Mary Doll - Day 12 - Sobering Thoughts

The weather continues to be quite breezy but we are making good progress. No matter the speed we do, we are always very risk aware. Indeed, the reconnection of sat comms brought several sobering messages.

We heard that one of our fellow competitors had to abandon ship due to steering failure. One of the great advantages of sailing on ‘The Arc’ is that we have the support of so many others around.

The ocean is vast, but the good ships JK Sail and ‘Magic Dragon’ were on hand to offer support and indeed Magic Dragon took the five crew members onboard their boat. By an amazing coincidence, ‘Polygala’ with a Belgian film crew onboard was also close by and offered their support too. Who knows, perhaps we all may yet get to see this amazing act of good Samaritans and seamanship.

This incident underlines for us that this is not a risk free endeavour, however life without some calculated risk is not an option. Life is not a rehearsal.

The other very sobering message we received was that a close family member had succumbed to Covid. Life can be too short and can be cruelly snatched away when we least expect it. Live your dreams people. You only get one chance.

RIP Aileen Hutchison Tait, much loved and never forgotten.

Derek