The French catamaran Sir Henri 4 made landfall in Barbados to an enthusiastic reception at 8 PM local time on Sunday 20 November. Waiting on the dock to welcome the tired crew at the end of a fast 11 day, 2000 miles passage from the Cape Verde Islands were Devon Chase, Sports Director, Billy Ferguson, Deputy Chairman of Barbados Port Authority, Peter Gilkes, Barbados 50 Coordinator and Jimmy Cornell. Customs, immigration and quarantine officials were summoned from the commercial harbour and cleared in the boat in spite of the late hour so that the crew could go out and celebrate their arrival in the Caribbean.
On behalf of the events sponsor, Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., Devon Chase presented Stephane Grimault a welcome bag containing among others a most appreciated gift on arrival – a bottle of the famous Mount Gay rum.
The next boat expected to arrive around noon on Monday is the Swiss trimaran Nelia, after which the rate of arrivals will accelerate with several more boats due to arrive in the next couple of days.
Follow the boats on the live tracking map.
Barbados 50 is sponsored by Barbados Tourism Marketing and the Tenerife Port Authority.