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Saturday 4 December 2004 Today we had to do some real sailing, facing our first squalls and of course it just had to be in the middle of the night. Squalls are sudden and violent gusts of wind, often accompanied by rain….not pleasant. They usually last for 20 minutes and during that time the speed of wind can be more than 20 mps and especially scary if you are experiencing them for the first time. The night was full of action, but we have now had our baptism of fire. We had some problems with GPS, also the machine that lifts the sail mechanically failed and the whole sail collapsed into the sea. Luckily after a long fight we managed to lift it back on to the deck. Hopefully, next time when it is that windy it will be during the day. 24-hour sailing, 157 miles Sunday 5 December 2004 After a rought night we woke up to a glorious sunny morning. The temperature was the normal +30C. We have been sailing with good speed recently, 7-8 knots per hour. It was fun to catch the swordfish, but eating it is far from a
pleasure. After just one half eaten meal we made a unanimous decisson
and decided to throw our prey back to deep. It didn’t seem
to swim very well. We spend most of our days on the ocean fishing,
the captain spends his days fixing the generator. According to the
captain there is some hope that it will be fixed before we reach
the finish line. Monday 6 December 2004 Today is our National Day and Heikki’s 44-birthday. We’re not out of food, but the choices for dinner are getting very limited. Our celebration dinner was corned beef with some champagne. Fortunately we still have champagne in our reserves, otherwise things would be getting really serious! To everyones relief Jallu didn’t sing our national hymn, instead we playd some reggae. Heikki was wearing his best, official Esmeralda shirt and a pig tie, which we bought him as a present. It has been a very unusual national day. 24-hour sailing, 197 miles Tuesday 7 December 2004 “Boring“ day, not really anything to do. At least we are currently sailing fast. We had some squalls in the night, but of course it would be just all too easy during the days. Sometimes we wish to get a few also during the day just to get some extra speed. The whole crew is getting bit exicted about reaching the finish line. The weather is getting even warmer. For the first time in a while, we saw some other competitors. Oyster 55 was cruising far in the horizon. 24-hour sailing, 194 miles Wednesday 8 December 2004 We’re all thinking about the end of the race. The wind is blowing and we’re cruising fast. The whole day is spent just waiting, but in a nice atmosphere. Before the sunset we saw the top of the Piton on the horizon. However we still have 4-5 hours of sailing left. As the night is getting darker and the bright lights are getting stronger, the crew is getting more anxious. To our right we can see the lights of Martiniques and to the left we can see St. Lucia. It is exicting to enter Rodney Bay and cross the finish line. We thank the captain and congratulate ourselves on a job well done. It was nice to be out at sea, but it’s not too bad being back on land. 11pm we tie up Esmeralda to the dock. The representatives of ARC
welcome us to St. Lucia with a fruit basket and four cups of rum.
After the ceremony we were sitting down remembering our 17-day journey
and our conclusion was “Life can be truly beautiful”
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