What A Full Circle Moment!
Location: Antigua
Today was a day that left many of us thinking, “Oh my goodness, look how far we have come, we made it”. The most obvious sense of “we made it” was our arrival to Antigua, our final destination! It is so crazy to think that 84 days, 9 countries, 6130 NM, an equator crossing, and countless sail rises later, we arrived! And even better, we arrived with all 6 sails up.
Today began with passage prep, which has become a very holistic process for our crew; we all roam around putting on hallards, topping booms, or removing sail covers. Today, my first full circle moment was racheteting the dinghy to the boat, as it happened to be the first job that I ever did during our very first ever passage prep in Cape Town.
See, today was a super exciting day as we were training for our upcoming sail regatta. We all broke into our teams and prepared to raise our designated sails with absolute speed. One by one, they all went up (almost smoothly, my team had a few hiccups with a very temperamental Jib), next thing we knew, all 6 were up. Mac and Sam went around helping us all perfect our sail trim. Despite months of sailing, this was our first true experience with sail trim, which was so exciting and incredibly interesting. After we had the sails up and lots of “take in sheet,” “take up on preventer,” and “ease,” we were pleased with our results. My second full circle moment of the day was watching us bring up the main sail, which went up smoothly, efficiently, and in roughly 3 minutes. It made me think of our very first sail training day back in Cape Town that took more than 15 minutes of blood, sweat, and tears to raise. It was amazing to see how far we have come.
We had a super yummy lunch cooked by Sam and took a moment to enjoy our last lunch on passage. After lunch, we took some time to sit on deck and soak up all the sun before getting back to sail handling. We had our first ever JIBE AND TACK, which was so exciting, we all stood at our positions ready for the signal to start sweating or easing. Safe to say that we arrived in Antigua exhausted and feeling very accomplished.
The last, but definitely not least, full-circle moment of today was Mac and Sam officially completing their circumnavigation!
It is so incredible to think of how much we have learned throughout this trip. Not only have we learned the ins and outs of living and sailing on Vela, but we have learned so much about community and teamwork, not to mention ourselves. It is with a very bittersweet energy that I write my last skipper blog. I couldn’t be prouder of how far we have come and all the things we have accomplished; however, I am so sad to see our days coming to a close.
This trip has been such an amazing opportunity that I have no doubt we will think of it for years to come. We have all grown and changed in the best way possible, and we have been influenced by each other and this journey. As the days count down, we have only one choice but to live it to the fullest, to make sure that we do not let them go to waste.
So friends, family, and whoever has chosen to take 5 minutes today to read this, be proud of your loved ones; they have made it very far, and they are about to end one of the greatest journeys of their lives. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without you all and each other, so thank you!
I suppose it is true what they say, time truly does fly when you are having fun, and boy, has this trip flown by!
I leave you all with the feeling of accomplishment and serenity that currently stirs throughout Vela!
Lots of love,
Vittoria