The End is in Sight
ULA
John & Jackie Richards
Sat 13 Dec 2008 20:23
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Position 014:19.677N 059:55.272W
At time of blogging (2.45pm,approx 5.45pm UK time)
we have just 60 miles to go to our waypoint off St Lucia and the finish!
The sun is baking hot, the wind a flukey Easterly F3, and we are making between
5.5-6knots under spinnaker. Another ARC boat, Samba is within a few hundred
metres of us and another boat is about 3 miles astern. We spoke to Samba on the
radio when only a couple of days out of Las Palmas and have not seen them since
so it seems quite bizarre after all the ocean we have both covered to be within
a few hundred metres of each other taking photographs! We have also seen a huge
flock of birds a few hours ago - the first for many many days.
At change of watch at 8am this morning when we put
up the spinnaker we were making 7 knots and our ETA St Lucia was around
11pm-midnight. Since then the wind has dropped and we are looking at a revised
timing of around 2am local time ( 6am UK time) based on current sailing
although this may change dependent upon the conditions. Our waypoint is about
three miles out from the marina etc so there will be further time needed to get
in, berth etc.
We are still rolling a little but nowhere near as
badly as the previous three days which along with the heat and humidity had made
life on board quite uncomfortable and sleep hard to come by. Last night was
calmer - no squalls requiring a swift downing of sails and a slightly fresher
air stream. It is a full moon now and it never goes completely dark - very nice
for sailing although our star finding activities have had to cease as it is too
light to make out any but the very brightest.
The level of humour has not diminished, apart from
occaisonally when we are all knackered and fed up. Last night over sundowners
was no exception when we got on to toilet rolls! Howard until recently worked
for a large household name involved in paper products and the quality of our
on-board loo rolls came up for discussion. Apparently market research has
revealed two types of user - the 'Folder' and the 'Crumpler'. The Germans
are definitely 'folders' and prefer a harder, more layered texture to their
loo rolls while the Americans are 'crumplers' preferring a much softer variety
with the British somewhere in between. Never let it be said that our blogs are
not educational! A straw poll on Ula revealed that we have four folders and two
crumplers although it was agreed that identities should be withheld from
the blog!
We have also re-named the Alpha Watch the
'Goldenballs Watch' as they are so bloody perfect!?! (no prizes for guessing the
GB watch leader!!)
So now that the end is in sight, what are the
thoughts of the crew? Everyone feels a great sense of achievement and
satisfaction - its been the nautical equivalent of a marathon. John in
particular has put so much planning and effort in to getting us here. A few
individual thoughts........
Andrew has described it as a 'successful endurance
test' although we are not sure whether he is referring to sailing with me, his
pain of a sister in law for three weeks or just the sailing of the
Atlantic!
Andy C and Howard are looking forward to a shower
lasting at least 15 minutes
Adrian said 'Where's the first mark?' ie its only
the first leg of the race!!
We all have our duties allocated in the run for the
finish. I have to radio in to ARC control at 10, 5 and 1 miles out, Andy C has
to move our ARC number from the port to the starboard side of the boat, Adrian
is in charge of sails, Howard is to let off a white flare and Andrew is blowing
the foghorn as we cross the line. John has just the simple tasks of navigating
us in, berthing and cracking open the champagne!
Next blog hopefully from dry land and not too
hungover! Jackie
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