14:43.618N 59:02.491W
Tioram 4
Tina & Tony
Thu 10 Dec 2009 15:40
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Thursday 10th December, 11:00
What more can I say, but spirits are high on board the
good ship Tioram and who can blame us with less than 24 hours to run on our epic
journey across one of the worlds oceans under sail alone. It has always been the
plan from Tina and Tony's perspective, and certainly one shared by all onboard,
that arriving in daylight is far more preferable and gives a more enjoyable
ending to the trip; not only do you get to see your approach to the island (and
your first sight of land in 3 weeks), but also the celebrations are far more
lively than at 2am. In addition, the professional photos that are taken as we
cross the line will be far more spectacular, Tioram reaching across the line
with a backdrop of sunkissed beaches of Pigeon Island under royal blue skies
would be impressive. Saying that, at the moment we'll have to improve on that
front as we are surrounded by rain clouds and me thinks that this could be the
theme for the day!!
Given this dream to cross the line in daylight,
it has meant that we've altered our sail plan accordingly, as there was no
chance of covering the remaining 120 miles before last light, so we are
currently running downwind and down the surf on a bit of gennie but still making
5 knots, ideal for our planned time of arrival - well approximately as we don't
want the eta competition to be rigged too much!
Tonights watches are going to be fairly flexible in order
to give everyone enough rest to cope with the expected long day tomorrow. I
certainly think that everyone will be running on adrenaline and taking in the
whole occasion, but come Saturday there will not much activitity coming from
within the hull! We've been trying to explain to Pat about the complexities of
landsickness, it does exist and is not necessarily caused by the amount of
liquids consumed on arrival; it will be a joy not having to lean whilst using
the shower or constantly brace yourself during the continual rolling motion, but
we'll find ourselves over compensating for the next couple of days....it'll be
quite funny for all the tourists on St Lucia to see 200+ yachties walking around
stranglely, I'm just hoping that I don't broach and end up in a ditch like last
time!!
Anyway, this time tomorrow we'll be in, moored up in the
marina and hopefully the celebrations of our achievement will be in full swing,
so may not be able to send a blog to confirm our arrival but will try and do one
in the following days. I also hope that the others will come on and
give you some of their thoughts about the trip but in the meantime we charge
onwards.
Love to all back at home.
Al, Moira, Tina, Tony, Pat and
Mike
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