Day 20 - ARC Log - Almost There!

Sulana's Voyage
Alan and Sue Brook
Fri 10 Dec 2010 21:56
14:19.5.0 N 60:38.9 W

At 21:40 UTC, we still have just a few more miles to go. 21.5 miles to be precise, so it is just a short sprint from here to the line, past the top, Pointe du Cap, at the Northern end of St. Lucia, thence round Pigeon Island and into the finish at Rodney Bay.

I don't have much more time left at the keyboard, so this will be the last entry in the Log for a while.

The three members of the Tot Club on board Sulana, Alan, Sue and Peter, together with their three guests, Ben, James and Fiona, joined the Mersea Chapter this evening, with their own on-board measures of Pussers Rum, to say in unison,

"A Willing Foe And Searoom.
And The Queen, God Bless Her!"

To sign off on this epic voyage, therefore, it is high time I said a little thank you to all my crew! As with most ARC yachts, I suppose we have all struggled to get the final crew balance right. I guess some will not have been as successful, or as lucky, as I feel Sulana has been in this area.

After all the earlier trials and tribulations of trying to get a steady crew for the ARC, several changes were forced upon us back in September which, at the time, seemed to be quite disastrous! However, as so often is the case in life, the reality of our final solution has turned out to be far better than we could ever have hoped for. The team has worked so well together and every one of the crew has contributed immeasurably more than might have been with a different balance of people.

James deciding to leave his job back in the UK and join was a major breakthrough for us. This gave us the huge extra strength of youth, plus a depth of experience around the deck and on watch at night. Having watched and learnt a lot about the specifics of Sulana from the rest of us, he will now be fully capable of adding the role of First Mate to his position in our crew for the forthcoming Caribbean season.

Fiona has thrown herself into all the new tasks that have popped up and has risen to and above every challenge with a will and a commitment that has to be really commended. Now she is just as capable of going onto a heaving foredeck to struggle with a recalcitrant spinnaker, in the dead of night, in a line squall, as she is fully competent to prepare a decent meal and several loaves of superb bread in the galley. It will be quite surprising, in fact, if she does not go on now to find more work on other yachts, to continue her travels around the world afloat, rather than by land!

When Ben said a year or more ago he would very much like to do the ARC with us, if there were space, it was taken as a very nice compliment and something to be filed away for future reference. When the call went out to him, asking if he really meant what he had said, it was a huge relief to hear that, Yes, he did and Yes, he would still like to join our crew.

Ben's experience of maintaining and running an Oyster 56 on long ocean passages has been invaluable to us all throughout. When you add his victualing skills and deckwork knowledge to his superb cooking and quirky, slightly mischievous, sense of humour, you have a potent mix of personality; someone who would be a major contributor to any yacht undertaking an Atlantic crossing. Ben's culinary dark arts have provided us with numerous fabulous meals, all served in some style on the cockpit table throughout. His careful and patient approach to tackling all manner of jobs, from fixing a broken Moulinex, to hanging up home-made fruit hammocks, make him a master of make-and-mend.

We had originally planned to sail 7 up, with another couple of friends, of around our own age, so as to get a nice balance of ages and maturity. When our first-invited friends had to pull out for health concerns, it was difficult to see immediately what we were going to do about it at such short notice, Great relief all round then, when one of our oldest sailing mates, Peter, said he would love to do his first Transatlantic with us, as the opportunity was too good to miss. Sadly this was going to have to be without his dear wife, Lizzie, for whom the length of the ARC trip would represent the longest time they had been apart as a couple in all their married life. Aaaahh, I can hear you sigh!

Anyway, as a racing yacht owner in his own right for many years, Peter's arrival in the crew was a major plus point for yours truly. He was immediately able to add considerable 'gravitas' to the tactical decision-making process. He was also able to help keep Sulana sailing at her best during the harder night watches, when winds were light and fickle.

It is so much easier for a Skipper to sleep soundly on his off-watch periods when he is confident of those left on deck. Although there was plenty of confidence in the other crew members for safe sailing, fast sailing is somewhat different and Peter's presence always helped ensure the best angles, sails, windspeeds and tactics were being considered, to discuss with the Skipper at the right time.

On top of all that, Peter's considerable social skills and memories of childhood background stomping grounds, amazingly similar to Sue's, made sure there were plenty of happy reminiscences to be kicked around and memories of shared contacts to be swapped. Any night watch shared with Peter has passed quickly, with no shortage of good stuff to discuss or chat about, for all on board.

Finally, what can I say about the most important crewmember of all, Sue!

Firstly it must be made clear that, without Sue's call to do the ARC on our own yacht one day, none of this would en be happening at all and Sulana would not have been built. When Sue said to me she would like to go cruising in our own yacht this triggered a train of events that leads right to the present day. Without her encouragement and help in getting this beautiful yacht built, we might be sitting back at home in the cold, wet snow conditions of Eastern England right now.

On top of that, Sue herself has amazed most of us (but not me, as I always thought and told her she could do this!) by coping - more than coping - taking part in all aspects of the trip and helping keep Sulana and crew happy and sailing well. Sue has ensured we are all sleeping on clean sheets, with a clean cabin and heads compartment to visit and clean clothes to change into.

Housework is not easy on a rocking, rolling yacht in tropical seas, when the air and water temperatures are so consistently high, but Sue loves the sun and the heat and has, with only the slightest of help from Stugeron and her new-fangled electronic 'wristwatch', over the first few days, now completely overcome her earlier, unfounded concerns about seasickness.
She has become a true, seagoing, Super-Trouper!

On top of this she has also managed to consume a vast number of new books (a favourite pastime on holiday) and top off an already extremely deep tan. We don't think either Sue or Fiona are going to stand out too much in a St. Lucian crowd..., that is if they don't both sizzle up into a crisp before we get there.

So - A very big THANK YOU , from your Skipper, to ALL the crew of Sulana for making this adventure possible for me and Sue.

We hope the small shot of Pusser's will not dent our olfactory senses when it comes to smelling the first approaches of Caribbean land, but in fact we have now sighted Martinique and St,Lucia, either side of our bows, in the setting sun ahead!

And, on that happy note, today's log ends, with expectant best wishes to you all from Alan.


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