Spirit of Weymouth

Well quite a lot has happened since I last write. Every time I have nearly got down to writing, something else has happened. Last night I was about to do some filming and send a blog when, as I was downstairs fiddling with the camera, the mother of all squalls came through, we broached, and I dealt with it in the usual manner and went back downstairs. Ten minutes later there was a sickening bang, the boat came upright, and there was a papery rustling sound which was my gennaker, or two bits of it.

Now, as of two hours ago, my writers block (not that you could call me a writer!) has been lifted as I have been released from the Doldrums. I thought initially that perhaps I'd escaped punishment, but it was not so. At one point I was trapped under a cloud that filled a 24 mile range radar screen - and boy, did it rain! It was almost Biblical! We just sat in the midst of it with the sails banging and slatting back and forth, which is a sailor's Chinese water torture, with the rain bucketing down.

There is no shortage of things to write about today after last night’s frenzied activities. I was snoozing in my bed when the boat began to broach - I was straight up, boots on and onto my feet, by way of pushing buttons on the autopilot to turn the boat away from the wind. Once on deck, I did the usual and eased the sails so that the boat will turn away from the wind again and the pilot can take charge, but nothing happened!