The wind came up overnight, howling in the rigging and rocking us in our giant cradle. Fortunately the rain did not start until the morning. When it did it came in. At the corners of the front hatch and along into the saloon. We soon had an assortment of bowls and pans catching the drips. Tea coloured water accumulating in them to be emptied when the rain eased.

It was very dispiriting.

Thankfully the rain stopped and the sun soon dried us out, but the storms are forecast all week. John covered the front hatch with the plastic table cloth weighed down by our hosepipe augmented by a coil of rope.

It might not be elegant, but it works. The leak has put paid to our hopes of sailing though. We cannot risk sea water sweeping over the deck and into the fabric of the boat.