Location: West End, Tortola
Hello everyone! This might be a shorter one, as I am busy finishing packing and getting ready to head home early tomorrow morning. Today was a long-awaited day for everyone, the last race day. Riley, Whitney, and Amanda led us with a great brief. PFDs were put on, lines and sails prepped, music turned up to 110%, and vibes were high. Honestly, since the race was very long and so much happened, I will put the highlights here. Krisi was the champion on the mainsheet today, doing everything fast and with purpose. While everyone jumped into all tasks, Reid, Evan, and Sedora were experts in helming. Angie, Mar, and Elias kept the music suggestions rolling in and were extremely intimidating to the other boats. Vanessa and Laila kept switching everyone in and out and kept the mood up during the entire race. We had a massive comeback in the long race, cementing our place as the fastest boat on Sail Side A! While Riley was still a bit intense during the race, he was extremely elated with how everyone did.
After racing, we started the long process of clearing the boat and packing all our things up. I had definitely lost some things over the course of this amazing voyage, but I did end up finding them as this process continued. While most of us had packed by the time the boat had returned to West End, there was still so much work to do. Turns out, when 15 people live together on a big boat, a massive mess is created. Despite cleaning every day as part of our tasks, Alpenglow needed some TLC. Most of our afternoon was spent scrubbing, clearing, soaking, etc., until the boat was spotless. We also got a quick lunch onshore before our final BBQ. Amanda and Riley returned after many various tasks as we were finishing the flag auction for VISAR donations, and we did our final squeeze. I don’t mean to brag, but it was the best one we ever did. We had an amazing dinner and a closing talk with Mike. While I am excited to come home, I will miss this place, these people, and this experience.