Farewells.
Oriole
Sat 21 Jan 2012 23:18
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West Coast of
Antigua
17:04.53N 61:53.58W
There have been two significant farewells this
week. Firstly Andrew's girl friend Caroline returned to Cologne after two
weeks in Antigua. Andrew was not at his best after her departure and we
had thoroughly enjoyed meeting her. Next assignment on the ski
slopes!
The second farewell was of Andrew and
Gitana and crew who set off on Friday for the Panama Canal for a cruise
with his owner to some of the islands west of Panama. He then heads back through
the Canal and up the East Coast of the US in the Spring. Even in a yacht
of Gitana's size (112 feet) plugging against the prevailing strong
easterly winds can be a hard trip. We left Falmouth Harbour at the same
time for some local cruising while a friend took photographs of the
two yachts leaving in convoy. It is traditional for the superyachts on the
docks to sound their sirens when a fellow skipper departs for a significant trip
and Gitana was suitably blasted out of the Harbour and much to our
amusment even little Oriole got a small tweet from an ex-skipper
of Andrew's.
We had quite a lump in our throats as
Gitana set sail and pretty swiftly disappeared over the western horizon
as we sailed inside the reef to an anchorage on the West Coast. We are not
sure where and when we will next see him.
 Oriole (40 feet) and
Gitana (112 feet) leaving Falmouth together.
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