Our intrepid crew made their way to the island of São Vincente to refuel for the final leg to St Lucia. Via the constant support of the Golondrina nerve centre, based in a secret location in Surrey, information had already been received that pontoon F was the target area and opening times were only 3 hours on a Sunday - and there were already 10 ARC boats already waiting there. Clearly a leader was required and Dave ( code name ‘Rainbow’) stood up to be counted. He felt that operation ...'Push In the queue' ... was his goal.. This was where the deep blue thinking of a senior strategic high ranking officer could pull all his resources together and deliver the goods. Clearly a diversion tactic was required as this was 'filling by appointment only’ and the fear was that the heroes may not get fuel until Monday.
On arrival last night, Dave challenged Owain, who wants his Day Skipper certificate, with the pilotage into a remote mid Atlantic Island marina with only a guide book - no chart - at night. Surely, São Vicente would conform to international maritime lighting regulations! It's rather tricky turning to an examiner for assistance when the best he can offer is "It's my first, in here, time as well "! The fact Golondrina arrived and departed safely speaks for itself. Well done Owain!
They arrived under the cover of darkness (0300 to be precise) so time was off the essence. Dave thought it would be a great idea to syphon out the fuel tank into jerry cans (they don’t like filling jerry cans here!) and assigned Rattie Davis the pleasure of covering himself in diesel by torch light.
Whilst the foot soldiers slept, Dave made detailed invasion plans of the pontoon drawing upon a wealth of skills learnt over several years . The troops were woken at 0730 because clearly the briefing was going to be long and detailed. All watches were synchronised and Dave posted Owain as a forward command communication centre who at 0857 would bombard the office with phone calls ensuring Golondrina got in first. At this point Stu tried to interject..."shut up Rattie! can't you see I'm talking" .. "But!" Said Rattie .... "But, nothing" huffed Rainbow, who was clearly not used to be interrupted.
"Now where was I?" Dave continued to explain that this was an international operation in which certain nationalities were going to cheat and others would be too polite and allow us in. Dave was explaining an Excel spreadsheet he'd created overnight - cross referencing nationality with 'pushing in tactics' - and was about to place Mark as the Tsar of the newly formed cross-nation steering committee when Rattie had the arrogance to interrupt again 'Dave, can I just mention something'. Dave looking rather baity and exploded "so what is it ? What possibly could you bring to this forum which I haven't covered in my detailed strategic plan, eh?". "Well " Rattie hesitated, "there's a man at the fuel station waving at us to come over. Just thought you might like to know "
So at 6 knots ground speed and whilst still dragging the overnight anchor, Golondrina was last in and first out - effectively overtaking some 10 ARC boats for which we humbly apologise to the skippers and their crews.
Gareth steered Golondrina out of the harbour and on to towards the Caribbean, pondering how he managed to get so lucky with his crew.....
Today's thanks go to Wendy .. Yes the pills are working!
Now sailing SW with 2000 miles still to go.