Tuesday 18 June – It’s a bumpy ride

I did the late night shift last night and tried to go as long as possible, as Rowan had a board meeting call at 2am. The sea was still very bumpy and Rowan had to mute his video call at one stage as he had to go and through up. Poor guy! Luckily it was pitch dark so he reckons they couldn’t see quite how green he was! You know it’s bad when Rowan skips breakfast ………CJ was still struggling a bit so we let him be.

Looking wild and happy!

By lunchtime the sea was calming down a bit, CJ and Rowan were feeling a bit better, so much so that we all finished off the crayfish from last night. Phil had caught these enormous crayfish himself, they were delicious.

No positive progress was made with the water maker, a few things were tried but failed. Finally as evening approached Rowan managed to get hold of the water maker company in France and thankfully found an English speaking engineer. He suspected an airlock, which is what Rowan and the guys had worked out too. To solve the problem we just needed to run the backwash and within minutes we were making water once again. Phew what a relief! We do have another spare machine, but the thought of getting it out and installing it in this bumpy sea was thoroughly unappealing. We celebrated with mock Bloody Marys and biltong we found in Whangarei, made by South Africans.

We were all pretty exhausted but finally getting sorted and getting into the groove. The sea was calming down by the hour, but the wind had died, so we were back motoring with the sails down. The 3 boats that we set off with yesterday are all within a 20 mile radius of us. Everyone is feeling fine again, I remain eternally grateful that I don’t get seasick. The spirit has definitely lifted, helped by the happiness of knowing we can indulge in showers again!

I opted to do Rowan’s shift as he had another call booked for 6am.