Alarms going off, Dee determined not be defeated

by Dee Caffari on 15 May 2006 RECEIVED AT 12:12 14TH MAY 2006

'It was never my intention to have this much drama right up to the finish line, I was more than happy to sail up to the finish savouring every last mile of Aviva and I together and generally enjoying it. Someone clearly had other thoughts on the subject.

'Last night was absolutely miserable, dark, wet, windy and cold. I felt very lonely sat on deck. Fortunately in the early hours the situation started to improve, now I probably get an alarm every 45 minutes. That has at least allowed me to visit the heads, without running back for the alarm.

'The weather has abated and I am now hoping that this rain will stop as the warm front goes through in a few hours, then I will be able to open up the box of tricks at the back and try and work what we hope to be air through the system.

'Having a little more time has also allowed me to eat some food. I did have a boil in the bag dinner on the go last night but I had to stop and start it so often that I got to the point where I couldn't remember if it had been boiling for long enough, so I just gave up. So the food I have just eaten was the first since lunch yesterday and it never tasted so good.

'Despite the desperate conditions I found myself in last night we kept the boat speed up. I wasn't pushing my luck, although I knew slowing down would only mean we would see even worse conditions from the system passing us to the west. I had reduced sail to a bare minimum but Aviva wouldn't slow down, she knows she is nearly home.

'My life is ruled by alarms at the moment and at one stage last night I had not only the pilot alarm going off, but also the radar alarm was sounding for a squall it had picked up, then the battery alarm decided to go off at the same time to remind me to put the generator on to charge and then for good measure the SatC had an urgent message and sounded an alarm to let me know. It was like an alarm orchestra. I looked around and apart from my watch there were no other alarms left to go off. I was on the verge of sitting, curled up and rocking back and forth on my heels repeating the mantra, 'There's no place like home.' Instead I chose Robbie Williams at the top of my voice and as loud as the stereo could take it. There was no way I was going to be defeated this close to home.

'I am now just waiting to try and bleed the system and remove the air when the weather allows.'

Dee & Aviva