It’s been a long flight and I’m just walking to baggage claim.  How do I know where I’ve landed?  Simple, there’s only one airport where I have ever seen this sign:  San Francisco!

Kidding aside, we made it back to St Lucia from Martinique for the ARC prize giving.  What a surprise that Team Kincsem won it’s division!!  The results that had been reported ever since the start were not corrected for the handicap of the boats or the hours of motoring.  Since Kincsem is quite a bit smaller than most of the boats that finished earlier, out time got corrected by a Time Correction Factor which shortened our corrected passage time vs. the corrected passage time of the bigger boats.  Also, there was a correction for motoring:  motoring time got added to the passage time and multiplied by a factor of 1.4.  Since we motored much less than the other boats in the division, this gave us another advantage.  But ultimately, the key for the win was good preparation and a phantastic crew that got Kincsem to St Lucia quickly.  There were countless sail changes and the watchkeepers sailed the boat very well over the 17 days and 8 hours it took to get to the finish!  Congratulations to all!

Here we are accepting the official trophy (the large glass vase which stays with the organizers) and a little metal pot (for us to keep) for winning Cruising A, the Prime Minister's class.  I’m flanked by Almut (hardest working – crew, cook, chief provisioning officer, etc, etc) and Rainer (chief engineer) and Achim, our cruise director (who is NOT from Persia).   The fellow next to Almut is the Minister himself.  Daniel, who was crucial in so many ways to our effort, is missing as someone has to make some money so he returned home days earlier.  

The last few days in St Lucia were a lot of fun with parties and unofficial get togethers, including one on Kincsem.  The ARC organization has been great and we met a lot of interesting people many of whom we’ll likely meet again during the Caribbean season. 

Here with some delay is our arrival photo with the complete Kincsem team where rum drinks are served shortly after the lines are tied to the shore in Rodney Bay!

Kincsem put away for a few weeks in Rodney Bay Marina, ST Lucia.

I’m due back on the boat mid-January and Kincsem will sail North to the British Virgin Islands by March and then back down the chain of islands to Grenada by early May.  I’m looking forward to sailing with those of you who’ve signed up for this season! Meanwhile, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!   

Kincsem over and out for the rest of 2023!