Retreated and defeated
avanti
Eleanor Tims, aka Ryllis Tims
Wed 12 Dec 2007 12:33
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N 50:21 W 03:35
Last Wednesday, a week ago today, we reassembled on
Avanti, the gear box repair (a broken oil seal) having been completed. We
believed that there would be a weather window on Friday, enabling us to make the
24 hour trip back up Channel, returning Avanti to a place much nearer
home. How wrong we were. We sat out four whole days of almost
non-stop rain, with the boat becoming damper and damper until all our bedding
was wet. There was moisture everywhere, (heavy condensation), but my
staunch companions did not complain at all. Outside, the gales came
through, thick and fast. Gale Force 8; then 9; then Storm Force 10; and
occasionally howling furious bouts of Severe Storm Force 11.
The dinghy, hanging in davits on the stern, filled
with water faster than we could empty it, or handle it in the strong
winds. One of the davits succumbed, broke at a weld, so we lashed the
dinghy onto the fore-deck. We ran out of gas for the heater and used up
one of the two bottles for the cooker. We'd been having a lot of hot
drinks! And I, to Mike's scorn, ("Girls are such wimps"), took two hot
water bottles to bed with me, one for my feet and one to cuddle. Davy got
through a lot of gin and tonic and I was to be seen occasionally comforting
myself with a drop (?) of whisky. Mike had
plenty of videos to show us on his large-screen p.c., thank goodness, so picture
us sitting there in the nice comfortable saloon of a wet boat, hour after hour,
day after day, with gales raging outside, watching bright and cheerful offerings
from Disney.
We left on Monday, at 04:40, with the forecast of
moderating winds, going down to nearly no wind. Hooray, we're on the home
stretch!
Not at all. A wind shift and a strengthening
wind, plus wind over tide in Lyme Bay, made it so rough that continuing was
madness, and when the block, through which the genoa sheet (aka - pulley,
foresail, rope) broke and the sail tried to do a big kite act, we turned tail
and went back as far as Dartmouth. You can see exactly where Avanti is on
the link below - move the map up with the hand thingy and she's right
at the top, on a deep water pontoon, out in the river, accessible by water
taxi, and we are all in our respective homes. And of course the forecast
was right; ever since we went into Dartmouth there has been no wind.
Now I'm going out of my mind with worry. All
that wet bedding on the boat. All that food. Everything will go
mouldy. Dartmouth is hard to get to: no train station there. A 3
hour car journey, and I doubt I can drive as I injured my left hand and can
barely use it. I'm typing this with only my right hand. I want to go down
there and bring off some of my clothes, but doubt I can.
I feel defeated by the situation. However, at
least we have achieved the crew's original hope: HOME FOR CHRISTMAS.
Mine? No, I was going to have a Canaries Christmas. Still, at least
I'll get to see "Carols from Kings" again this year. And decorate the
house instead of the boat in the bright sunshine of Lanzarote.
I wish you all a very happy Christmas. I
thank you for your emails and your loving support. I thank my crew - a
great gang.
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