Trilogy is now taking a well-earned rest, berthed in Rodney Bay, St Lucia in the Caribbean after successfully completing her first Atlantic crossing.

The stats tell the story: she covered 2788 nm, took 16 days 16 hours 34 minutes and 6 seconds for the passage at an average of 7 kts; was 67th boat to finish out of the 204 starters; was 12th in her class; didn't do any windward work in the whole trip, with most of the time spent running downwind with a poled out genoa; achieved a top speed of 16.9 kts (twice) and was never becalmed; caught 7 good sized fish (each one fed all 6 crew); had 3 happy hours and 3 shower days and experienced two big knockdowns which caused some damage and slowed Trilogy down until repairs could be completed.

The rally finished for Trilogy as it commenced - in fresh but not frightening winds, with a lot of other boats trying to cross the line ahead and a big party atmosphere. She left Las Palmas at 1pm on 22 November and finished at St Lucia just after 1am on 9 December.

The traditional route from the Canaries to the Caribbean (the Christopher Columbus route) is to sail towards the Verde Islands until the butter melts and then turn right to run with the trade winds all the way across the Atlantic. However, with climate change, refrigeration and the availability of satellite communications providing daily weather data, in more recent years ARC participants have started to take the more direct great circle route to the Caribbean. We chose the great circle route.

After the first couple of days of very strong north-easterly trade winds, Trilogy enjoyed an arm chair ride in largely moderate trades. A lot of other boats ran out of wind and spent days motoring - with good weather routing information we managed to skirt the calm patches and to continue sailing. Trilogy arrived a lot earlier than boats taking the more traditional route.

The crew - Rick (skipper), Garth (first mate), John (navigator), Dave (engineer, baker and fisher person), Paul (providore) and Steve (medical officer and marina networker) - had a great trip. We all ate very well thanks to Paul, Dave and Steve, with good meals, fresh bread, home made yoghurt and fresh fish and arrived fit, well and in good spirits after 16 days at sea.

There was an overwhelming sense of achievement on arrival - a big tick on the bucket list, an enormous ocean crossing successfully completed. The atmosphere as Trilogy made its way to berth was electric - even at that hour boats which had already finished welcomed us with fog horns blaring, Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldier" was blasting out and there was a welcoming ARC group at the dock with fresh fruit, rum punch, rum and instructions on clearing-in in the morning when immigration, customs and the marina office opened for business. Naturally there was a bit of partying after docking to celebrate our arrival.

Although 204 boats started the rally, they were soon swallowed in the vastness of the Atlantic. There were rare sightings of other participants, even using the radar and AIS. The exception was a small racing boat - Luna Rosa - which crossed Trilogy's path (both in front and behind) 6 or 7 times. The boats got so friendly they finished together at St Lucia, with Trilogy overtaking Luna Rosa in the last 400metres to finish 30 seconds ahead.

While it was a relatively quick and easy passage for Trilogy, 2800 miles of constant downwind sailing and the two knockdowns caused a lot of wear and tear, with an A4- sized list of repairs required on arrival at Rodney Bay. Trilogy was not alone, however, with every boat finishing reporting gear damage of one sort or another. Although the rally was not a race, the competition for attention from the various service providers at the marina after the finish was intense, and getting repairs made quickly required intense attention, perseverance and a good credit card which hadn't been blocked by a suspicious bank back home.

The Atlantic rally completed, Trilogy is now ready to start cruising the Caribbean once the celebrations and presentations are complete at the end of the week. John, Garth and Paul will fly home to Australia after presentation night while Susan, Kathy and Judy will join Rick, Dave and Steve for the last few days of the rally celebrations, Christmas on board and cruising in the Caribbean until the end of January 2016.