Barbados Welcome

Yesterday gave us our best weather yet. The wind was perfect for us to run fast under full sail and we made great time. The sun went down as we made landfall and we watched the lights on Barbados come alive. Two local boats ran out to meet us whilst we were still five miles away and their cheers followed us in. We crossed the finish line at 1949 local time, 2349GMT, almost exactly twenty five and a half days after the start.

We dropped our sails, started the engine and followed the committee boat in. Unknown to us, they had arranged for us to come directly into the historic centre of Bridgetown. James looked apprehensive as we negotiated the extremely tight river entrance and through the raised bridge into the riotous centre of the capital. The river was lined with bars, filled with people shouting and cheering us and even a trumpeter raised a salute. We turned stern to and the quay was utterly filled with cheering crowds, both of locals, tourist and the other boats. All raised three cheers and chanted our name.

The organisers swapped our lines for rum (and juice for the children) as we waited to clear customs (this was apparently done in a back room of one of the bars down the river). Once ashore, everyone wanted to congratulate us in person and see the children. They were sorely disappointed that Matthew had already gone to sleep, but Elizabeth lapped up the attention. She was rather quiet so I asked her if she was OK and she replied "I'm so happy I think I might be about to cry!"

Among the well-wishers was one of the teachers of the class who had been following our progress and her family. They were so knowledgeable about us and the history of our boat. They will return to visit us aboard this week. We heard later that we were the only arrival to have such an amazing reception as everyone wanted to meet the amazing children who had sailed with us, and we had arrived literally just in time for the Mount Gay Rum party so we were dragged into one of the bars to drink and swap stories with the crews.

The morning dawned bright and sunny. We've been sharing more stories with the boats and sorting ourselves out. The decks are clean, the sun awning up and the wonderful Blue Peter have just given us their main, genoa and a spinnaker. We are now off to the beach for a swim and then it's cocktails at the Barbados Yacht Club with the CEO of Panerai tonight.

Now we begin to unwind and relax. The pace of life here is slower and the local internet is marginal so updates will be less frequent. Thanks to all of you who have followed our progress in this amazing race and we hope to catch up with you all in person next year and share our tales.