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Free & BrEasy - The Circumnavigators’ Tale



We have crossed the finishing line!  Free & Breasy has returned to St Lucia after a 15 month, 25000 mile tropical circumnavigation!  The whole World ARC fleet completed a 2 hours Parade of Sail from Marigot Bay to Rodney Bay, in line, 100 metres apart and dressed up with all signal flags flying. To mark the finish we blew the fog horn and yelled until we were hoarse. Out came a red flare and we posed for photographs to mark the end. We were now officially Circumnavigators!

After docking we went straight to a drinks reception by the pool. We were late arriving and wondered why everyone who congratulated us, stroked our clothes and said “my - your very dry”. It was not long before we discovered why as we were bodily lifted up and thrown into the pool! We had spent 15 months trying to avoid getting wet only to be immersed totally at the end! World ARC arranged a sumptuous evening dinner dance where we were given our certificates and thanks were said. The biggest cheer of the evening went to Paul and Suzana from World ARC who not only did a fantastic job organising the rally and welcoming us at each port but are getting married to each other in the summer. Congratulations and Good Luck! We danced the night away and said our farewells to the rest of the fleet who had become a big extended family. Next morning the island was raining tears at our departure. Roger will be spending the next two weeks with Anna on another honeymoon in St Lucia while Marco and Michael catch the planes that will take them back to their respective homes in Italy and Scotland, and to life after circumnavigation.

In the previous week, we finished off our tour of Caribbean islands with visits to Canouan and St Vincent. The anchorage at Canouan was lovely and quiet, and the town sleepy. We walked, swam and internetted to our hearts content, enjoying the last experience of a peaceful life on the circumnavigation. St Vincent was a lot busier but allowed us to visit the Botanical Gardens and Cathedral in Kingstown as well as experience the manic local minibuses and climb up to the magnificent volcanic crater at Mount Soufriere, with rain, wind and cloud to complete the experience! An overnight motor took us to our final island destination in St Lucia at Marigot Bay. On the west coast, two sugar-loaf shaped hills, the towering Pitons of St Lucia, greeted us in the morning like sentinels of a gateway to the island.

What have we learnt from the circumnavigation? We have confirmed that the earth is round and that the continents are in the correct place! We have learnt a lot about how to maintain friendly positive relationships with the other people in the confined space of the boat or in close family of the fleet, even though, at times, they act as though they come from an alien planet! We have learnt rather more than we expected about boat maintenance.

We have met an enormous array of people from at least 24 different countries, a few very rich and many very, very poor. The unifying feature of the people we have met is the willingness to smile, to laugh, and to help the traveller. This was at its best in Tanna in the Vanuatu where the people owned very little, and now, if they survived the horrendous cyclone, will have less except for the generosity of donations. One subjective impression is that people from different parts of the globe are beginning to look the same. From the most isolated Pacific Atoll to the busiest city in Brazil, people are generally getting rounder! The reason for this maybe that the supermarkets in every country we visited generally sell the same unhealthy food.

The long hours on board have afforded us the time to catch up on reading. After busy decades pursuing careers and a life style which has left little time for reading, it has been a pleasure to catch up with a few classics or reread favourite books from our youth. We have also had the time and opportunity to chase the ghosts of the past in our minds. How many times on the long lonely night watches have we found ourselves re-examining events and relationships from the past as though by meditation we could alter events or understand the motives of others. This has sometimes led to a new understanding of our selves that would not have been possible without the space and time afforded by the long ocean passages.  Sailing provides room for more contemplative and reflective thoughts that would be pushed aside in the normal hustle and bustle. No need for expensive shrinks when time and the shooting stars provide the answers!

And what about our circumnavigating stowaway, Pedro the Polar Bear? He has stoically clung to his position above the door into the saloon. His sea-paws are phenomenal and he has not once lost his balance despite some big seas. Does he regret stowawaying on Free & Breasy? “Not a bit! It’s like being carried around the tropics on an iceberg that never melts. Mind you I could have eaten more seals!”

So what will Life after circumnavigation bring? Will we find new doors opening or will we be back to where we started only with a few more holiday snaps? For sure there will be many moments when in the midst of a busy life on land, we will be suddenly transported, in our minds, back to huge seas in the Indian Ocean, a deserted beach in the South Pacific, a Hindu temple in Bali, or a street full of dancers in Salvador. We each have our own personal cellar of bottled memories ready for sampling at the least unexpected moments! For some of us, the circumnavigation is just the start to many more sailing adventures or even careers as sailors. For others this is the realisation of a long held dream which ends with putting the anchor down permanently and life in port. All we can say is that the experience of taking the opportunity for ‘the big adventure’ has taught us the value of always being ready to open new doors for new opportunities and take the risk of failure. Whether it is a ‘life changing’ experience only time will tell but the seeds have been sown.

The family and friends at home will also have to adjust to the returning seafarers and we to them! After 15 months away at sea we will have to adapt to ‘normal’ life on land and not be chained to living on a small fibreglass raft subject to the whims of the ocean weather and currents. There will be lists of tasks that have accumulated while we have been away and demands from family that have been put on ice till the return. There will undoubtedly be moments when we wish we were back at sea and when those around us wish we would sail away again! With luck, we will be able bring a new sense of wonder and purpose to our lives, gained from the privilege of spending 15 months of our lives selfishly doing what we enjoy, in some of the most enchanting places in the world. This is all thanks to the unselfish generosity of our family who have made the major changes to their lives that have allowed us to go. Perhaps the biggest lesson of all is gratitude to our nearest and dearest!

 


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