall after squall as we approached Antigua, as if the weather was having one last final attempt to make our trip difficult.  Sam had gone off watch at 06.00 but by 06.30 I was shouting for her to come topside and help reef the headsail as I was fighting the wheel to avoid rounding up into the wind and seas.

We passed Falmouth Harbour in a squall that blew at 42.8 kts with driving rain and the tops being blown off the waves.  But it was short lived as usual and we continued round the south coast avoiding the reef and turned north for the last few miles to Jolly Harbour.  We dropped the main as we came into the entrance and motored the final mile to the visitors berth where the Blue Water Rally Team were ready to take our lines and welcome us at 14.30.

I will update the blog tomorrow with more info but as you can "imagine", we are somewhat knackered and have just drunk a bottle of champagne to celebrate our safe arrival.

Thanks to you all for your support and emails over the last 3 weeks, it has been a great help.  More tomorrow.

Jon and Sam



Approaching Jolly Harbour. Hooray!!!!