Free Fight For Your Dream by Elaine Hazel Sharp Page A

his legs and asked, ‘So, what happened to you?’ Rather embarrassed, Nigel explained. I added the odd comment or two in-between, trying not to laugh. It was impossible though, and then a warm bucket of water, soap and a towel was handed to Nigel to clean himself up! And all whilst in the garden!
    Relieved finally to crawl into a bed, we snuggled up together to take a well earned rest. Not surprisingly, sleep came easily that night.
    Enjoying lunch with mum’s and dad’s onboard ‘Ocean Breeze’ our 2nd sailing boat

Mayday
    On opening my eyes the following morning, my immediate thought was ‘Where am I?’ Rubbing my eyes, I recalled it was the morning after the night before. Crazy!
    Nigel was beginning to stir at the side of me, and he turned to face me, whispering, ‘Morning.’ I kissed the end of his nose, and pulled back the covers to go to the bathroom. ‘Oh my god, bun, look at the state of the sheets, they’re black,’ I cried.
    With complete consternation, Nigel looked back at me and said, ‘Well, how could I get totally clean in what was just a bucket of water?’ I must admit, he did have a point. To evade further interrogation from Mary, we opted to skip breakfast and make a hasty retreat back to Ocean Breeze. It was a beautiful morning, and the garden that we had entered the previous evening took on a completely different feel in the warm sunshine. An abundance of colourful flowers was tucked into every nook and cranny. Pink cherry blossoms hung above the small gate, giving off a wonderful aroma. Honey bees were buzzing around busily collecting pollen and yeah, life felt good. Following Mary’s precise directions, we soon had the harbour within sight. We’d overheard a conversation in the pub the night before. Forecasters were suggesting that a break in the weather was imminent. To be honest, the wine had been flowing rather well that night, so we dismissed the idea without much more thought. That was until now. The wind seemed to be strengthening somewhat, and I couldn’t help but recall the conversation I’d heard several hours earlier. However, I tried to put that to that back of my mind, and think positive thoughts. Not that easy when you tend to be a pessimist!
    When we reached the harbour jetty, it was comforting to see our little dinghy once again afloat. In no time at all we were clambering up the transom steps to board Ocean Breeze. It felt good to see our familiar surroundings and possessions on board again: our floating home comforts, as we often used to say. We were determined to make the most of our first full day’s adventure. We shopped, chatted to locals, and even took a dip in the sea, before settling down with a cool beer in the cockpit. What a civilised way to spend a day.
    During the night, I was awakened by the sound of masts clinking; the wind was definitely increasing. It occurred to me that it would be good seamanship if tomorrow we picked up a metfax from the harbour office, to take a closer look at the forecast. Snuggling back down in the quilt, I took a deep breath, and went back to the land of nod.
    It wasn’t looking good, I groaned, as the metfax gradually printed out. Low pressure was building from the northeast, which meant we would have northerly winds, as the wind blows anti-clockwise around low pressure.
    We would definitely have to postpone our departure for home. It would neither be safe nor pleasant sailing in those conditions.
    Four days later, and still the outlook didn’t look great. We’d been obtaining a metfax daily to reassess the weather forecast. After much debate, Nigel suggested that he thought that we might have a small window of opportunity to sail the following day; it would be tight, but possible. In instances such as these I would always bow to Nigel’s superior knowledge; if he thought we could do it, I trusted his judgement completely.
    We prepared as best we could