Final log /
report from Athena at Sea
Taff
(Skipper)
Last night I was trying to get an uninterrupted four
hours sleep my watch mate Myles was covering for me.
In the middle of the watch we suffered a knock down, the
boat over on her beam ends, flattened by a huge wave, she slowly righted herself
but down below was a mess of broken crockery, jars of jam and Worcester sauce
and glass. The crew were fantastic and worked as the team they are to clean up.
Thank goodness they had reduced sail earlier furling the main, to help ease the
pressure on the rig. It is so easy to enjoy the speed of a big following sea and
a powerful Auto Helm which has been faultless even through the violent moments.
This has been a good trip with a powerful boat, a
kaleidoscope of new memories and new experiences and friends. So often I see
crews testing fate with no life jackets, and boats with marginal safety gear.
Not this one. We are a Cat zero boat with most of the kit required to take fee
paying guests across big oceans. I used to complain of having 100% redundancy of
life rafts for the code until an expert told me that three out of ten random
tests fail to inflate properly. With coded vessels life
jackets, life rafts, lanyards and other safety gear are tested annually. How
many boats plying this Ocean can say that?
John:
We’ve got about 90 miles to go
before we reach the penultimate waypoint, St Lucia landfall, and then around and
on into Rodney Bay arriving around 0900 UTC, in the dark. As you read from the
skippers note above it’s been an eventful night and three changes of clothes for
Myles! (We now say “you can see a big wave for Myles astern...”). Despite the
rain squalls with winds howling some days we have been holding singing practice
with Brian and Philip on the guitar. I’ve managed to almost record enough for a
CD!! Sunny afternoons are best but today’s rain squall had us running for cover
before lunch ended and the guitar came out. Which reminds me it was a funny
sight to be greeted by Philip in boxer shorts and safety harness in the middle
of last night following the knock down saying “I think I may have fallen on the
guitar”... he hadn’t!
Now we are beginning to hear other
boats on the radio more clearly as we converge and hope to see a few tonight,
our last night at sea.
The days have flown and most of our
crew report that it’s been so easy to pass the time working the boat that we’ve
hardly noticed it. Far from being a
motley crew it’s been a very united and competent crew. Everyone has proactively
worked at the jobs as they appeared and shared all the tasks fairly. Everyone
turned out on deck for their watch on time or early over the weeks.
As I write this, our last day in
perpetual motion, there is a magnificent following sea which will be the lasting
impression from these last few days. The crew are chatting nonchalant in the
cockpit in conditions that would put the wind up your average costal sailor such
is the experience gained over these past few weeks. It’s all been worthwhile and
lastly again I’d like to thank our families for facilitating us in achieving
this dream. We are all sorry it’s ending but looking forward to seeing them
again soon.
Myles
Thanks for all the mentions
above...it’s just that every time I came on deck yesterday I became the target
for the waves!
I too
am looking forward to seeing my family again soon. It means so much to get away for this
time and I am really grateful for their support and for helping me make this
adventure happen.
This is my second ARC and so
different from the first. The skipper and my fellow crew members were first
class and it was great fun part of such a diverse group.
Liz:
As those of you watching us on the
yellow brick you will have seen that we are on our final approach. Despite
having been a bumpy and testing last few days.....especially in the galley as
everything does a merry dance, I can’t help having a wee heavy heart as the
thought of “land ahoy” is near. Life on board has been wonderful and full of new
challenges. But apart from that I am very excited to be arriving in St Lucia in
the knowledge that my daughter and boyfriend who haven’t been home in almost two
years will be awaiting our arrival. This gives the journeys end a whole
different meaning and the beginning of a lovely family time. So for now I am
savouring every moment of this rolling sea and motley gang.
Liz Quigley.
Philip:
At the risk of repeating others we
are now just 90 miles from St Lucia in easterly winds of 25 to 30 knots and with
a large following sea and just flying a reefed Genoa we are still making 7 knots
headway. This we have found is a great ocean going yacht and she has taken
everything in her stride so far. As a crew we have relaxed into regular routines
and each day seems to blend into the next. It is hard to believe that we have
been at sea for 20 days. I have really begun to enjoy our 4 am to 8 am watch and
particularly on the last few nights with almost a full moon and listening to an
IPod shuffle of favourite music while the boat sails on westwards.
Yes I will miss this very much when
it ends early tomorrow morning – my only complaint being the number of bangs
received while trying to do mundane tasks like brushing my teeth! But then
hopefully this is only the end of this particular passage and when fully
digested thoughts will turn to the next one! I hope anyone who has taken the
time to read our logs during the cruise has had some sense of the pleasure and
fun we have all been privileged to enjoy.
Brian:
It’s time to begin the final leg of our great ocean
adventure. As we approach St Lucia,
it’s time to begin preparations.
Time to double check course, marks, tides and currents. Time to dress the boat. To dress ourselves. It’s time to start packing. To collect the journeys kit and zip it
up in a hold-all bag. It’s time for
re-joining the world on land and meeting with loved ones who wait.
Now is the time to begin to remember, to savour those
souvenirs of the imagination. The
time to begin the telling of stories, the inevitable and necessary reliving of
our life at sea. The waves will get
bigger, the nights darker, the days hotter. We will roll again and tumble from our
beds. Freak waves will wash through
the hatches with far greater frequency than at any time at sea. Shooting stars will grow in numbers,
winds in strength, and flying fish in distance flown. In short, we will enjoy the telling, as
much as we have enjoyed the sailing.
Are you sitting comfortably? Then let’s begin.