When I did wake up in the deck of Xplorer that afternoon I realised that I lacked both the emotional capacity and resilience to hawk my credentials up and down the pontoons so I resigned myself to flying back to the UK, even of just to regroup. The decision came mostly from a lack of creativity, lack of knowing what else I would do so I checked the flights. Peter had requested that I help pack up the boat however I didn't see any point in hanging around GC. I decided to get the next available flight out tomorrow. It was only £99, whereas the cost increases if i leave it any later in the week, so that's as good a reason as I need to get outta Dodge! i asked Peter what needed done and he suggested i empty the freezer. I wasn't prepared to pimp myself out, let alone do the same with ready frozen meals, so I got a large bin bag and put everything that I'd made in it, and dumped it. A huge waste, but I was Bwlch caring.This was perfectly good food, lovingly cooked which I'm sure 100 boats would have taken, I thought it might be cathartic or symbolic ... I wasn’t quite sure but I was approaching my task with positivity so , I git in with the task at hand and I dumped it anyway.  

The 45 eggs though, I knew someone would want them. I had met Jeremy and Nicole at a party a few nights earlier and we had struck up an immediate rapport, they were in the boat next door, right next door on the berth beside us on the same pontoon. They were standing on the dock and were delighted by the offer of 45 eggs. Of course this led to a conversation and as I shared my predicament, they shared their’s. Jeremy and Nicole are a married couple who met their skipper, Chris through the same tinder for yachties website that I met my skipper on, they had travelled from Lymington earlier in the year with a crew of 4, however one of their number didn’t like night watches and the skipper had decided to let her go. He had just decided and in fact Chris wasn’t there at that moment because he was escorting the departed crew member off the premises. 

I don’t believe that things happen for a reason, I don’t believe that anything is ordained, however I do believe that by setting your attitude you can bend the universe ever so slightly to your cause and in this moment, my beliefs have been reinforced. As I said earlier, I have for some time been focusing on completing the ARC, i have been saying that after that I would focus on my next step. Later that night over a burger and a glass of red wine, Chris Regnant invites me to be a member of his crew aboard his 46 foot Bavaria sailing yacht “Next Step”. I was delighted to accept.