Arrival in St Lucia
Persevere
Pat and Bruce
Fri 9 Dec 2011 21:48
9 December 2011
Arrived! At 03:17 local time we crossed the finish line. Finally after nearly 19 complete days. Our log meter showed 2712 miles but that is less than we actually traveled since current and other factors are not included in the amount. I will make a corrected estimate later but it will be close to 2,900 miles.
With little wind we motored around 70 hours, most of it at the end to St Lucia when the winds died. There is more fuel left than I thought but most fuel gauges are in the red or close to it.
Talking with other competitors we did quite well in terms of equipment failure or damage. Many had torn sails, failed spinnaker poles, damaged booms, broken blocks, broken generators, etc. So the quiet route we took paid dividends it seems.
St lucia is very nice. The marina staff was there helping in the early hours as well as the ARC people. The St Lucia tourist board had representatives at the boat when we arrived and gave the traditional rum punch and a small beer. Registration in the marina was efficient while immigration was a long line they went out of their way to move the ARC captains to the front of the line. Very pleasant people in the office even though the computer system failed when needed the most.
Today we spent the day cleaning the boat and getting things organized for marina life. Lots of things to do but we are now on island time so tomorrow is always a good time to to things.
After I get some sleep I will update the stats and get a feel of how we faired against other boats. We will not be high up in the standings because we took the comfortable route. But for a first time across the Atlantic we could not be happier. Many thanks to the crew, Captain Jeremy, Eric, Seamus and of course Pat who shouldered all the cooking.
Kind regards
Bruce