Sometime in the night between Thursday and Friday, depending on whether we were still on Xenial Standard Time or on local Grenada time, Janne cried “Land!”. Actually, he cried “Lights! And not boat lights!” - he has by far the best eyesight on board (his glasses are rumored to be custom made in Italy), so it’s no wonder he is part of the Spotting Committee. We sat on deck watching the lights get closer and closer and looking at the mile count get smaller and smaller.
In between Christmas songs (you can blame me for that), we listened on the radio as boats and friends who had not seen each other in days or weeks greeted each other with joy, if you want to call spotting each other on AIS “seeing each other”. I thought it was wonderful to hear all these happy voices, the Swedes think channel 16 should be used for emergencies only and this was very bad radio etiquette. I may volunteer them to host a “Proper VHF use and etiquette” seminar for ARC participants next year.
The Captain got his plotter out and we started paying attention to our depth indicator. Its alarm had been going off regularly throughout the crossing, warning us of shallow waters. I don’t know about you, but unless there were fish under our keel, we didn’t think it made much sense. But we were back looking at our depth indicator approaching Grenada and squinting our eyes trying to spot landmarks indicated by the plotter. How different coastal navigating is from blue water sailing!
We finally made it to somewhere close to the finish line, which to be clear was just a line on the plotter. The Sailing Committee, out of pride, wanted to cross the line with at least one sail up. We had the wind basically in front of us, so we had our mainsail up but our hopes of hosting the genaker one last time were impossible to fulfill. We tacked twice on the finish line trying to find a good angle to cross it, but eventually the Captain decided that the time had come for us to arrive and turned on the engine to push us across. For some unknown reason, while the boat was doing 4 knots motoring against wind, the Trimming Committee chairman was in full action tending to the main sail.
At 01:35am local time we crossed the finish line, and it was a bit anticlimactic, somewhat like the departure from Las Palmas. I guess there are called sail boats because it makes a difference when the sails are up and working! Or maybe we just saved our best (and worse) sailing for Mindelo.
Much more exciting was our arrival in harbor. We were welcomed by an ARC yellow shirt who served us our first, and certainly not last, rum punch. We were cheered on by the crew of Infinity who had moored next to us not not much earlier. And so we went on chatting till 3.30am with the Finns and Brits that sailed their Arctic exploration sail boat across the ocean, closely shadowing a boat that had water coming in from the rudder. To us, they were heroes! And I say that because they only had 250 litres of tank water for the whole crossing, not because they helped another crew in need.
The second round of drinks were some of our favorites - Sunnyboy had the caipirinha he had been dreaming of since we left, albeit made with Cape Verde grog, which he confessed was not as good as real rum. But the only rum we had on board was “fish death”, so he made due with what we had. Janne had an Americano, and for the Major, the Captain, CJ and myself, I made gin&tonics. It was my first in probably over a year (I am mostly sober) and it was very well worth the wait!
We eventually succumbed to deep sleep, but at 8am we were back up waiting for instructions to move the boat from our temporary mooring on the super yacht pontoon, to our permanent berth here in Grenada. While we love every inch of our 45 feet home, we definitely don’t classify as a super yacht, nor we would want to! After living through an experience like this on a sailing yacht, you start getting close to the boat, if you know what I mean, and playing “Boat Configurator” nearly feels like cheating on Xenial.
Finally docked, we got down to business. The Captain headed straight to check us in with Customs & Immigration, leaving strict instructions about washing. To be precise, first the boat and then ourselves! After some deep scrubbing and leathering and rinsing, we all regrouped for lunch, and the first cold beers on land were enjoyed. Only then I think we finally relaxed and let it sink in: We hade made it! We sailed across the Atlantic Ocean! 2,200 nautical miles of water, salt, sun and a lot of laughs!
The next few days will be spent cleaning, tidying up, fixing small and big things, dealing with all kind of projects the Captain has already made a detailed list of. But also relaxing, exploring, eating fresh fruit and vegetables, enjoying access to unlimited showers, and the like. There will be a lot of food and a lot of drinks, and we look forward to hearing from everyone else about their experiences across the seas. Everyone has a story, and each of them resonates with us and brings up an anecdote from our own crossing. It’s all part of the process of committing to our memories this unique and incredible experience.
Before I close this blog out, a few thank yous.
To the Wehtje family for being the most wonderful hosts and having us all onboard Xenial! Helena, thank you for all your support to Ulrik in the preparation, we look forward to seeing you soon back on board. Beata (who would be offended if we didn’t mention her), thank you for being such a wonderful companion to myself, Bobo and Ulrik from Bilbao to Porto.
To all the friends that helped bring the boat from Sweden to Las Palmas, thank you! Without your help we wouldn’t have been able to complete this amazing leg of Xenial’s journey. And it’s a journey that doesn’t end here, I have a feeling many will be on board again in the West Indies and ready to help when the boat goes back “home”.
To our partners in crime on Hermia II, well done on your racing result! It was wonderful to have your company and support it harbor and at sea.
To the ARC+ team and our fellow participants, it has been our pleasure to get to know you and share such a great experience with you. You have made us feel part of a community.
And finally to the Sailing Committee, the Trimming Committee, the Fishing Committee, the Engineering Committee, the Spotting Committee, the Drinking Committee, the Apple Tasting Committee, the Theoretical Committee, the Weighing Committee, the Hunting Committee, the Bird Watching Committee and the Interpretation Committee - Thank you for sharing this amazing journey with me and thank you for making is so much fun!
(I don’t know about you, but the word committee had lost all meaning for me)
Over and out,
Mavi