Day 19 - Finish is in sight
Jacana
David Munro
Fri 30 Jan 2009 05:39
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Blog part I
As this blog is written, Salvadour is on our port
side some 12 miles away, it is evening time , 9.00pm local and the shore lights
are very bright after 20 days of no lights! We expect to finish the race around
1am on the 30th January unless we fall into a hole in the wind in the next
couple of hours. I have just switched on my mobile phone & it has picked up
a signal and 25 messages come through, oh well - back to the real
world.
The past 24 hours has seen Jacana wearing one
headsail only, the pink & gray spinnaker, the winds have been modest
averaging 10 knots and never living upto the gribs which predicted easteries for
the run into Salvadour. We had positioned ourselves to the south of the course
to make good use of the easteries, our main rival in the race went to the north,
in the event the wind stayed solidly to the south of east resulting in slow
progress for us as we gybed our way back and forth whereas "Facination of Power"
have managed to run a straight line course and have their noses in front. We
hope to catch them on corrected time - watch this space.
Blog part II
We finished at around 1.13 am UT (UHT as Chris
prefers to call it) and it is very strange to walk on solid ground again, about
2 miles from the finish as we approached Salvadour harbour the wind died to
nothing and Jacana ground to an absolute standstill in the warm air. We
were a few hundred meters from the shore and could hear the bands playing
Samba music and smell the food they were cooking (juicy steaks - think Lion
from Madagasgar). Suddenly a couple of ribs (boats) appeared and we were
suddenly movie stars. lights camera & action, Chris struck a pose at the
rear of the boat, stiff jaw to the non-existant breeze, resilutley ignoring the
media's banal questions. Paul on the other hand took his shirt off and did a
five bellies dance whilst waving his Chelsea shirt around in circles
charging up and down the side deck hollering at the top of his voice.
It all becomes a bit of blur from them on, once we
had actually crossed the finish line the ribs passed us beer which was knocked
back very quickly, the beer on the boat was for bread making purposes
only. On the dock, there were Brazilian
ladies waiting with Caiperinha cocktails - the spell was broken, our illustrious
leader and mentor threw a stern line to the waiting throng and timed his throw
acurately enough to land the rope accross the tray of cocktails, spilling them
on the dock and costumed lady carrying them. Thus was our arrival to South
America. More Cocktails were ordered and then some more and then some more (see
attached picture) soon the misdemeanour was forgotton in a tipsy
haze.
We have spent the past few hours discussing the
work program for the boat and what needs to be done (!!!!????)
Although the race is concluded the blog will
continue for a few days more.
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