Another ARC story

Thanks to Tillerman we've been sharing the stories we usually tell over a drink in the bar in the evening after the days sailing. So it wouldn't be surprising if we've been selecting them for entertainment as much as embarrassment factor.

So it might be there's a slight degree of censorship. I'm surprised there aren't more stories about mooring which gives so many opportunities for cock-ups, and with an audience standing by watching.

I remember one particular time when we were heading in to refuel, lined up, headed in, and it was when we were about 3 metres out that the three of us - each who claimed to able to skipper a yacht - noticed that no one had set even a single line. We bounced rather badly and yes I was driving.

Anyhow, time for another story from the ARC. One of our crew was mad keen on fishing and had bought a rod and line in Las Palmas. We'd only been across the start for about twenty minutes and he was itching to get a line out. And after a bit of badgering the skipper agreed.

Not a good idea, as there about 200 other boats all around us, and one decided to charge its batteries by towing a generator line, and yup, we got our fishing line tangled round it. We did the decent thing and cut our line but it must have made a bit of a mess.

Anyhow within a few days we'd lost sight of all other boats and forgot all about the incident. We made our way across the Atlantic, shredded one spinnaker and one pair of hands, and three weeks later crossed the finish line early one Sunday morning.

After beers, a shower, and a good nights sleep we went our separate ways. I shared the taxi to the airport with crew from other boats heading off to the same flight and enjoyed hearing their stories.

One in particular caught my attention. "We had just left Las Palmas and was towing our generator" said someone, "and you wouldn't believe it, it got caught up in the fishing line from some idiot's boat!"

"No way!"

(my small voice from the back) "Er, that was us. Sorry"