As we came into the marina, our fellow competitors that had arrived before us (those motor sailors!) clapped and cheered us in. Leigh was waiting for us on the docks with some cold beers and some vodka. The ARC and the st lucia marina welcomed us with rum punch, that was more rum than punch. We were tipsy after two! After the welcome and our small steps on land we climbed back on board to have our own celebration with a bottle of Moet and a cheese platter. We made a few toasts and congratulated each other on making it over in one piece. There was a moment, were we didn’t think Scotty and Stevie would be alive to see our arrival,  after their last big night on watch. We were impressed! They downed quite a few bottles of scotch, even made sure to put a note in one before throwing the glass bottle overboard. 

John and Scotty went up to the customs office to check us all in, whilst the rest of us cleaned the boat. Once John and Scotty successfully bribed our way into St Lucia, we went up to the bar in the Marina and continued our arrival party! We all ordered a salad as we had missed the taste of fresh vegetables! It lived up to our expectations. 

We continued our celebrations into the afternoon before we headed into Gros Islet for a friday night street party with the locals and some of our fellow ARC + friends. We had reformed the wolf pack, and as alphas we were determined to show them all a good night out on the town! Unfortunately not all our Surfinn wolfpack made it to the street party as Stevie fell behind in the marina and went back to the boat...some just can’t back up!  

The street party was bursting with people, and they had stalls selling food and alcohol.We danced into the night mingling with fellow sailors and swapping stories. The night ended badly for some, Chad was mugged whilst walking home with a fellow sailor, he was just pushed around a bit whilst one of the gang pick pocketed them. He says if he was sober they wouldn’t have stood a chance against him and his karate skills! All those karate competitions during the sail might have paid off. Luckily we had been warned about pick pockets so we had little money and no valuable on us. 

The prize giving ceremony was held on the 6th of December on Pigeon Island, we were served more rum punches, this stuff is lethal ! Unsurprisingly we were awarded 2nd place in the non race, we accepted the prize graciously… our submissive wolf pack cheered us on! We danced and chatted with our fellow sailors into the early hours of the morning, it was the best way to end the ARC+ Rally! We have added a lot of people to our wolf pack and we will hopefully see them around the Caribbean/the world. 

A few sailing tips from the runner ups (Before we finish our atlantic updates): 

1. Always buy more supplies than you think you will need (2 cartons of beer, 4 wine bottles, 3 vodka bottles, 6 gin bottles and 5 bottles of scotch per person is not enough) 

2. Never turn your motors on… just head in the wrong direction of your destination using the wind and eventually you will arrive 

3. Always take turns picking on one crew member. This is a great team bonding exercise and also teaches the person being bullied resilience and humility

4. Always eat dinner together, just to chat about your day… everyone accomplishes something ("great scarf chad", "excellent nap Russell") 

5. Never take your parasail down… especially during a storm (this is when you will overtake other boats)

6. There is no such thing as too much pasta (especially if you are Chad or Stevie) 

7. Don’t offer neighbouring boats skinny dipping or welcome them on board for nude sunbaking…. they will ignore you (Although this may have worked in our favour - some of them turned their motors on so they could get away from us faster) 

8. Alcohol builds team moral 

9. Don’t teach the crew how to use the B &G computer system, this will lead to spontaneous activities like Man over board drills - what good times! 

Happy Sailing!