Little Pea - Little Pea's Arc 14 Blogoramma - We did it

Our last blog for ARC 2014...   Now Playing: The Winner Takes It All -Abba   Well, we did it. Crossed the pond in 18 days -not quite as quick as our PB, but you can't help the lighter winds. Even thoughit wasn't as quick, our finishing place is better - 1st in Class and Overallresults are TBC although we think its about 11th or 12th in the fleet. Althoughit was just the four of us on board, we honestly couldn't have done it withoutthe support of everyone back home. From family helping with logistics, tofollowers sending messages of support. Each and everyone of them helped us crossthat line faster - Thank you.   Little Pea is now being scrubbed from top to bottomby Pappa John & family (St Lucia's finest), and is being converted from anocean passae maker into. read more...

Little Pea - Little Pea's Arc 14 Blogoramma - LAND AHOY!

14:14.115N 060:30.577W   Now playing: Final Countdown - Europe   LAND AHOY!!!! After over 18 days at sea we canfinally sea land again, and it's St Lucia - we hope! All that's left to do nowis shower with the water we've been desalinating all day, get into our best crewkit and replenish our rum stock in Rodney Bay. Oh, and there's the small matterof crossing the finish line...   We'll be back tomorrow with a racesummary.   OUT.   Jags, Minkey, Ben andMike. read more...

Little Pea - Little Pea's Arc 14 Blogoramma - It's all getting a bit smelly...

14:33.9N 57:45.3W   Now playing: I drove all night - RoyOrbison   As we enter our final 24hrs at sea, things arestarting to pong a little onboard as we have all run out of deodorant. Astemperatures hit the high 30s on a daily basis, not even numerous salt waterwashes a day are keeping the stench away.  Our Little Pea deck shirtsare infused with sweat, salt, diesel and bilge.  We are a shabbysight.  We have sailed Little Pea hard for almost 3 weeksnow.  We've battled to hold onto our group lead positionand, only now, as we make our final approach towards land, canwe think about scrubbing up and slipping on or Little Pea polo shirtsbefore walking into the sailor bar in Rodney Bay with our heads heldhigh...  . read more...

Little Pea - Little Pea's Arc 14 Blogoramma - Melinda calling

14:59.7N  054:59.4W   Tune of the Day:  You stole the sun from myheart - Manic Street Preachers   Day 17. Less than 350 miles to go and it lookslike its a straight run into St. Lucia with steady trade winds behind us. We had a fast, albeit slightly tense, nights' sailing last night and Melindaperformed well for us until the squalls started coming in at 0200 hours, atwhich point we put both her and ourselves to bed for the night.  Thismorning we brought her back into action and she's been flying most of the day,hurling us towards land.   The great thing about closing in on land is that weare now starting to spot other yachts.  Having spent over 2 weeks out herewith little more than the odd whale and lots of flying fish, we are now. read more...

Little Pea - Little Pea's Arc 14 Blogoramma - Time to turn up the heat...

14:57.5N  052:19.6W    Tune of the day: "Call Me Irresponsible",Michael Buble.   Day 16.  After the trauma of realising that wehad run out of rum last night, our misery continued as we went into a night oflight winds which brought our boat speed crashing down.  This morning wetherefore set about the task of trying to regain the lost ground. At 0900 hours we launched Melinda, the largest of our spinnakerkites.  Melinda is a ridiculously oversized sail that really shouldn'tbe ever let out of the bag.  However, faced with light winds again thismorning and needing to do something dramatic to improve our boat speed, welaunched her.  Apart from a couple of moments of drama, both involving anintense physical relationship. read more...