A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back

Sliding in 28th overall

Sam and Alex Fortescue

Sun 19 Dec 2010 22:39

Summer Song has underlined her racing credentials again by sliding into a vertiginously high position overall in the ARC. We arrived early on Thursday morning, around the 185th boat to cross the finishing line, with the bulk of the fleet getting in on Tuesday or Wednesday. But at 34 feet long, Summer Song was the second shortest boat in the rally, with a handicap to match. The idea is that the final position is determined after the finish time has been 'corrected' according to your handicap. With a relatively low number of engine hours for this ARC, about 47 overall, our final position was 28th in a field of over 220 boats.

Needless to say, there was great celebration among the crew when we found out at midnight last night. After texting Jesse to let her know, she promptly forgot to tell Will, Graham or Jan of our triumph. Alex and I skipped about in the dark for a while after seeing the result, then sidled off to the nearby H2O bar to find some people to boast to. We had to steer clear of a few boats we knew that had beaten us. But of our immediate circle of ARC friends, we'd only been pipped by the Norwegian boat Honningpupp. She had a secret weapon onboard, in the form of a Swede who had completed an Atlantic crossing before and done plenty of racing.

Last night was the culmination of the ARC social programme, with a big prize giving ceremony at 'Gaiety', a local music hall type establishment. In typical ARC style, vast numbers of crews turned out in team shirts and, true to form, the organisers ensured that the drinks and nibbles were so thin on the ground that people would literally leap on staff bearing trays of food before they had even left the kitchens. People here must think Europeans are perpetually hungry, judging by the way we all carried on.

We'd been hoping for rich rewards at the prize giving but in the end, even random prizes such as 'arriving in the same position as thir race number' eluded us. It was all a bit like a school prize giving, except, as Will said, not so interesting. There was a bit too much corporate claptrap and messages from sponsors for my liking. For all that, it was great to rub shoulders with all the crews we've met one last time before we scatter across the Caribbean.

We set off in search of local nosh for supper and got a taxi driver to take us to a little cafe in the hills above Rodney Bay, called Ginette's Place. Ginette was an ample and friendly lady who fired up her barbecue for us in the rain, while we sat under cover drinking Piton beers and concocting excuses for having emerged empty handed from the prize giving. The cafe was surrounded by lush, dripping foliage, which was alive with exotic sounding squawks and chirrups from unidentified birdlife. Squawks from Tabitha were completely absent, as she'd been left in the care of a babysitter. She'd had a busy afternoon being carried up to the top of Fort Rodney, which crowns Pigeon Island, then attending the opening hour of the ARC party. I took her to dance to the steel band music, which she tolerated, but deep down it was clear that her uncle was enjoying the experience more than Tabitha herself, who merely tolerated my foibles. She seemed particularly taken with First Mate Alex, who she finds inexplicably hilarious. Alex has only to swim into view for Tabitha to break into a broad smile.

Today was more sedate. We saw Graham and Jan off, bringing this part of the trip to a close. After more than a month together day and night, it was sad to see him go, but we're hoping to reconvene for the passage from the US out to Bermuda on the homeward leg of the journey. Meanwhile, we've brought the weather with us, and the rain hasn't stopped since this morning. At one point it was raining so hard that the roof of the cafe we were sheltering in became a waterfall and the neighbouring buildings diappeared in the downpour.

Tomorrow, we're planning to sail down the west coast of St Lucia as far as Marigot Bay, where they filmed Dr Doolittle. It'll be rammed with ARC boats, so we'll head on quite quickly to the Pitons and then to Grenada in time for Christmas. The hooks will be baited and out for a mahi-mahi to grill on the beach on Christmas Day.