Taistealai - Transition

Life has been a blur for the crew of Tashy since our frantic arrival, 16 days 3 hours and 43 minutes after departing from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Surprisingly, it was not the alcoholic blur we might have expected after 17 dry days at sea, despite the very welcoming rum punch on the dock, but more a blurring of time. A mix of heat ashore, slightly fuzzy heads from the punch and a steady stream of well-wishers meant that the afternoon rapidly vanished. A team dinner in the cockpit, this time with the luxury of a cockpit table laid with cutlery and napkins in place of our usual plastic bowls, ended with Jem fading first - almost face down into his dinner! After 16 days at sea, we were all overcome with tiredness; the relief at arriving, the sadness at finishing our journey, and a long day to the finish line, caught up with us all. Boat jobs could wait another day.

Hopefully soon, you will be able to enjoy the photos of our dramatic charge to the ARC finish line on the rally website. And what a charge it turned out to be! Having spied a spinnaker on the horizon we were alert to the risk of a rival - possibly those mystery Irishmen on Alphaire - beating us to the line. As we closed the north end of Saint Lucia, Tashy on port gybe and our rival on starboard, we could recognise them as Bam, a hot little 36 foot Jeanneau competing in the IRC racing division. Still, when two boats are heading the same way it is a race, even if Bam were not in our division so would not affect our position. Despite having a heavier boat, Chris's professional pride was at stake and he was not going to let them get passed us without a tussle! Sadly we broke the collar on our spinnaker sleeve during the finial drop and had to do an emergency maxi-drop to clear the sail. Now at a disadvantage we were white sails only and losing ground. Coming around Pidgeon Island, the slippery little race boat surfed passed us. However, needing to sail a lower course to drop their asymmetric spinnaker, we were in with a chance to cut the corner and still beat them to the line. Alas we had to cut too close to the wind-shadow from the Island, so lost our advantage. It was then a dash to the line, fully powered-up to windward. In the accelerating wind across Rodney Bay, Bam was over pressed and in danger of broaching. It would be tight. Helen on the help, kept us pressing forward, but our rivals were just that bit faster and crossed ahead of us by just over a minute. However, as a small consolation prize, the racing boats had started 15 minutes ahead of the cruisers, so our elapsed time was still less than theirs. Honour satisfied.

Yesterday was a day of transition. Major boat cleaning undertaken in the morning, sorting out sails, lines; cleaning out lockers and packing up laundry. Above and below decks Tashy got a well-deserved valeting: clean heads, showers and bilges; fragrant refrigerators, and the at sea covers off the saloon seats. By early afternoon, despite being festooned with drying foulies, lines and lifejackets, Tashy was once again looking her best.

For the crew it is now a time of transition. Will has to transition back into his family and work life in Hamble - he will be heading back on Sunday; Jem has to transition back into his work life as a World Cruising Club yellow-shirt here in Saint Lucia; whilst Helen and Chris will now transition into a life as live-aboard bluewater cruisers. Their ambition to sail their own boat to the Caribbean and beyond was the cause for our coming together to cross the Atlantic, and now they can relax and enjoy their winter in the West Indies, cruising and discovering all that the islands have to offer.

Thank you all for reading our Tashy blogs and for the feedback, especially our Newcastle readers, where for the benefit of clarity, you cannot put another blog on the fire. Logs not blogs for that one!

This is the crew of Taistealai signing off for one last ARC blog, safely in Saint Lucia with a DTF of zero.

Chris, Helen, Will, Jem (and the penguin).