Leaving Falmouth

We left two hours after first meeting the boat, having done last minute tasks, including listening to street carols in Falmouth's cobbled high street. Next stop was to be Madeira.

With a light wind from the north-east, overcast, slight seas, we motored out under raised main with two reefs. I was unfamiliar with the gaff rig, and in my spaced-out state, the multiplicity of identically coloured ropes looked daunting. All were an authentic hairy shade of pale gray... Bronze winches and pin rails and ratlines up the main mast - all looked, and were the part - but suddenly, to me, too much. I like easy sailing with a modern rig - it's not as picturesque, certainly, but easier to handle, less to handle. My muddled brain was introduced by the skipper to endless safety procedures and equipment, and a tour of the instrument repeaters in the cockpit. I was then on watch with K. I was fading fast.

Off watch four hours later, I fell over the leecloth of my bunk, asleep before my head touched the pillow...

My lack of clear glasses was obviously going to make it impossible to check our position by night. K and I agreed I should take over the cooking to compensate.