Quite a few days have passed since our last entry. Mostly due to us being lazy, tired, and a bit drunk. Good thing about it is that we have more things to write about which makes for a good ending to this blog. The last 4 days gave us perfect wind conditions, 15-25 knots of winds from the stern, which allowed us to go goose wing (when you have the genoa on one side and the main sail on the other. looks like an arrow if you are standing at the stern), this gave us a constant 6-7 knots and 11 knots in good waves. Lots of fun and an exciting finish! We made an average of 170 miles per day. This is what we expected the winds to be from the start, but nature does what it wants and with all it gave us (not so much from time to time) we are really happy with our results. 3012 miles, 400 miles longer than the previous ARC! We still managed to get to St. Lucia in 19 days and 15 hours! Go us!!

 

We caught a huge wahoo, 1,4 meters and 15 kg! A fish worthy of the fishing competition, photo to be included on later day. Made for a great steak and lots of filets, still haven't managed to eat all the steaks yet. But why the rush, we are on vacation!

 

If you remember from our previous entries, I was talking about a butterfly that I spotted near the boat and Coral thought i have been hallucinating because “how can a butterfly possibly be in the middle of the Atlantic”. Now who is laughing, i did find the butterfly on deck two days later and i befriended him, or her, who am i to assume gender Fed him some honey and put him on our sweet potato to rest. Little buttery Mc Fly stayed on the potato for a few hours before he disappeared into oblivion.

 

We arrived at 5am in the morning, in the darkness and with rain pouring down. For some strange reason it didn’t even bother us that much, as it summed up weather variety on the journey quite perfectly, and with the finish line in sight, all you can do is enjoy it. The entry to Rodney Bay was quite spectacular, people cheering and whistling; that made us really put our effort and adventure in perspective, what we did is really something out of this world!! It will be very hard to explain the journey simply, as there is so much to say. Something that was impossible to see while we were at sea. It is only after the days at land that we are able to put this in perspective. We all have our own insights and perspectives to take with us and it will be too long of an entry if we were all to talk about it (luckily Coral has given hers) . So if you are really interested, buy us a beer and we will start talking! : )

 

The first thing to come to our hands at arrival was a bottle of rum which soon was followed by a coconut from one of the locals, great guy! Beers came pouring down our throats together with rum, i don't think we ever have slept so good!

 

We have now been at shore for two days, and it already seems like ages since we were sailing the ocean. Time is a perspective that we haven’t been able to have during this crossing, the whole trip has been smooched into a single day, week, month. Something Coral and I haven’t experienced before, very peculiar! Humans sure do need variety in their daily life to keep the days separated, but then again, maybe we don’t need them separated? A philosophy discussion for another time, bit to many beers and whiskey for that sort of talk.

 

The longer we stay on land and the more we talk with other sailors the more we gain insight of our trip and person(s). You really need to stand back from situations before you can really understand something. A thing that i will take back to “reality”.

 

A conclusion from our journey is as mentioned, very hard to put in words, as it is full of different views. An example of this is. You feel very small and insignificant on a boat with thousands of miles of water in every direction. But on the other hand, you feel like a conqueror as you navigate the vast ocean and analyze the weather to the best of your ability.

 

An adventure endured and enjoyed by all who sailed on Ostra.  A big thank you to our blogsters, Emil & Coral.