After 15,000 miles and 68 alone days at sea, Robin arrived in Fremantle at sunset on December 28th. He survived, among other difficulties, twice being broached (laid flat on the sea) and even was completely rolled once in the severe storms he's sailed through both just off the coast of Spain only 15 hours after the race started and also further down in the Southern Ocean.
All of us involved with his campaign joined the press boat heading out at 7:00 p.m. on the 28th to intercept him. We found him just as he came around Rottnest Island. We turned around and followed him in underneath the deepening colors of the sky while he headed for the finish line buoy maybe still ten miles away.
Loitering there was a smaller rigid inflatable boat (RIB) carrying Simon and Pete, the two most skilled sailors of our team who would board his boat and help him de-power the sails and prepare to be towed into the port. Simon and Pete also carried a few beers and a packet of cigarettes, something Robin's been out of and severely missing for several weeks.
The first people to greet the weary but clearly happy Robin at the dock were Mike Golding and Alex Thompson, both no longer a part of the race (why explained here) but still happy to be here to greet this storied sailor.
The next morning, the press offered no respite from the blanket coverage of almost every move Robin made as we prepared to do what we could to refit his boat in the two weeks we had left before the race restarts on the 14th.
My job for this first week is working in the sail loft, doing what we can to repair, recondition, and modify his sails as required.
We've had several parties and receptions to attend as a team but the most enjoyable times for me are our group dinners, most often at Robin's rented house but also occasionally at a restaurant.
Rather than being merely a group of sailing enthusiasts with varying levels of skills (clearly I am the least skilled), the sense of being more like a close and mutually respecting family is very tangible and pleasing. Robin is so vibrantly healthy, content, and so clearly a remarkable human being that everyone amongst us seems to be as content to be part of this project as I am.
We all spent New Year's Eve at Alex Thomson's party but my camera's batteries were dead.
Happy New Year, friends. Life is good.
