We are here!
ULA
John & Jackie Richards
Thu 18 Dec 2008 16:45
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Position:014:04.639N 060:56.882W
As John posted on the blog yesterday, we crossed
the finish line at 00.52am local time Sunday morning 14 December. It was a
fantastic moment although in some ways I personally felt a bit sad it was
all over. The finish line was marked with a flashing buoy to port and the ARC
committee boat to starboard. As we crossed the line they radioed us to
congratulate us on the finish and we had a photographer alongside us in a
rib taking various shots as we came in.
We had sailed all the last day with the spinnaker
up and it had been a gorgeous day. We changed our watches so that each watch did
a couple of hours until around 11pm and then we were all up on deck for the last
couple of hours. The lights on Martinique further North were visible a good
distance out and as we closed St Lucia the moon made it quite easy to pick out
the coast. We had sailed most of the day in the company of Samba, a Dutch boat
who were about a mile or so ahead of us but slightly further South. They had to
gybe to make the headland and we thought we might just beat them in as we
were still flying the spinnaker but in the end they crossed the line just over
half a mile ahead. Another boat, Neroli came in around 3 miles behind us.
As Ula rounded Pigeon Island to the North we took the spinnaker down and
finished the trip with just the genoa up. We had
been in touch with ARC control by radio from about 5 miles out. Once finished we
were directed to a berth in the marina and had to navigate through in to the
lagoon Some revellers at a bar along our route started calling out and
waving. As we berthed, we were greeted by a couple of marina staff and two
others who gave us a massive basket of fruit/other goodies and a glass of rum
punch each which went down well! Someone opened the champagne we'd been chilling
all day and the party began. Samba were berthed alongside us and put on
a CD of Caribbean music to set the scene!
A few hours of partying ensued - having finished
two bottles of champagne, it was noted that Scuttlebutts bar in the marina was
still serving (around 2.00am) so off we went. It was full of ARC crews, many of
whom had finished very close to us.We met up with Yonder, the Danish boat we had
talked to en route and many more. Around 3am they decided to close and we came
back to Ula. By 3.30am various other crew from boats around us were on
board, someone got the whisky out and the party continued....... John and
I, Howard and eventually Andy C all fell by the wayside fairly early on and went
to bed leaving Andrew and Adrian flying the Ula flag. By the time we woke up
around 10am certain people appeared to have been in for a swim,
either voluntarily or in one case involuntarily while having a pee and another
had been sleeping on the pontoon!?! Discretion prevents me from divulging names
here! After a slow start on Ula (some starts distinctly slower than others!) we
headed off to Scuttlebutts again for some brunch and to rehydrate.
Since then we have been busy having a big clean up
of the boat with plenty of chilling out time as well. Andrew and
Howard have decamped to the luxury of the Royal St Lucian, Andy C has been
joined by Cazababe and they are renting an apartment and Adrian, John and I have
remained on Ula. Yesterday we all went for a day sail to Marigot Bay, about 20
miles further South where Dr Dolittle was filmed apparently which was fabulous
and Tuesday Adrian and Howard went off on a diving/snorkelling trip which they
really enjoyed. We are off to the airport later today to pick up Laura and
Andrew who are joining us for Christmas. Our friends on Libertad arrived on
Tuesday night and were in good form and Quasar IV who were opposite
us on the pontoon in Las Palmas arrived last night. There have been several
ARC parties and events which we've been to so far and tonight there is a costume
party on Pigeon Island. The final prize giving/wrap up etc is on Saturday when
we will find out our final position. At the moment the positions only show
the order boats crossed the finishing line and dont take in to account the
number of engine hours used. We only used around 13 engine hours in
total so we will have to see where that puts us.
So what of the trip overall? Over dinner yesterday
evening we were discussing whether we would want to do it again. There was an
(almost) unanimous 'Yes' (Andrew is thinking about it!) It has been a fantastic
experience - we have learned a lot in terms of both ocean sailing in
varying weather and sea conditions, and probably about ourselves as well in the
process. Ula has served us very well and the crew has been brilliant with
everyone contributing in their own way throughout the trip. Howard's
quote(s) of the day yesterday were 'I'm not a full man without my sextant'
and 'Adrian - your pants keep turning up in my laundry!'
Some final awards for the trip:
Andrew -The Greasy Spoon Award for consistently
good bacon, egg and tomato sandwiches
Adrian - The Moby Dick Award for catching us at
least one fish
Howard - The Direction Finding Award for use of
sextant and stars in case our GPS failed
Andy C - The What Storm Award for sleeping through
our worst storm while off watch (he blames the Stugeron!)
John - The Happy Captain Award/Chaffe Conqueror
Award for getting us here in one piece
We've had a great time, thanks to our family
and friends at home who have been following our progress and emailing us
and texting us since we got in. Looking forward to catching up with everyone
when we get back, Love Jackie.
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