Drama and finish line reached!
Gwylan
Charles Manby
Tue 8 Dec 2009 17:51
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Well we have been here for nearly 24 hours only
some of it sober!
We had washed the decks using the last of the fresh
water, tidied up inside, removed the plastic from sofas etc, Nicky was putting
mascara on. Parasailor up 20 miles to go.
Black cloud appears, looks as though it is going to
miss us, we sail away from cloud, wind builds to 20-22 knots, Gwylan is reaching
hard at 9.5 knots away from the edge of the cloud which looks as though it is
going to pass. Debate going on as to whether we should drop the sail,
captain downstairs getting docs ready for the finish etc, so we are a bit
slow. Suddenly the right flank of the cloud detaches itself
from the main bulk and "Ack, Ack, Ack" dive-bombs Gwylan. Wind increases
to only 24 knots which should be fine.
"Pop", "Bang" is the sound of several thousand
euros worth of sail ripping horizontally across. Tom is 3 metres up the
forestay in 30 seconds to "spike" or let go the tack of the sail. Nicky
and James are the leeward rail, and the sail well-ripped in back on board
without getting wet.
After the storm, the calm so we wallow into the
finish line 3 hours behing Satori and 45 mins behind Sarabi, 10 hours behind A
Lady (who used 9 hours 40 mins of engine). Sarabi missed the worst of the
storm and then had a better angle in for the light drift to follow, so it was
very tight. Windflower about 4 hours later. So all 4 Oyster 56s
basically arrived within 8 hours of each other.
Two welcoming committees. Firstly Andrew and
Satori. We could not work out why the glass-bottomed boat was rushing
madly around at full speed on the finish line until we saw the crew of
Satori. Very funny indeed. Then Pippa and James on the
dock-side. Champagne, beers, punches, wine, dinner and a sore head
this morning. Apparently there is a bench that at 2am I was calling my new
best friend. Tidy-up today.
So we arrived at 15.38 on Monday. Total
elapsed time 15 days 6 hours and 38 minutes. So faster than the 18-18
days. Those 6 hours under the cloud sound worse than the delays most
experienced and cost us in time, as did the late storm and calm, but not in
experience.
All-in-all it was fulfilling a dream I have long
held, first seeing an Oyster 56 called Kathara sailing north of St Vincent I
think 15 years ago with an ARC flag on it. A great experience, Gwylan was
a rock-star, just the perfect boat for such a voyage, she behaved well and put
up with "operator error".
Good preparations make for a safe, fast and
enjoyable trip, so Tom's time in Lanzarote, Nicky's thinking on provisioning
etc., the weekend course in Guildford where we found out we could do
this.
Thanks to all the crew. Carsten for his
sailing skills, calm and complete helfpulness, Otter for non-stop
chit-chat and enthusiasm, Lara for being a complete laugh, massages, cups of tea
in the middle of the night, bikini fashion shows. ARC asked for the
5 best pieces of kit we took: I wrote Parasailor, Autopilot, AIS, ARC
weather reports and Tom. Great sailor, massively helpful, kind
and a good teacher too. Gave us a complete sense of confidence but it
remained our trip. He also put up with my skippering which must be
pretty tough if you are used to working for Russell Coutts et
al.
Lastly to Nicky. Planning this trip and
having it as an objective and something to aim for has been a great motivator
for both of us after the dark days of Breast cancer, chemo and
radiotherapy. I think it has helped us through that in a big way.
Nicky pushed me not to put it off, and so here we are. Her provisioning,
happiness-creating skills, sailing skills (she is now a much better helm than me
because she doesn't overdo it), made for crew cohesion in a way you will all
recognise. It has been very special to do this with my wife, of whom there
are not many on the ARC. Being able to sail and ski together is a great
part of our lives and marriage and I am very lucky to have her to do it
with. Lots of love to you girl.
OUT
PS I will post some more photos when I can
have access to faster internet. There are some great ones of Gwylan
crossing the finish line on www.photoaction.com
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