Gipsy Moth Circles the World by Francis Chichester

Author:Francis Chichester [Chichester, Francis]
Language: eng
Format: epub

I had had reefing points fitted to this sail in Sydney.

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11. “I Have Been Damned Lucky”

The Admiralty sailing instructions for square-rigged ships stated emphatically that ships leaving Sydney for the homeward voyage round Cape Horn should proceed south-east to pass south of New Zealand, no matter what the wind was after leaving Sydney. That was the Clipper Way, and the maps in my book Along the Clipper Way show the route passing south of New Zealand or, at the most northerly, going through Cook Strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. For me, in the situation in which I found myself after the capsize, other considerations were compelling. To have gone south would have meant thrashing into a head wind, and with the appalling mess on board still to be cleared up I did not want to do it. The cabin was still a chaos of tins and stores, and to clear a passage through it the yacht had to be kept upright. I had to head north-east to keep her sufficiently upright to make a start on clearing up, and then I kept going on the same heading while I did more clearing up. Finally, I decided to carry on and sail north-about round New Zealand, instead of south-about; the going, I reckoned, should be easier, and the weather milder and warmer. As well as all the clearing, sorting, repacking and relisting of stores for six months that had to be done below, I needed as smooth sailing as I could get to enable me to repair the damage to the cockpit, where the water was pouring off the deck into my berth. I was at a low ebb physically, partly from having eaten next to nothing since leaving Sydney, partly from having felt ill or queasy so much of the time. But I was getting better, and the sheer weight of work to be done, although depressing in some ways, helped me to recover my spirits.

The weather continued rough, but by Wednesday morning, February 1, I had the yacht sailing again, under a trysail and working jib. I refastened the foredeck net, rescued the broken pole-stand for my camera, and recovered the boathook from the rigging. There was still a full gale blowing, but the sun was out, and life began to seem more cheerful. But I worked slowly, and was often thrown off balance. I put this down to being weak from lack of food.

Towards noon I knocked off for breakfast, and had a splendid meal of coffee and toast and marmalade. I was also careless, and scalded myself rather badly by tipping a mug of newly-made coffee over my arm and leg. It was my own fault for trying to cut toast on a swinging table with a mug of coffee standing there. I applied bicarbonate of soda at once and congratulated myself that things might have been much worse. After breakfast I had a snooze.

I awoke about 13.30 from a heavy sleep and a vivid dream that I was in Baghdad opening a shop.

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