ARC Day 16

 

Ceilidh has completed a solid days run with 195NM in 24hrs.

We were pushed to the North of our 270T rhumb line course overnight thus adding extra mileage before gybing South at 06:30 this morning.

At the time of writing we have 49NM to go before crossing the finish line in Rodney Bay, St Lucia which should happen around 15:30 local time.

Once again had very mixed conditions with a beautiful and very warm day yesterday with a steady F5 breeze. In the early hours of this morning we suffered some severe squalls with torrential rain and 35knots of wind. As soon as we were clear of one set and shook out the reefs then another squall pounced, hence our title today with shake it in out and all about!

So a very challenging night to keep everyone on their toes.

So a 16 day crossing is around 2 days ahead of what we might have expected in the best of conditions, so once again we are delighted with the performance of Ceilidh and the huge efforts put in to hand steer her across the Atlantic.

I have really enjoyed writing the blog so I am sad to report this is the last full edition. I will post a summary of photos over the next few days from the whole event.

I would like to thank particularly Charlie G and Peter W for their amazing output of jokes which have kept us entertained and of course all family and friends of the crew who have been very supportive throughout. These messages really made a difference and lifted the mood of the crew when they were down.

A last reminder that we have been fundraising for the NSPCC, so please find the time to donate to this very worthy cause. Our crew Paul Leighton will match all sums raised which is a very generous gesture. The link is http://www.justgiving.com/Ceilidh-of-Lorne

 

Just in case we do have a complete day off tomorrow, I have included both outstanding verses of our song:

 

 

On the eleventh day of Ceilidh’s ARC my skipper gave to me, 11 days of sunshine.

On the twelfth day of Ceilidh’s ARC my skipper gave to me, 12 rum punches.

 

Dave Sturrock