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Sun, 19 Nov 2006
Although it’s only been 72 hours since I crossed the finish line, so much has happened that it’s already starting to feel like a long time ago. Towards the end of a long passage, I often feel a certain sense of loss for the routines that create themselves after a few weeks at sea and for how quickly they fall apart once you’re back in sight of land.
I’d worried so much about working my way down the back side of Guadeloupe that it hit me as a surprise when, after only a few hours, I was halfway down the island. I lost the breeze once or twice, but with a little fishing around I’d find it again. Before I knew it, I was clear of the dreaded wind shadow of La Soufrière and around the mark set just a few hundred yards off the beach at Basse-Terre. With only a few miles to the corner and to clear breeze on the other side, I almost had the thing in the bag.
And that’s when I got my first real taste of what parking behind Guadeloupe is all about. No one warned me about that last little 500 meter hill, and the few miles to the corner took hours. I’ll get that right next time.
Shortly after dawn, I picked up the inflatable orange buoys of the finish line and my race came to an end. The Artemis shore team and Caroline Kurrus came out to meet me and quickly hopped aboard to shepherd the boat to the dock. I sent the press scurrying to safeguard their cameras when I blew off the magnum of champagne handed to me, then took what was left to breakfast an hour later. A few sips were all it took to knock me out.
On Friday morning I returned to the boat to start the clean up and was stunned to discover thousands of school children parading up and down the docks and soaking in the experience of being so close to these ocean greyhounds. Until you’ve witnessed first-hand the French public’s passion for these grand sailing events I think it would be difficult to imagine the scene I stumbled into. Without doubt, it was the largest collection of young people in one place I’d ever seen.
That afternoon, I was welcomed into the 7th grade English class of Mrs. Joannes at the Nestor de Kermadec School where I was interviewed by all the students and then sung to, just about as high an honor as you can hope to receive. A few hours later, each competitor was welcomed onto a giant stage set in middle of downtown Pointe à Pitre in front of thousands of fans for the final award ceremony. These things go by in a blink, but once again I was proud to find myself standing on the same stage as many of the top solo sailors of this generation and inspired to find a way to take my game to the next level.
Thank you to Tim Sadler, Ryan Finn, and Caroline Kurrus for all the hard work that is so integral to my success on the water. Thank you to Will Oxley for helping me point the boat in the right direction. Thank you to the de Corbière family for their friendship and incredible hospitality. Thank you to all the wonderful employees of Artforms and Cool As A Moose whose efforts make this possible at all. And thank you to everyone who followed my progress across the Atlantic from St. Malo to Guadeloupe, and for all the emails of support.
- Kip Stone
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