Mary Doll - Day 18 - Time flies when you’re having fun

Today was to be a good day. It was foretold, but someone didn’t tell today.

Last nights gastronomic delight was tuna and sweetcorn mayonnaise with crackers and breadsticks. Mmmmm. At least we have an electric kettle and can make a welcome cup of tea.

The last night watch of yesterday saw me awoken from my sleep to assist with the navigation systems which had lost signal. Using the trusted IT department trick of turn it off and back on again the system was back up and running in no time.

Midnight to 3am watch went without a hitch so maybe today will be a good day after all.
4.30 am I’m awoken from my sleep again but this time with more urgency. The autopilot has gone off and the navigation system is giving incorrect course details. It took a few minutes to get our steering back on track using the old school methods. Manual control, steer to compass bearing and use the feel of the wind direction to confirm your position. Manual steering is a full body workout so we got Derek out of bed to help us sort the problem whilst we took the helm.

Caroline and Bobby had a crash course in steering in strong swells and picked things up very quickly. The conditions are so physically demanding that we begin a 15 minute helming rota and after an hour or so are both into the swing of things and also completely knackered. When Derek and Lewis take over at 7am the problem magically sorts itself and our autopilot is back with a renewed sense of gratitude from all onboard.

Whilst we were having our autopilot issues the electronic positioning system was relaying incorrect course details to other boats in the vicinity. So as well as steering we also had to call other boats and correct them. Everyone was very helpful in accommodating our requests to give us a wide berth,

Once rested we are all back on deck and facing another delicious meal. We have the choice of muesli, cheese, cold meats or instant noodles. The instant noodles are a winner and things are looking up.

The autopilot and challenges of the previous days has the skipper decide that its best to head directly for St Lucia even if that means using the engine. Our course is confirmed by our resident mathematician Caroline and her use of the Cosine rule. Who would have thought we would have a mathematics in practice opportunity. Our excitement was barely evident.

Before we got the engine on we had several calculations of fuel consumption and fuel remaining. The monitoring team of Lewis and Bobby gave the thumbs up, it would be tight but possible. So we cranked up the engine and set course, we will sail whenever possible as even our trusty engine will need a break sometime.

So here we are hoping to reach land before we run out of cold food options. If we can arrive before the Covid curfew of 9pm then we may get a proper meal but that’s still a day or two away yet.
Last Saturday when everything was going swimmingly seems like a month ago now but we are wiser and stronger having overcome or worked around the challenges thrown our way.

Letitia