Today the wind has abated so Nick and Dave went out in their dinghy to check the breakers in the inlet, not visible from the mooring field. They returned to say it was calm enough to leave and within 30 minutes we were out. Quite bumpy, but exciting to have escaped. The weather was supposed to be getting calmer over the next couple of days so we planned to sail for two nights and get to Fort Lauderdale.

Of course, the weather got worse! Not too bad in the daylight but by night we were all feeling seasick. We took our sails down completely and motored so as to avoid any need to go on deck. The next morning we did put the sails up, to discover that the rigger who replaced the boom whilst we were in Georgia hadn’t secured the topping lift properly and it came loose (this hold the boom up when the sails are down). Nick did manage to replace the shackle but it took quite a long time – and many safety harnesses!

Meanwhile, Dave and Marcy had disappeared in their speedy boat and were no longer in contact either by radio or phone as we were too far offshore by this point.  That night we left the sails up and decided to go to Lake Worth, Riviera Beach rather than Fort Lauderdale – about 45 miles nearer. It did mean getting through that inlet in the dark – not ideal but we couldn’t face another night. Neither could Dave and Marcy who made the same decision and let us know when the phone signal returned.

We turned the engines on before taking the sails down to discover the port engine wasn’t working properly – seemed not to be getting fuel.....much trickier to negotiate the inlet and anchorage with only one engine. Decided to go for it though and turned out to be fine as the water in the lake was really calm, hard to imagine as the waves were about 7ft just outside.  So we selected a spot to discover that the anchor windless wasn’t working either because it relies on the port engine.  I ended up driving the boat in circles round the neighbouring boat three times whilst Nick struggled to get the anchor and chain out by hand before dropping it.  Mission complete by 01.00.