Day 14 1/2....The Finish!!
14L04.8N 60:57.8W We have come to the end….we approached St. Lucia in twilight, and crossed the finish line in full darkness, except for signal lights, land lights, and some boats….a bit confusing after seeing almost nothing for 14 days, but quickly sorted out by the able crew of “Arbella”! We crossed the finish line in Rodney Bay at 14 days, 11 hours, and 34 minutes from the start…2,900 miles! We then carefully picked our way, as directed by the ARC team ashore, to our berthing. We were greeted by a group singing “The Star Spangled Banner”, and rum punch, as well as horns and clapping, by those already “in” who saw us coming. After securing our lines, we celebrated with a special “rum tot” …. Eric contributed a bottle of “Eight Bells Rum” from Batch #1 of “New England Distilling” in Portland, Maine, which is where all the crew except the captain have roots of varying sorts! Moreover, the picture on the bottle, and the name, are of the painting by Winslow Homer titled “Eight Bells -- Mid Day Observation”, showing a very salty sailor taking a sextant reading. We celebrated using the tot glasses Vicki and I obtained in St. Malo, France…part of Britanny, where the Celtic influence was strongly in evidence….so the Irish are present in spirit in the end….and certainly also was my much missed navigator and helmswoman, Vicki!! Tomorrow, Cap, Scott, and I leave to sail two days to the British Virgin Islands, where “Arbella” will be berthed until Vicki and I return at the end of January; Paul and Eric fly home from here. And I will be in Denver quite quickly with Vicki! . ATLANTIC HISTORY…Winslow Homer did his first engraving in 1867, and is considered one of the most effective painters capturing the many faces of the Atlantic Ocean…as Simon Winchester says in “Atlantic”, “Homer loved the sea’s austerity and integrity; he loved its loneliness; he loved its calms; and he loved it most of all when it crashed and thundered in the height of a storm”. We saw all of that in the past 14+ days. Further, Homer lived in Prout’s Neck, Maine , which is where Cap and Scott work…at the Prout’s Neck Yacht Club! What a coincidence…from the Atlantic on the European side…starting with cave men, then Columbus, and ending with Winslow Homer in the back yard of the crew…the Atlantic ties it all together! The two burgees flying from the yard arm are the Annapolis Yacht Club (the captains home), and Prout’s Neck Yacht Club (a tribute to the crew from Maine). This has been a very memorable experience, with a great group of sailors! Captain Mike |