AZAB Wednesday 12th June - we did it!!
Nutmeg of Shoreham
Ollie Holden
Wed 12 Jun 2019 16:58
We did it! After a slow night running downwind down the back of the island, we finally crossed the finish line, between the end of the harbour wall and the Club Navale, at 1033 BST this morning. Woooooo HOOOOO!!! What an amazing achievement! So 10 days 21 hrs 53 mins since leaving Black Rock off Falmouth.
That has been one hell of an adventure, more than either of us bargained for. I know there will be lots of folk doing this race for whom that was "de rigeur", but for us, on our heavy old family cruising yacht, just Emilia and I, that was a full-on endurance adventure and I am deeply proud of what we've done. Even to be in the same race as Golden Globe and OSTAR competitors is mind-blowing.
Just to put some context around this, for posterity - yesterday the organisers called this "the toughest AZAB we can remember", and it's worth remembering that 2 yachts were dismasted, 1 guy broke his ribs, 1 yacht started to sink, and I think a total of 10 retired. I heard today that three French lifeboatmen were unfortunately lost trying to rescue a fishing vessel caught in that storm that we just skirted in Biscay. These were not benign conditions and that is very sobering to me.
And in numbers - There were 55 entered, 44 started, only 34 finished (1 of which is still sailing to the finish - we weren't last). So yes, Emilia I feel pretty epic right now. Although in our understated way, I had a beer and Emilia had a lemonade, and we've come back to the boat for a snooze!
Ponta Delgada is - shall we say - quite urban, and not what we were expecting, but we've worked through the usual chores of immigration, check-in, shower, fuel, water, wash boat, sail off for repairs, laundry sent off, etc, and are now having some quiet time before we venture forth to find some food. Our sea legs have been horrendous. I actually had to lean against a wall to stop the floor moving, once we'd got off the boat.
I am too tired to properly contemplate whats next, but I have to say my initial, honest view is that I've no interest in doing the return leg; doing this trip with Emilia is the best thing I could have imagined - I really didn't think we'd pull this off, and I don't feel I've got anything left to prove, certainly not to myself. What I now need to do is have some good food, a decent sleep, and have a proper look at the damage to Nutmeg's bulkheads, and come at things with a fresh head tomorrow. It hasn't all sunk in yet and it wont until I'm mentally back on an even keel, which is a 12-hr uninterrupted sleep away.