Daily Run towards St Lucia - 56nm
Daily Logged Miles – 54 nm (curent is great)
FINISH TIME – 0848 LT - 1248 GMT – 17 days 3 minutes
Total Logged Miles – 2950nm
Lunch - Ham, Tuna, Egg or Cheese Baguettes
Happy Hour - Salmon Pate on Toast
Dinner - Chicken in a Mushroom and Bacon Sauce served with Rice
Approaching St Lucia and the finish line there was a buzz onboard a few people sleeping, a few people on deck in the rain, a few people having showers to make themselves beautiful and fresh for being ashore.
The wind has been NE since about 0200 this morning and has increased to 6 – 10 knots, we sailed along poled out at 3 – 4 knots heading straight for the corner of St Lucia. At 0700 the wind back around to the North and we dropped the pole only for the wind to veer back around to the East 30 minutes later. Unable to sail at St Lucia we hoisted the Spinnaker one last time. With Joy on the helm, James on the spinnaker sheet and David on the winch we start to speed towards the finish line at 7knots (a speed record for the last 48 hours). Before we had time to settle the Spinnaker was back down again and we were closed hauled sailing into Rodney Bay. 4 tacks later and BANG! We had sailing across the finish line.The crew were elated that we had stuck with it even in the light breeze. The rum punch on the dock was a welcome celebration.
The crew had hand sailed Northern Child across the Atlantic and experienced all the condition the ocean could give us. 0 -35 knots, squalls, light drifting winds, torrential rain, scorching sun, wind shifts, downwind with the spinnaker, beam reaching and beating to windward.
I would like to say Thank you to my crew, they have been a fantastic well spirit bunch that have made sailing across the Atlantic a joyous walk in the park.
Here are thoughts from the crew at the end of the passage;
David - To harness the power of the wind and use it as the only means of propulsion to sail almost 3000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean has been an ambition of mine for several years. To achieve this has been a truly memorable experience.
Deborah - This has been a journey into the unknown for me and has gone a long way to conquer my fears of sailing and given me more self-confidence. I have enjoyed virtually every minute of it.
Joy - An Atlantic crossing has been a long held ambition, on Northern Child I achieved my ambition and proved to myself that I could do it. This beautiful yacht will always hold a special place in my heart. Under the unflappable leadership of Lucy and Chris, 10 complete strangers formed into a workable crew and sailed day and night for 3000 nautical miles towards our goal. Lucy is an extraordinary young woman with a passion for the sea which is inspirational. I will never forget helming across the finish line, I really special moment - thank you. I have made myself a promise to sail on Northern Child again - it has been a truly life changing experience.
Rolf and Wolfgang - A dream is fulfilled for us, we will remember to this journey for a long time, we are thankful to be in the crew , we wish Northern Child a successful future and many happy returns to UK, so long.