Day 13 Noon Saturday 5th December

Now I’m not usually a superstitious person but when it started it was Friday and it was our 13^th day at sea. Let me explain.

We were about to have dinner on Friday night when skipper suddenly rushed below to get his waterproof gear and rapidly put away one of the sails. He then had a lonely dinner on deck while the crew ate below. Had he been sent to Coventry? Was this the start of the long overdue mutiny? The doorway was then locked at the top of the stairs. His isolation was complete.

About 30 seconds later the rain started and then the wind picked up. The skipper had seen the squall coming. Within minutes the visibility had dropped to almost zero and it started to get dark. The wind instrument thought about how it could help best. After all when you’re fighting the boat for control it’s nice to be able to tell the strength and direction of the wind at a glance. So it finished deliberating, and just as the wind was getting uncomfortably strong, had a tantrum and packed up all together .Helpful.

Barrie emerged on deck. At least I think it was him – difficult to tell in the blinding rain. And then the lightning started. Now most people have seen lightning -but not like this. It was flashing at least once a second for well over an hour. It was like a strobe light at a disco. Any night vision was impossible as it alternated between brilliant light and then pitch black. We started to get headaches it was so intense. The thunder was deafening and instantaneous after the lightning. The storm was right overhead. The wind started backing and we followed it round until we were heading back towards the Cape Verdes !  Eventually we gybed the boat and got roughly back on course. Benji put the grab bag in the oven in case we got hit by lightning and lost all of our electrics.

We had big wind and rain for several hours. Barrie and I stayed up. Just before dawn the wind dropped and the clouds started breaking up. It was good to finally relax and hand over to the rest of the crew and go to bed.

It had been a long night. Friday 13^th day? Or just a coincidence?