All Complete in Mauritius

There was great celebration this morning at the Le Caudan Waterfront Marina in Port Louis  as the last yacht of the 22–strong Rally fleet arrived in Mauritius. The Canadian yacht ‘J’Sea’ crewed by John Cuzner and Lynda Gorgopa was without its autopilot for almost all of the trip, causing the pair to hand steer continuously during  the exhausting 2,400 nautical mile passage. The crew decided to take things easy and maintain a routine of rest so that they could complete their goal to arrive in Mauritius.

On the dockside to welcome the pair was the rest of the World ARC family. The atmosphere was a noisy carnival one with hooters, shouts, whistles and horns sounding as J’Sea made their final approach to the dock. The helpers made short work of tying up the boat and John and Lynda were quickly ashore to give thanks for the welcome and also receive greetings  from other crew members. Crossing the Indian Ocean is a challenging stage of the Rally but to do it double-handed and without autopilot is even more so. Nevertheless, it was great for all the crews to now that they had all completed this leg and could begin or continue to explore Mauritius.

The World ARC programme continues on Monday with a day tour to the L’Aventure du Sucre eco-museum and the Chateau de L’Bourdonnais. The fleet will enjoy a superb quayside reception on Wednesday to celebrate their achievements. Well done to everybody!