Sailing the Atlantic -Finished!!! 11th Dec 2009. See the photos!!!

Hello from Rodney Bay –St Lucia.

We arrived across the finishing line at 10.22 am local time.

We have stalled the boat for the last 24 hours, running on genoa alone to arrive in daylight rather than the predicted 4am darkness. Moira, Al , Mike and myself had the luxury of arriving by day 5 years ago and we decided to do the same again.

We neared the islands in big seas after another night of dodging squalls. We saw Martinique first to starboard/right and the shoreline lights around 4 am and as dawn broke and we sailed on we saw the silhouette of St Lucia.

As we approached the island we saw the grey shape change to colour then the vegetation and houses become visible and then Pigeon island an outcrop of rock which we rounded in our run into the finish line.

We ran with a professional photographer who hopefully took some good photos.

We were met on the dock in true Caribbean spirit with rum punches, fruit basket, and cheers from a neighbouring ARC boat who took our lines.

An extra treat is that Jane , Mikes wife flew in yesterday and was waiting for us on the dock.

The crew have gone off to the bar for ‘ a few drinks’, we are off to sort out customs—hopefully a quick fix and will be off to join the party of all parties !!!!!!!!!!

Its been a tough crossing in comparison to our crossing 5 years ago when Al, Moira, Mike and myself sailed on a challenge yacht—-met and became life long friends.

Tony has waited so long for this experience and Pat joined us to ‘ live the dream’.

The voyage has tested all of us and left us with little time to enjoy one another’s company-an important part for me personally. I also promised Tony balmy nights looking at the beauty of the stars in ‘Gods cathedral’, sunsets and sunrises to marvel over. Sadly the trip did not allow this.

However, it was a challenge for all of us to face big seas sail the boat safely and to face the challenges of a difficult Atlantic crossing.

With this type of crossing you gain other things a great sense of trust and camaraderie which comes with placing your safety in the hands of others and now we are safely in the dock a big sense of achievement.

We have broken 2 sails, but the boat handled brilliantly and never let us down. We had water dumped into the cockpit up to our knees and the boat at times was pushed sideways in big seas.

The great thing is that due to the care and consideration shown to one another no one was hurt.

In adversity comes a greater sense of the team spirit and greater sense of achievement and a great sense of humour.

All said and done its time to start the party, you may find a gap in our blogs for a while

Love to all our families and friends who have kindly followed the good ship Tioram’s Atlantic adventure.

Tina , Tony, Alisdair, Mike, Moira and Pat x x x x x x x x