So, after twenty three days and one hour at sea, having covered 2996 nautical miles at average speed 5.4 knots and experienced complete calm and sunshine through to 38 knot winds in torrential squalls, how was it for you?

When I asked Linda and Ted over lunch on the day we arrived, their immediate response was “glad we are here, glad it is over and so glad we were able to fix the steering gear - it would have been a real ordeal had we not, especially after the second time when we also lost the auto-pilot and had to use the emergency tiller”.

And on that subject, a small digression …. a boat, Oysterbar, coincidentally another Hanse, on the Barbados 50 Rally which started in Cape Verde a week before we set off also had steering gear failure. Read all about it here http://cornellsailing.com/2016/11/barbados-50-transatlantic-rally-emergency-high-seas/.

As Ted noted, whenever something went wrong, the main concern wasn’t for our safety, it was how much longer the journey would be as a result. Based on crossing times in previous years I had estimated that we should take between 18 and 20 days. I think we all focussed on the 18 so five more days was quite significant. Ted also noted along the way that two weeks would have been perfect - enough time to experience all of the highlights and sea and weather conditions the passage had to offer without the novelty wearing off.

After further discussion, we agreed that arduous summed things up pretty well. The routine was relentless and demanding. From the end of the first week, we did four hour night watches (me 20:00 - midnight, Linda midnight - 04:00 and Ted 04:00 - 08:00) and hour and a half watches throughout the day. Being “lashed to the wheel” for four hours over night when there is complete cloud cover and no indication whatsoever of the horizon, staring at and steering by the instruments - well sensory deprivation (Ted again) is a good description. Sailing during the day through the calm patches was tedious. Sailing at night through in rough seas and high winds was exhausting. Sailing in the tropics was sapping. And while we did get quite a bit of sleep, it was never really good quality sleep.

Three was a good crew size although four, had the accommodation allowed, would have meant night watches of only three hours. Quite a few of the boats had a crew of only two adults which would have meant spreading sleeping time over a 14 to 16 hour period. And eight of the boats had children on board (http://cornellsailing.com/sail-the-odyssey/atlantic-odyssey/ao-2016/entry-list/) - we can only marvel at how the parents coped!

On the up side, we all met our objectives. Linda and I are in the Caribbean with the boat and have eight or so months ahead of us cruising here and up the US east coast. And Ted has one less item on his bucket list - one he thought he was unlikely to cross off when he added it and one that would have remained had it not been for a chance conversation over lunch on the South Bank back in January, a conversation he may well have regretted having at certain points along the way.