St Lucia at last
True Colours
James Scrimshaw
Wed 18 Dec 2013 17:51
Position 14:04.50N 060:56.89W
Arrival went as well as could be hoped for - fair winds all the way down to Pigeon Island, pole down, then a close reach at 8 knots straight to the finish line. On the way Tim Wright came along in his RIB to take photos and exchange greetings with Toby (along the lines of "What on earth are you doing crossing the Atlantic on a boat this small")
Finishing signal, more photos, then sails down, motor on and into the marina. Clear guidance from the marina as to where we should go, and then to our surprise Rosemary, Sarah, and Josh (who had flown into St Lucia after his secondment to a boat in the Bahamas had been postponed) appeared on the end of a pontoon to help us in.
Best pontoon berth in the marina awaited us (don't know what we did to earn that, but it's mighty convenient), together with a reception party of other ARC participants, ARC and Marina employees, and other random people. Rum punches for the crew, and then we started on the bucket of drinks provided by Josh, Rosemary and Sarah. Impromptu pontoon party followed - 3.30 am., making the memories of the last 20 something days rapidly diminish.
Yesterday was then a day of rest and recovery; for some recovery from the sleep deprivation and stresses of the journey; for others from the 1 1/2 litres of rum consumed by daybreak. Really good to receive an email from Malcolm who I sailed and raced with about 50 years ago in GP14 days.
Today we have stripped covers from the seats to be washed, and generally started the process of cleaning the boat down. We'll continue that in earnest when we move the boat to the pontoon that is at our apartment tomorrow.
