Dear Family and Friends
With just a few km to the finish of the Cape2Rio 2014 yacht race, I am happy to report that all is well, in fact all is fantastic, aboard Rocket/Stop Rhino Poaching.
Last night we literally flew through the night. The winds were gusting over 50kph and we had to even reduce sail – there was little sleep and much excitement – we could taste Rio.
Early this morning the wind died to a dribble – and our last 55km has been at less than 10kph. Frustrating to say the least – but at least we can see our end goal.
This will be the last posting of our adventure – thanks to ALL of you who have shared this journey with us. It’s been really fun knowing that we have some avid readers of our passage.
For the experienced sailors on our boat, this has been another transatlantic crossing – another notch in the belt. For us newbies this is the completion of a truly unique lifetime experience.
My impression is that our emotions have been thrown into a Laundromat and violently turned and tossed around. We have experienced close to absolute desperation during those initial seasick days. We have had variations of anguish, fear or panic (depending if you were simply thrown out of bed during a two-step broach or if you were the cause of this particularly inelegant dance). And of course we are now experiencing elation at the final completion and achievement if this goal. Our initial goal was just to safely complete the journey. The fact that we have fared so well is quite remarkable and of course gratifying to all of us.
This yacht Rocket was acquired in November 2013. It is testament to the fantastic effort from Gerrie, Herbert, Amanda and Rex that the boat actually was ready to sail across the Atlantic on time (only just!). Both Shin and Volker spent many days in Cape Town assisting with the preparation for the journey. A special thanks goes to these people for making this adventure happen.
A very special thanks to our wives/partners and families who have allowed us out on a boys adventure. This is highly appreciated (but please give us a much sterner warning next time).
The blast from the committee boat has indicated that we have crossed the line! We have officially completed the Cape2Rio 2014 yacht race on Saturday 25 Jan at 10:55a Brazil time (3:55 pm SA time) after 21 days and 1 hours and 55 minutes.
I now need to go on deck to join the champagne celebrations!
Lots of love to all at home and to all our friends.
Regards and THANK YOU!
Mike on behalf of Team Rocket/Stop Rhino Poaching
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