FINALLY THE FINAL WORDS

At 0812 EST on Tuesday 25 May we crossed the finish line, an imaginary line
between a building and a channel mark. There was no one about and for a
while we didn't think there was anyone there to finish us. Finally there was
a sound signal from the building.

The last few days at sea had been exhausting. On Friday we sailed under a
stationary front and were surrounded by thunderstorms, rain and very light
wind. The wind finally came in but the low dense grey cloud remained until
the end. From there on the air and sea temperature dropped dramatically and
we were back to thermals and our trusty Montane Wet Weather Gear.

The prognosis weather charts predicted a strong NW front so the race was on
to finish before that. Preceeding the front there was 30 to 40 knots from
the SW which had us barreling along and we also had some favourable current.
With this we did our best 24 hour run of 186nm in latitude.

In order to minimise any further damage to the spreaders we sailed with the
main half in and the main sheet tied off so we couldn't ease it. Normally
Montane just revels in the hard reaching and running conditions but this was
really hard work. We would reef the mainsail much earlier than usual and
were constantly changing between the no. 3 headsail, reacher and storm jib.

The Port of Osaka is one of the busiest in the world with up to 600 shipping
movements a day. Well we were approaching in very poor visibilty late in the
afternoon. We watched as ship after ship emerged and disappeared into the
mist. Fortunately we only had one close call where a ship was overtaking us
from our port quater. We were running dead square surfing steep 3m waves and
had no where to go. I don't know if they heard us on VHF or finally saw us
as they turned at th last minute and passed about 70m in front of us.

With about 45nm to go the strong southerly started to lighten and we
slowlyshook out the reefs and changed to bigger headsails knowing full well
that we would have to go throught the same process the other way when the
front arrived. It felt like it was the hardest we had worked for the whole
race. Finally the breeze died out and we found ourselvs becalmed just
outside a shipping lane. By this time I was loosing my sense of humour and
decided that we should try and get some sleep. It was to be one hour at a
time and I was going first. I am very grateful to Dave that he woke me two
hours later just as the breeze was coming in. Back to those sail changes.

We passed through the narrow channel into Osaka Bay with 36 knots just
forward of the beam. Once in the Bay the breeze moderated to 20 to 25 and
swung aft and we ended up having a great spinnaker run amongst the ships to
the finish.

After 36 and a half days of running the engine in neutral and putting it in
reverse when not running, we went to put the engine into gear and nothing
happened. We wondered if the propeller was still there or if we had
something aound it as we had passed so much stuff in the water - nets, rope,
plastic bags. Dave put his mask on and stuck his head over the side (now
here is one advantage of an Adams 10 - it is not very far from the deck to
the water). Anyway all Dave could see was brown murky water.

We finally got it going and motored into Hokko Yacht Club where we had to
wait onboard for two hours to go though customs, immigration and quarantine.
Finally we were allowed off the boat to walk on solid ground. There was a
great welcoming ceremony where we got to stand on a podium and spray
champagne. Then it was a long awaited shower and lunch.

For the first night in Osaka we stayed in a hotel. I checked in at 5:30pm
had a bath and then slept. I did not wake up until Dave knocked on the door
to get me for dinner at 8am!!. He didn't realise that he had slept the whole
night.

Looking back over the race we are absolutely thrilled with how we went. I
never imagined completing the race in 36 and a half days or being so close
to the bigger boats. This is a true endurance event for both yourself and
the boat and the challenge is just to finish. It was a fine balance between
pushing hard and preserving both the boat and ourselves.

Finally thank you to everyone for your kind messages and support. In
particular we would lke to thank European Marine (Montane), Tantra Australia
(Soft Path Cuisine), McIntyre Marine, Knut Henriksen and Susan Norbom.

Finally finally, Dave is sailing the mighty Montane back to Sydney via Guam,
Chuk Lagoon (amazing diving), other remote palm fringed atolls, New Ireland
(surfing), Rabal (active volcano) and the Whitsundays. Dave will depart Guam
on 22 June. If you are interested in sailing any part of this voyage please
contact Susan Norbom.

Teresa