We passed an X-yacht612,who was ahead of us the whole race.We sail towards Martinique to fetch Pigeon Island(a rock behind which lies the finish line)

 as the wind still won’t allow us to sail straight.As we approach the gybe point,the wind veers in the Martinique passage by 35 degrees!We sail closer to

Pigeon Island but need to go another 6 miles to fetch it.This has benefited the X-yacht and as we gybe ,we take the spi down not knowing they are in the money.

As we sail closer, we realize they are ahead,and we no longer can hoist the spi ,as we are too close and it takes time to do the manoeuvre.We chase like crazy but they cross the line one and a half minutes ahead of us.Imagine,three boat lengths away after 3300 miles of sailing!It later transpires that they used the engine for

several hours during the course of the race.Boat for boat we crossed the line ninth at 03:19 Sunday 4^th December.Three of the boats ahead declared use of engine.

The corrected time results will come out days later,when more boats finish.We should do well,because as of later today the wind will go light and the boats will take ages to finish.

This has been an excellent adventure,full of laughs and camaraderie.The  wind blew constantly albeit from an angle that required continuous gybing and brought us home safely.

If,there is always an if,we hadn’t torn the spi one day after the start we would have probably finished on Friday evening.Still our performance was good and,let us not forget,WE

CROSSED THE ATLANTIC.