Bamarandi - Monday 30th November - Land in sight - we arrive at St Lucia

Days	Day	Date	Time	Miles to St Lucia	Miles in 24hrs towards St Lucia	Cum Miles towards St Lucia	Ave Miles per day towards St Lucia
1	Wednesday	18th	12:45	2090
2	Thursday	19th	13:00	1901	189	189	189
3	Friday	20th	13:00	1756	145	334	167
4	Saturday	21st	13:00	1605	151	485	162
5	Sunday	22nd	13:00	1423	182	667	167
6	Monday	23rd	13:00	1238	185	852	170
7	Tuesday	24th	13:00	1073	165	1017	170
8	Wednesday	25th	13:00	891	182	1199	171
9	Thursday	26th	13:00	722	169	1368	171
11	Friday	27th	13:00	531	191	1559	173
12	Saturday	28th	13:00	350	181	1740	158
13	Sunday	29th	13:00	156	194	1934	161
14	Monday	30th	10:11	0	156	ed2090	161

Overnight on 29th through into 30th found us sailing along in the same big swell - it seemed to have grown bigger than the previous day and was frequently much higher than the flybridge at the back causing us to surf down the swell and see our speed increase to well over 10kts periodically as we accelerated down the waves. The winds continued right on or tail at around 18-21kts with the occasional higher gusts.

We have seen very large patches of the light brown floating seaweed return which is very tough and quite woody. We have to start our engines and run them in reverse to get rid of the build up of weed on the P bracket and the prop. If we do not vibrations start on the port side. The weed seems to come in waves and we have long periods with none or very little then large patches again.

We started to see St Lucia in the distance but were surprised to still see no other ARC+ fleet boats on our AIS. There was quite a haze as we approach the island and we were joined by acrobatic brown gulls swooping down like fighter planes to hunt the Cosmopolitan flying fish along the surface sent flying by our bow wave. There were very different skill levels between the 3 gulls that attached themselves to us. They followed us for about an hour and all seemed to manage to catch enough breakfast in the end and so peeled off as we got closer to the island.

Seeing clouds and rain around the Rodney Bay area which was our final destination for this leg saw us all scurrying for our wet weather gear. In the event there were just a few drops of rain as the worst of it had dissipated by the time we got there. We heated up very quickly and hurriedly took them all off again.

The temperature had risen very noticeable overnight and as we rounded into the shelter of the island from the wind it got hotter still.

A man in a dinghy came at speed towards us and he turned out to be a photographer who took multiple photos of us as we sailed along and then once we had dropped the main we posed for some group shots. 

We plotted our course for the finish line and found the Official ARC+ Boat and the flag and duly passed between them to record an arrival time of 10:02am. This put us 14th boat overall and 6th Catamaran out of the fleet of 64 boats. We are a definite cruiser at a gross weight of well over 30 tons rather than a light race boat and having had our prime downwind sail - the Gennaker - halyard snap early on and sailing with our main and genoa we felt we had done OK. A big Well Done to all the crew who sailed the boat night and day 24/7 in all sorts of sea conditions and weather. We did it!

We were directed to our berth E29 and were met by a small ARC+ yellow shirted Welcoming Party (thank you ARC+ team) with a lovely basket of fruit and a glass of the local punch. Our teetotal passage over, we enjoyed a careful sip of the pink punch - but it was probably a little early even for the hardened drinkers among us.

The morning was taken up with booking in and out formalities at the Port Health and Customs offices and Glen organising his flight back home, a wander around the Rodney Bay area, organising a data SIM so everyone could get online again etc. Glen discovered there was one flight out at 4.30pm today with a seat so he quickly packed and was off with some souvenirs from the boat and our fond goodbyes for a 2 hour taxi ride to the other end of the island.  Audrey and Caitlin were out doing a mega-shop ready for the show and to re-stock the boat and so missed Glen going. He was a great addition to the crew and everyone got on extremely well. I'm sure we will see him again.

Dinner was booked at a local quayside restaurant for the evening and was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. Back on board we had the A/C going so it was nice and cool - and steady for a change. We were all tired after a long day so went to bed early ready for a 6am start to set sail for Antigua.

Everyone felt very good about completing the 2090nm trip across the Atlantic and finishing this leg with Bamarandi largely intact. We are all looking forward to the trip up the islands to Antigua and it will be quite a change to be sailing much of the time with land in sight rather than just sea!  

Thanks for emails from lots of family and friends (and a phone call) with congratulations on crossing the ARC+ finishing line. 

We will carry on the blog until we get to Antigua where the boat will be shown at the Antigua Charter Boatshow until 10th December. Bamarandi was voted a top 5 boat overall by CYBA at the Cannes Boatshow which bearing in mind the competition was a great accolade.  We hope Antigua will look upon us favourably too.