MEARRA NIEIDA in ARC 2004
1st IN ITS CLASS AND 4th OVERALL!
Pekka Salonoja's Finngulf 46, Mearra Nieida, crossed the Atlantic in 15 days and 10 minutes. The result surprised the novice-ARC-participant crew as well as many spectators.
" The yacht is just fantastic to sail. We were surfing 10-12 knots in a wind of 9-11 m/s. We never had any trouble with the helm, we were running days and nights with the spinnaker and only dropped it when there was a squall approaching us.
Typically, this happened during the night and we saw them on the radar screen," says skipper Pekka Salonoja.
Mearra Nieida crossed the finish line outside Rodney Bay on St. Lucia on Tuesday 7 December at 06.10 local time. The last miles were very exiting; the yacht arrived only 32 seconds after Murka, a Russian Swan 48. This was the closest and most thrilling line-crossing in this 2900-mile race. The crew of Mearra were able to cope with this last-mile loss since Murka participated the racing class and started 20 minutes earlier than Mearra.
Mearra Nieida finished 4th in the overall results and was the 23rd yacht to arrive in the Marina of St. Lucia, and was placed among the VOR's and other big boats that participated the racing class. In the Marina there were only 2 boats, both 62-footers, from the cruising division prior Mearra. Both of these were passed in the handicap-corrected results.
"Compared to others, I believe we had less technical difficulties. The major one was with the watermaker. The shaft of the ciculation pump broke from the pump itself but we fixed it by drilling a 3mm hole and making a strong pin from a drill bit. We also had some minor problems with the boom's joint, but that was easy to fix," says Pekka.
