Ellen Macarthur Trust

Today's the day...........!!!!!!!

Phew, what a day yesterday was. Having made the decision to divert to Antigua for emergency fuel to run the ships essential electrical and hydraulic systems, I altered course and we had a great sail through the night. My shore team had investigated several options but we settled on rendezvous'ing at noon local time with the Antigua & Barbuda Search & Rescue team (ABSAR). I was insistent that it should be a ship to ship refuel at sea, not at a marina or at anchor which would constitute making landfall - not that would be a problem but I felt it would take the shine off my arrival in Tortola. We chose Carlisle Bay (just around from Falmouth / English Harbour) as it gave protection from the Atlantic swells. The re-fuelling was textbook - my thanks to Jonathan, Sven, Barbara and Becky from ABSAR and I'm certain the owner of ID will be pleased that not a drop of diesel was spilt on his lovely decks. Within the hour, we were off again, now able to recharge our ships batteries from the engines which meant I could finally stop steering by hand, much to the relief of my right arm, and we could have hot food, the first in days.
 
More good wind and it wasn't long before we were making course for Tortola (ETA 1300 local time, 1700 GMT, Thursday 7th January), sailing up past St Kitts and Nevis, the volcano dramatically backlit by the setting sun, the island lights twinkling along the shoreline. What a great sight.
 
So, how are we feeling with less than 12 hours to go? Well, Susana is already packed, grinning from ear to ear and right now is letting off part poppers down below in her cabin accompanied by whoops of delight - I think it's the prospect of being on terra firma, either that or the peanut M&M's have finally got to her. She's not even mentioned the "seasick" word today but that could be because the tranquil Caribbean sea is so different to the mighty Atlantic.  Digby is looking forward to seeing his wife and daughter, Paula & Frances again although we have a massive media schedule today so, once we've had our celebratory toast of Pol Roger champagne, he will be busy digitising and editing footage for the BBC - we hope to be doing a live on the national 6 o'clock BBC news so watch out for that. And me? Well, of course I can't wait to see Elaine & Tim, it's been exactly a month today that we've been away which included Christmas and New Year - I saw a photo a couple of days ago of Tim and I'm sure he's grown. But I have mixed emotions. The arrival today will be the culmination of more than a year of planning, months of struggles and heartache, difficulties finding the money and inumerable other challenges, but they were all overcome and will no doubt be temporarily forgotten when we arrive. But I'm not complaining, I would have achieved what I set out to achieve and I knew from experience it was never going to be easy. In fact, some aspects I have found tougher than I ever anticipated (like coping as a quadriplegic on a moving boat for so long), others I have been less affected than expected, for example to lack of sleep or actually sailing the boat. Above all, I have just experienced something very special indeed and I must thank everyone in my team, not just those on board, for playing their part in the success.
 
I want my arrival to be a celebration of the past 25 years not, as someone asked recently, "will it give you closure"? What? Closure? That infers I somehow regret or lament the past 25 years. Absolutely not. Were it not for the accident, I would not have met Elaine, had Timothy or had such a wonderful life so, closure? No. Celebration? Yes. And any tears will be tears of joy not tears of regret or sadness. Life is too short to worry about what "might have been" or waiting for some "miracle cure" for Spinal Cord injury, there's a magnificent world out there and I'm both honoured and humbled to have had the opportunity to put together this great project; the Atlantic was everything I had hoped it would be and just as I remembered it from all those years ago.

It feels like the feeling we had as kids the night before Christmas, I'm really excited about what is to come later today but nervous too - it promises to be a truly memorable day and another chapter in my life-story. I can't tell you how grateful I am for the hundreds and hundreds of emails I've received, mostly from complete strangers, tellling me how my story is touching their lives and inspiring them, it makes all of this so worthwhile, thank you all for following me.
 
Right, here we go, deep breath, and relax........