April 26, 2008 - Midday Friday 25th April - 50 miles to go

We've survived 24 hrs of gale force 8, the wind has now dropped and we are beating the last miles into Ponta Delgada where we are expected at 2330 GMT this evening.

This therefore will be our final entry for this leg of Jem's passage back to the UK continues in August with a fresh crew and, hopefully, new bloggers. In the meantime Jem will enjoy a well earned rest sitting on the dockside in Ponta Delgada where she will get a little spoilt, nothing she likes more than a good bottom scrub, before hitting the glossy magazines back in the UK where, hopefully, she will find new owners to delight and look after as much as she has us. (Psssst anyone want to buy a boat?)

Your four merry bloggers also have to return to the real world a little richer for the experience; so when you catch up with them in the local bar please suffer their salty far-away look and amuse them by listening to at least one of their tales of the deep; they've earned it - do it quickly though as the waves and winds will be getting larger and stronger over the forthcoming weeks!

I am extremely grateful to them for coming along with me and for putting up with my ‘stressed moments’, I could not have done it without them – something they will remind me of later in the bar no doubt; shame Antenna Man leapt off half-way.  Before we set out I explained that our two primary aims were to arrive safely and to still be friends at the end of it – well we got here didn’t we?  Thanks also to Louise not only for so generously giving up her berth and suffering that other method of crossing the Atlantic but also for the meals she prepared for us, not sure we would have made it to Bermuda without them.

Thanks also to you lot for your words of encouragement, incredulity, abuse and general Smart Alec comments that have kept us smiling – That’s my lot, the others want a word I fear………..

B here - Number of hours spent at the mercy of a gale force 8 wind – too many

Almost there

The computory thing that sits in the middle of all the knobs and dials that Mark uses to work out where we are says that we are now just a tiddly distance away from our destination. Midnight should see us safely in the harbour albeit we will have to stay on board until we are cleared by Customs tomorrow morning.

It gives a warm feeling of achievement to know that we have joined a fairly exclusive group of people who have sailed across the Atlantic. I get told off by Mark for referring to it like this, but I like to think of it as having travelled 3000 miles at 7 mph!

As with all experiences, there will be things that I will look back on with a smile on my face and bits that I look back on and think … thank heavens I won’t have to put up with that any more … things like: -
…having to look out of the window to check whether it is safe to open the fridge / oven / cupboard (get the timing wrong and the entire contents will end up on the floor)
…having to wedge and tie yourself into bed to stop yourself falling out
…having to plan your route across a room via the handholds
…having to accept that every item of clothing that you possess has a damp clammy feel about it (“moist” used to be my favourite word … I’m not so sure now!)
…banging your head, elbows, knees and various other extremities on anything and everything (this particular problem is somewhat compounded by the inevitable cry from the Captain “Mind my boat”).
…having to sit up on deck on a crystal clear night looking at the stars and watching the most fantastic sunrise
…seeing dolphins come alongside and “play” with the boat and show us where to go for a few minutes.
…watching a pod of humpback whales as they make their ponderous and majestic way north.
(Wait a minute .. forget those last three, they are in the wrong list)

I'm going to use this blog to give my particular thanks to Mark for giving me the opportunity to join him in this unique experience. My thanks also to Mike and Stewart for the first bit and then Jim for this second part of the journey. If the ingredients are not right to begin with, you will never turn out a decent cake. These ingredients have worked and the cake tastes just fine.

Would I have missed the chance to do this? not for all the tea in China
Would I do it again?  not for all the tea in China.

Blighty here I come …

The Azores get closer but we still have not seen any sight of land.  I’m wondering if my American accent and language will come back to me after 12 days 24/7 of living afloat in England.  I’ve learned new expressions, new words and new pronunciations.  I’ve even learned certain things that one just cannot say in British English . . .  which sound perfectly harmless in American English.  I never did get to those Portuguese language CDs and I still have a pile of unread books that could let me circumnavigate the world . . . and I would like to finish my British-American dictionary (both the dirty and clean versions).   I still don’t like marmite but I sure can drink tea with the best of them.  I guess, Captain Mark, sign me up, I am ready for the next leg on Jem under the Royal Ensign, wherever that may lead us.