Day 18

   It was indeed tempting fate to estimate our arrival time. I was sailing along quite nicely when all of a sudden my steering jammed. I lurched from one side to the other with my mainsail backed against the preventer as down below Lini donned life jacket and up above a few choice words bellowed from my skipper! Simon dashed to the aft cabin, ripped up the bunk and Lini took orders from the feet emerging from the direction of the quadrant. Autohelm disconnected Raymarine had let us down yet again. Double-handed there was now more urgency to get the Hydrovane working and Simon tweaked the adjustments for what seemed an eternity, trying ‘in vane’ (haha!) to stop the 90°swing, frequently putting us in a gybe situation. It improved to a point for a while giving them a well earned brake from the helm, but we were being sent wildly each side of our course which with Simon’s competitive side was not acceptable. Unable to watch boats we had stormed past now passing us it was going to be a tiring finish.

   They had little rest and little if any sleep alternating on the helm through the night. On a positive note the winds were strong and my speed could not have been better as I surfed the waves touching 10kts.

Breakfast – Orange, kiwi, grapes + yoghurt – Toast and marmalade.

Lunch – Tomato and basil bruschettas, Waldorf salad.

Last Race Dinner – Cream cheese and onion relish toasts – Steak in pepper sauce, mash, French beans with leeks – Chocolate mousse.