SOMETIME IN LATE 2010 <phone call>
Capt K: Hi darling! How are you?
Cup: Fine, fine, but where are you?
Capt K: Grenada!
Cup: Spain? Why?
Capt. K: Not exactly. The Caribbean, honey. Dreadlocks, rum punch and that wonderful weed.
Cup: You didn’t!
Capt K: (all innocence) What, my love?
Cup: Tell me you didn’t!!
Capt. K: You want me to lie?
Cup: Not a boat!!
Capt. K: Ahmmm, well, actually, yes. She’s BEAUTIFUL
Roll the clock forward….. MARCH, 2017
Ressie is back home in Grenada, circumnavigation complete! Talk about surreal – can it really have only been 6 years ago? Ressie is gleaming after Wayne and Chris polished her. I reckon she has rarely been in better condition.
RESSIE BACK HOME IN GRENADA, HANGING OUT WITH SOME SUPER YACHTS
Sitting here quietly on the marina, it is hard to imagine where Ressie has been. In those 6 years, Ressie has logged 38,000 nm (that’s 70,000 km), crossed three oceans and hosted adventures with so many friends, from parties on Sydney Harbour, to cruising through the South Pacific and up to the Louisiades, to some racing in Noumea and Queensland, and now the long trek around South Africa.
HAPPY REUNION
The fleet is now all in, and we’re in party mode. Last night was a dance party at the local sailing club that ended up with shirts-off dancing for the guys (where were you, Animal?).
For several of the boats, Grenada marks the end of the trip, and so there have been some heartfelt speeches, too. We’ve two weeks now to laze around in the Caribbean before a final fleet ‘sail past’ and party in St Lucia. No more night sailing!
MIND BOGGLING
Want some more numbers? Probably not, but if we’ve sailed this far you’re going to get them anyway: in this last voyage, Ressie has sailed 15,500 nautical miles (that is 28,700 kilometres) since leaving Sydney. The long distance sailing game is mind expanding. Our ‘brand new’ sails, for example, have only just done 6,000 nautical miles (since Cape Town). Think nearly 10 Sydney to Hobart Races…. Yet for the long-distance cruiser, they are brand-spanking new….
And for those of you who venture from Sydney Harbour to Pittwater, well, we’ve just sailed that distance a mere, um, 1,000 times. On our best day, Ressie logged 263 nm, which is 17 trips to Pittwater. Ok, enuff numbers.
MEMORIES
Where to start? This World ARC experience is a complete sensory overload – a kaleidoscope of people, places, special moments. Since Cairns, Ressie has had 21 crew members on 9 different legs, sailing with up to 18 other yachts, and now it all feels a bit of a blur.
What will I remember in 10 years? Well, if my brain is not fried by then (a BIG assumption), then the absolute standout is the World ARC rally community – our fellow sailors. We’re a diverse lot – aged from 21 to 70; from 10 different countries, different motivations, boats, dreams and fears – but the challenge of sailing oceans is a great bond. We’ve helped and encouraged each other, solved problems together, shared boat parts and commiserations. Port festivities are always a riot, and yet when it is time to leave, the quiet competence of skilled yachties is a delight to watch.
And then, of course, there is the Ressie community. Each leg has been unique, with its own joys and challenges, but every single crew member has given their all. I’ve been constantly amazed how easily people give up their creature comforts and the distracting joys of facebook and email (and how quickly they reconnect when back on shore)… So many special moments. Just a few:
– eating giant oysters with Iain and Ross in remote north Queensland;
– lying on the trampoline with Bernardus and Karsten anchored off Arnhem Land, watching the stars dance to classical music;
– hearing the Carango boys talk incredulously about the party-tsunami that hit the fleet in Darwin in the form of Tracy and Glenda;
– Rachel, Gail and Cup wooping it up in the cockpit in their cocktail dresses as Ressie surfed to 17 knots in 40 knots of wind;
– Baz and Jon and our 11-day boy’s weekend;
– conquering the forbidding and beautiful South African coastline with the sublime gurus;
– sunset mocktails with Andrew and Mike on the Atlantic ressie rehab tour
– Chasing rain storms with Wayne and Chris (and Chris’s flamingo divining rod) after the watermaker spat the dummy
We’re had our dramas, too, though in hindsight, none of them look quite so dramatic as they once did…. Just a few electrical challenges, a few torn spinnaker moments and, oh yes, then there was the time the genoa fell out of the sky. We limped into Cape Town with only two sails, one alternator and one forestay, but even then, Ressie felt as solid as a rock.
AND NOW?
Play time! Mike and Prue arrive tomorrow, and we’re off exploring the Grenadines with the rest of the ARC fleet, finishing in St Lucia with a fleet sail past and final party. How did it go so fast?
LOCAL KIDS HAVING FUN – YOU’VE GOTTA LOVE IT
