An Endless Cornish Summer by Phillipa Ashley

Author:Phillipa Ashley [Ashley, Phillipa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2021-05-14T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

A few seconds later, Finn was back on deck, unclipping himself. Rose heaved a massive sigh of relief but there was a new problem. The sail was flapping wildly in the wind.

Meanwhile, the auto helm flickered into life. ‘I think it’s working again. It’s started steering a course,’ she called to Finn as he freed himself from the harness.

‘Thank God for that. Help me with this sail.’

Rose left the wheel, staggering on the rolling deck.

‘Be careful!’ She almost fell on top of him, but he helped her right herself and they managed to get the sail under control.

‘It’s secure now,’ Finn said, looking at Rose. ‘We’ll be OK.’

Trembling with adrenaline and cold, Rose didn’t feel OK. ‘I didn’t enjoy that.’

‘I can’t say I did either. No one goes aloft unless they have to but we’re fine now.’ He squeezed her hand. ‘You’re freezing.’

‘At least I know I’m alive.’

‘Sailing has a tendency to do that. Make you feel alive.’ His reassuring smile was accompanied by a squeeze of her arm.

It was true. While she had been terrified and was still fearful and seasick, there had been something exhilarating about escaping the worst … She was filled with the urge to blurt out that it was the second time she’d had a brush with her mortality, but Finn was on the radio talking to someone about the conditions. His expression was still grim and from the snatches Rose could hear, she still didn’t think they were home and dry by a long way.

She tried to focus on the fact the worst was over. Finn hadn’t plunged from the mast leaving her to try and rescue him, in charge of a drifting vessel and having to call the coastguard. She shuddered. They also weren’t leaning over alarmingly on one side, though the boat was ploughing up and down through the waves and rolling, which wasn’t much better for her stomach.

The engine chugged away, though they didn’t seem to be making much progress. She felt they’d been level with the same coastal headland for the past ten minutes.

‘Whoa!’ she said as the boat smacked into a wave.

‘Do you want to go below?’ Finn called above the wind. ‘It’ll be more comfortable in there.’

Rose wondered if ‘more comfortable’ was a euphemism for ‘safer’. Before she could answer, he was back on the radio again. Still on deck, despite his suggestion, Rose joined him by the wheel, hoping standing would be better than sitting on one side. Spray stung her face and her stomach turned over. She wasn’t sure she wanted to risk the ladder down into the cabin, or the faint smell of diesel from the engines.

‘How long will it take us to get back to Falford?’ she asked, gripping a metal rail.

He hesitated. ‘We’re not going to make it to Falford for a while. Don’t worry. We’re moving to Plan B. We’re making for Port Navas a few miles up the coast. It’s very sheltered.’

‘How long will we have to stay there?’ Rose didn’t relish the idea of hunkering down and then sailing home in the dark in such rough seas.

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