Shine - Final Day: Betty Swollocks crosses the finishing line.

A quiet final night with no dramas.More quality time spent in the stern  sauna with our ever present companion,Betty Swollocks, the crew member who I for one  will  most certainly  not miss.So, finally across the line at roughly 08:26:37 this morning, which works out at around 30 minutes short of 16 days from the start  in Gran Canaria. Including the race yachts we  are 13th of the250+ starters, and depending on the handicapping will be first or second in class - not bad for a crew with the combined age of 468.As promised, the whole crew finished in Tiddy's polyester black  thongs (supplied, not owned by.................I think) . The official ARC photographer came out to meet us so  by the time he's syndicated his photos, we could well be on the. read more...

Shine - Day 14 : Land Ahoy

"Like as the waves make toward the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end." William Shakespeare Stratford-upon-Avon 1584"F***k me,we're rattling along. We're almost within farting distance." Piers Sherlock 100 miles east of St Lucia 2013Wordsmiths both,saying much the same thing, it is encouraging to see that we have lost none of the flower of English prose in the last 400 years.Yesterday's conditions have continued as predicted, so at present we are 30 mile off St Lucia with the lights of Martinique to starboard, and expect to cross the finishing line inside the next three hours. Having had zero light pollution for the last fortnight, to see Martinique is a very strange sensation.In addition, various iphones are springing to life around the boat with the unfamiliar ping of. read more...

Shine - Day 14 : Is there anybody out there ?

Wind still holding at about 25 knots so racing St Lucia bound pitching and heaving in a magnificent, if sometimes unpredictable, following sea.We are so used to clinging on now that to move across a room without holding on to something solid will be a pleasant diversion.Making a cup of tea is a case of boil water, place cups strategically around the saloon,pour from kettle and hope some finds a home in at least one cup.This is a slight exaggeration, but you get the drift.Having conserved water, we now have plenty to see us home.We are now, therefore, officially the cleanest crew at sea, and with the liberal application of Tim's extra strength deodorant( which one assumes he has on prescription) the boat now smells like a pox doctor's waiting room.We've been at sea now for 14 days, and. read more...

Shine - Day 13: Wind !

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Shine - Day 12: Radio silence from RB

No news from Sir Richard as yet, but we can only assume he's working on it.We've had to motor since last evening due to insufficient wind, but this did afford us the opportunity for something of an impromptu mid crossing party.The ship's time slipped another hour yesterday evening to account for our progress west, and as luck would have it, that gave us a double happy hour. Steen knocked up an excellent lasagna so after happy hour(s) we retired to the saloon for dinner and some mighty strange Danish drinking anthems .George stood watch for a while as hewas neither hungry nor thirsty, and the rest of the crew enjoyed this much earned release from the tensions of the voyage.All over the side for a pre-breakfast swim, and we were under way. read more...