Blog No. 12 Infinity of Yar
Date: Wednesday 13th December
Location: Rodney Bay Marina, St. Lucia.
Alert the press!!
So, why is this, probably my final epistle, three days late? Well, it might be writers block, it might be the rum or it might be sheer
bone idleness. Probably the answer lies in all three. A wave of euphoria on crossing the line was quickly followed by a wave of
rum which was quickly followed by a wave of apathy leading to sheer bone idleness! That probably sums up the Caribbean lifestyle,
let’s face it the “ rate race “ here is an entirely different problem!
So, dear readers, let me explain the silence of the last days of our journey prior to the rum and apathy setting in - actually that sounds like a new cocktail doesn’t it - rum and apathy.
With arrival comes shore power and with power comes communication, all of which we were short of during the last four days of our
journey. I can only apologise to the handful of faithful followers still reading this drivel but our previously wonderful and invaluable
‘Watt & Sea’ hydro generator tried to jump ship and became detached from the transom of the yacht. Broadly speaking this clever
gizmo hangs over the stern of the boat (looking a bit like a lightweight outboard motor) and harvests power from our movement through
the water. We have some power from solar panels but otherwise we have to run the main engine to charge the batteries for which we have to pay a penalty under the race handicapping rules. The poor contraption, whilst already under considerable strain, was subjected to being battered with huge clumps of Sargasso weed which wrapped itself around the propeller. This sea weed is incredible
arriving out of the blue (literally) in huge clumps and massively added to the drag on the unit. We were constantly trying the clear the weed until finally through sheer persistence the weed won the battle and the mountings for the Watt & Sea failed.
So, no power = no communications = three days off for your author. And then we got to St. Lucia where a different sort of of weed might have rendered your scribe incapable of communication but that, to be honest, is not where the problem lied.
As I was saying we arrived early in the morning on Monday. There was little wind and we crept around Pigeon Island towards the finishing line in Rodney Bay.
Now, the ARC Atlantic crossing only has two marks on the course. The first is to leave Gran Canaria to starboard and the other is to leave St. Lucia (Pigeon Island) to port. and then cross the line in Rodney Bay.
Rodney Bay, is named after Admiral Rodney (not Delboy’s side kick) who made a base on Pigeon Island to spy on the French in Martinique (just a few miles away across the water). His cunning plan went spectacularly well because in 1782 at 'The Battle of the Saints' Rodney gave the French a proper “trousers down” trashing and sent them away for several years resulting in a Knighthood and elevation to the House of Lords for said Mr. Rodney.
As we rounded the Island we were required to contact the finishing line by VHF radio which we duly did.
Now, readers, the yacht immediately in front of us was called “Sunrise” and very cunningly they had planned their arrival for …..
you guessed it ….. Sunrise. So as we both radioed in to the finishing line the radio transmission went like this…
“ Sunrise, Sunrise this is race control. Congratulations for completing your Atlantic crossing and welcome to St. Lucia. Very cleverly
you have indeed arrived at sunrise to finish at sunrise - Infinity of Yar you will need to keep going keep going!!!! “
This was to be my final blog but I feel that I have drivelled on far too long already and I had wanted to finish up by giving you a
summery of how the crew has fared over the last three weeks and more importantly how they have fared with each other…..
well that will have to wait for another day so I will bid you farewell from St Lucia by saying
" To Infinity & Beyond "