Skyelark of London - Day 20

Day 20

Last night was our last full night on Skyelark and we head towards St Lucia
with out arrival anticipated late evening today. Only yesterday someone
said that we had been lucky and not had many squalls, what we didn't realise
was that the Atlantic had one last surprise in store for us. I went up on
watch at 10pm for my evening stint, and the first squall had been on gone
through with rain and winds of 26 kn. This turned out to be the first of
many, the sky behind us showed in the moonlight as an ominous dark mass
approached. Winds raced to a peak of 34 kns with the boat thrashing from
side to side, just as one phase finished another started, and then another.
The squalls kept coming until well into the early hours. The experience was
a mix of excitement and at times terror, all calmly marshalled by Dan, and
one i wouldn't have missed for the world.

We now have just over 50 miles to go until we reach our destination and the
end of our adventure. You can already see in people faces that they are
starting to reflect on what we have achieved and I'm sure this will continue
for many years to come. The experience has been incredible and challenging
but probably in ways most of us may not have envisaged. We have seen
sunsets, sunrises, dolphins a plenty, whales, flying fish, shooting stars
and the milky way and birds not forgetting our adopted Eddie the Egret who
still remains with us and happily waits for the next serving of fish. We
have caught and eaten fish, changed sails, pole danced and learnt an
incredible amount along the way. Dan the skipper, assisted by Rich, has
been the consummate professional, with his calm nature pervading the boat,
with a mix of instruction and humour. We have been treated as a team from
the outset, and everyone has forming a vital part of that team but more
importantly we were the crew not passengers. Everyone has pulled together
and you could always rely on the fact that 5 or 10 mins before the end of
your watch a face would emerge from the hatch regardless of the time of day
or night. Whatever brought us all together with the common ambition to sail
the Atlantic, has formed a strong bond between us, and as we head off after
this to various parts of the globe that bond will remain and we can always
say the we were the 2016 Skyelark ARC Crew. I sincerely hope our paths
cross again in the future.

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