After three weeks at sea look what's coming home...
After a few days, at last our final report. We finally arrived at 0800Z on Saturday, the 28th of July. We were at sea for 29 days and covered a little
over 3500 nautical miles. The winner in the arrival sweepstakes was
Doug Fitzsimmons on board, and the shore-based winners were Thomas Lloyd (1st), Ron Willett (2nd), and Tommy Louderback (3rd). The skipper swears he will be bringing back some contraband to award to these
ne'er-do-wells.
The last two four days were pretty much endless as we battled 25-40 knot winds dead on our nose. The staysailŐs stay gave way, as did the jib
halyard and the instrument array on the top of the mast (which explains
why we failed to get out our last two e-mails). And with
the autopilot out, every wet soggy mile found someone lashed to the
wheel. Finally, though the weather broke and our last day
was spent steaming up the lovely Sound of Jura, where we officially
celebrated our arrival with a ration of PusserŐs Rum in the shadow of
An Oig, the Mountain of Gold, behind which the sun was setting. (It
should be pointed out that our ration was substantially less than the
daily imperial pint awarded to sailors in the Royal Navy, but with land so
close by, the usual mutterings of the scurvy and mutinous crew were fairly restrained).
On arrival, we were greeted by the Merry Wives of Oban, Anne and Judy
who immediately whisked us off into a whirlwind of showers, laundromats,
and food. After Doug and Judy took off for the Isle of Mull, the remaining crew feasted at the Manor House in a belated celebration of CaptainŐs Night Ashore. Anne produced a bottle of 86 year-Old Overholt Rye Whiskey,
courtesy of the Mellon family, whose bracing drams at sunset in Oban were a nice capstone the trip.
( Later, some local flavor was found in a local watering hole,where a local collared Denny and told him in a fairly thick brogue. ŇNice bearrrrd. Reminds me of the last gooat I shaggged.Ó ItŐs good to know the lilting romantic legacy of Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns is alive and well.)
The crew of the Picaroon would like to extend grateful thanks to John Lewis
for maintaining the page, Walker White for the animated map, the folks at Hinckley for getting us there through some pretty rough weather, Herb
Higlenberg for the weather advice, Anne
McLucas for her shore-based endeavors and frozen meals, and to all
of you who suffered through some fairly juvenile prose for the last couple of weeks. It was a remarkable journey and we are very pleased you were able
to share it with you.
