can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Windleblo - Day Sixteen



We greeted this new day with Mimosas in celebration of crossing the line leaving 1,000 nautical miles to go to St. Lucia. A bright sun was rising in the east as we toasted our vessel and ourselves. With this moment behind us, an air of finality pervades on board. Just a few short weeks ago, a voyage of 300 miles, much less 1,000, would seem daunting. Now, with the strengthening trade winds pulling us faster and faster toward our goal, the six days separating us from St. Lucia seem short. Windleblo has become a steed galloping downhill, the barn in sight.

The Mimosas made the moment significant. For safety's sake, Jocelyn and I have always kept alcohol out of the picture whenever we are under way. Once the hook is set and the transits are steady, the beer and wine can flow, but beforehand sobriety rules.

This ethic has extended to Windleblo's passage making. But to listen to tales told in Las Palmas, among ARC boats we may be the exception. There, many references were heard to perpetual sundowners at sea, leading us to believe that more than half the ARC boats were steered by a besotted bunch veering their way across the Pond, hoping to arrive at the correct Caribbean island. We even heard the highly dubious claim that crew members on the Volvo Ocean Racing boat were to sustain themselves on a ration of "one sandwich and two beers" per day.

Though probably just pre-rally bravado, these stories left the Windleblo crew with the impression that we were one of the few boats with a heartless Skipper who wouldn't allow his crew their daily grog. To their credit, they have not mutinied over this (yet), but the tea-totaling certainly hasn't help counter the crew's claim, referenced in an earlier blog post, that this Skipper's ship is too "tight."

So loosen up we have, this morning with Mimosas. And as the giddiness over being in Neptune's good graces continued, the Coach posed a question to the crew.

"Now that I've tasted tropical sailing, lads, how am I going to go back to wearing shoes and socks?" he asked.

As one the crew replied, "Well, maybe you don't have to."

Instantly, a look of resolve crossed the Coach's face.

"Look, here's the plan," he said without hesitation. "You guys go back to Ireland, fetch Moya and my boat and sail them both to St. Lucia. I'll wait for you on the beach. Tell my sons they can have all my other stuff."

It's not the first time an Irishman has left the Emerald Isle to make his way in the Americas, and it won't be the last.


Postlude

Here are the answers to Gozwoz's riddles, posted yesterday:

1. A towel.
2. A stamp.
3. A casket.
4. A hole.
5. A snail.

John Hoopes offered this riddle on today's ARC SSB Group A Radio Net:

"If I have a bee in my hand, what is in my eye?"

The answer will be given at the end of tomorrow's blog post.

Previous | Next