14 12 N 60 44 W
Final chapter in the making: about 2 hours
ago we caught our first glimpses of the cliffs/mountains of St Lucia on our port bow and now, as we are getting
closer, the lower lying land mass of Martinique
is coming into sight on our starboard bow. Currently under wind power with 20
knots right on our stern…and we are making 8 – 9 kts in what
continues, incessantly, to be very lumpy, confused seas that keep us rockin and
rollin….we are thankful that Sea Mist is over 32 tonnes and has an
overall length of 17.1 m (56 feet) and a waterline length of 15.2 m (50
feet). If we had done this passage in a lighter, shorter boat we would
now be in tough shape, I expect. As unrelenting as the seas have been, I am now
convinced that a longer duration, more southerly, route for the passage would
not have been better for us… because… here we are in the south…..and
these miserable seas are still with us. Under 14 days for a Canaries >
Caribbean passage is a big accomplishment for Sea Mist and her entire crew……and
all of us are now ready to say,…”Glad its OVER!!!”
For perspective, we never got to see the
final 2008 ARC results, but the way it looked on their website the last time we
did view it, there could not have been more than 2 or 3 boats out of the 211
boats in the ARC that would have made it to St Lucia from Las Palmas, Gran
Canaria in 14 days. For most all of the ARC fleet, the passage was much LONGER
AND SLOWER… by a country mile….or something like that. And when
Cheryl and I made the ARC crossing in 2004, we were 18.5 days enroute with a
crew of 7 on-board that yacht named Inspiration….and on that crossing,
over 100 of the participating yachts came in later than we arrived.
We will keep the blog active for the foreseeable
future as we wonder this side of the Atlantic and then head out across the
Pacific through the Panama Canal in early 2010.
However, those of you who visit the site should not expect new content
everyday as we leisurely explore these islands on an itinerary not yet
conceived. We will certainly provide regular updates covering shore and cruising
highlights but just not necessarily “daily”.
A huge THANK YOU to all blog readers who
have sent us emails during the passage; receiving your encouragement, gossip,
updates and “tales of winter” in some far off lands….have
meant a lot to us!!
A final blog entry will be posted after we
are settled in Rodney Bay, St Lucia later today…either anchored in the
lagoon or tied up at Rodney Bay Marina. Won’t know that until we make it
happen once we are there.
DTG 17 nm
