At last Sam arrived into Port St Charles and
successfully brought his boat into dock.
He sat aboard for a while, preparing himself for his first touch of land for two months.
Then came the official welcome of Ken Crutchlow, Secretary of the Ocean Rowing Society, filmed by Dixie,
Before doing anything else Sam was required to report to border control. This involved walking along a narrow quayside to present his passport to a man in a little office. As he was rather wobbly, he needed my assistance to reach this point. It was, of course, a great privilege to be selected to provide such support.
After this we lined up for group photographs. Here Jessica, Louisa, and I join Sam and Ken.
Here, I relayed the result to the Nottingham Evening Post.
Before repairing to the bar, Sam caught up with me, his mother and his sister.
Here he is in the beach bar.
Each evening for the rest of our stay, we began with potent rum punches in the main dining area upstairs. After a few of these, Ken would always cry: ‘Samson Knight. Who named that boy?’
We were to learn in particular how the voyage had not been without its narrow escapes.