Finally, after months of preparation and anticipation, we are at the off, at one o’clock on Sunday, and we start slowly inching our way across the pond. For those of you following on the ARC website you will see our daily endeavours as a small incremental creep across the map. I can assure you this seemingly small achievement will hide the daily toil that got us there and the massive enjoyment we will be having sailing on Adastra and settling into the routine of life on the seas. We have received lots of telephone calls from friends and family wishing us a good voyage. There are too many people to thank individually for the support that we have received in helping us prepare. It has been an immense effort of time and support. Many thanks from all of us.
The ARC provides an enormous amount of information throughout the build up period, as well as entertainment. It will not surprise you to hear that Charlie has been in the forefront of social activities and manages to receive invitations from only the largest yachts, which also seems to have the youngest and best looking crews. There will however be one very disappointed young Scots lady, who is desperate and is still looking for a place on a yacht and spends a great deal of time looking longingly up at Charlie, who informs us that as she is very short, it would be too much like hard work stooping down all the time to talk to her?
We will try to keep you informed of what is happening on board with updates on this site, you can email us at but please keep the messages short and NO pictures please, as we need our sever for downloading weather and do not want it blocked up with big files. No sister Joanna, I do not want to read the latest version of your dissertation, so you can keep that attachment off your letters.
Lists are complete, I am writing this while keeping one eye out for the fruit to arrive, then all will be stowed away and we shall be ship shape ready to leave. The only real gripes the crew seem to have is the steady increase of the already vast stores of muesli, couscous and the unparalleled ability of the neoprene on my walking shoes to smell. Both are curable problems and will not hit moral too much!
Tonight we are off to the farewell party, held not on Saturday to spare us setting sail with headaches to hinder us. Las Palmas being Spanish means all things happen late, supper I can do but three o’clock lunches leaves me hollow inside. With all the food hidden in nooks we will not go ‘without’ on the trip. We have a locker of treats for each week to ration as we go though I suspect we will not show such restraint when it comes to Penny’s brownies. Poor Charlie is having to change his eating habits as there are others, who enjoy late lunches
Friday 21st November 2008,
Get the best wallpapers on the Web – FREE.
Click here!