Finito!

Wow. Wow. Wow. Its finished! How surreal!

It typical Katie style I finished in the middle of the night. The last few miles were a real test as the fluky wind backed and veered, dropped and increased. We fetched the majority of the final leg in toward the coast. Just as the light was dropping I caught sight of Nomans Land, just the the southern tip of Marthas Vineyard. After that it was time to concentrate on figuring out the lights for the approach to the finish line.

The final few hours were very strange. I was stuck in limbo. A Massive part of me couldn’t wait to finish – the food, drink, friends and family. The bed! But another part was happy with the routine, always happy to sail in the general direction of a distant goal. Except that goal was quite so distant now! I could smell the trees, and I suddenly found the land invading my space!

Soon, I was joined by a Rib, driven my a man call Tom, and onboard were my parents and sister, bluQube’s Lorraine and Pete, local sailing enthusiast Carol and a brilliant photographer called Billy Black. After much cheering, and finally figuring out where I was and where the line was, it was time to head toward it! Typically, the wind kept heading me as I had to beat toward the line, and at one stage I wondered if I would actually ever get across – was it a sign? Maybe I should just turn around and head back? Common sense kicked in pretty face!

I had decided on the way in that I wouldn’t do a flare on the finish…. That was way too rockstar! But as my dad jumped on he said, “Billy would really like it if you set off a flare to celebrate. It would make some excellent pictures.” No need to ask me twice! In retrospect, it was a fantastic thing to do. While I wasn’t celebrating a win, I was most definitely celebrating a massive milestone…. Transatlantic! First ever! Solo! And now youngest ever female competitor. Southampton Solent have a double win with the youngest ever male and female finishers as a students.

As Dad jumped onboard along with Jerry Freeman it was very strange to have to share my 33ft world – but I wasn’t going to complain!

So after customs were cleared, a lot of hugs, a couple of pictures and interviews, it was time to cross the Newport Bridge (a land mark I had seen on the horizon before I even saw land) and time for a celebratory G&T (how yachtie) before bed. Not surprisingly I wasn’t too tired, and it was time for a catch up before a bath (heaven!) and a soft warm, unoving bed. The best thing…. No 2 hour alarm!

The plan next is to try and catch up with as many OSTAR skippers as possible, get that Fry up/Pizza/ and steak and just enjoy the atmosphere – its electric!

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