My plan for going to Beaulieu was to make a long leg on a southwesterly course towards north tip of Corsica. There I should be around five in the afternoon with the forecasted wind, and then hit a good southerly that could take me to Beaulieu on one long leg. Getting close to Gorgona, the northernmost of the Tuscany islands, I saw on the telephone that I had internet connection again. Normally that disappears around 10 miles from land. I eagerly checked for updates of the weather forecasts. Windys Arome model, new for this year, is the one I stick to most of the time now, it is very accurate, at least if you check it the same day you take off. It has very high resolution, 2 km, and covers the nearest 44 hours. Now Arome forecasted stronger winds west of Corsica than in the morning. I changed my plans, tacked northwest to enter the southerly winds further north where it looked like better conditions. Soon I reached a belt with weaker westerly winds, as forecasted. No big problem, it was a thin belt and the worst that could happen was that I would have to start the engine for a little while. But first I tried to tack against the feeble wind, but it took too long time, especially on the starboard tack, where Atlantis met an old swell. Weak winds and short period waves makes Atlantis go more up and down than forward. On port tack I made around 4 knots, against the swell sometimes less than 2. So I started the engine to go right across. And heard no cooling water coming from the exhaust! I ran to the stern to look - no water at all. Quickly I turned the engine off. I was back at square one with the cooling system, after spending 16 days and 800 euros in marina fees and repair cost.

I was 25, maybe 30 mile from where I started. Good seamanship told me to take the west wind back to river Arno, and sort things out there, but that place was about the last I wanted to spend an unknown amount of days. I started tacking again, against better knowledge, but stubbornness is one of my most significant traits, for the better and the worse.

To keep it short, I had to go back and forth against the weak westerly until five o'clock Monday morning! Gaining a few hundreds meter every tack. And with an increasing pain in my neck, psychosomatic no doubt, that made it more or less impossible to get some sleep on the couch down in the main cabin.

But at five in the first morning light I could feel the first signs of better winds, and soon I was on a straight westerly course, heading directly towards Beaulieu. Good winds, sun in the back, life seemed a bit better. For three hours, then the wind died, all of a sudden. The boat started rolling in the waves. A sharp bang from the stern made my heart take a jump, it was a very bad sound. I tried to move the wheel, just to find that I had no steering. No engine, no steering. 72 miles from Beaulieu.

I had to figure out what had happen with the stearing, so I got naked, tied a rope around the waist and jumped in the water. The rudder was still in place at least, but impossible to move. I climbed up again to examine the lines to the stearing and the autopilot. The sensor arm to the auto pilot had been caught by a detail on the quadrant and severely bent and had come loose from its mount on the quadrant. The quadrant was impossible to move. I have an emergency tiller that goes directly on the rudder stem, I decided to try that. And without having to use much force, the rudder was loose again! I have no idea what made it jam like that, maybe the rudder hit something in the water, or if it was a violent force from a wave. The rudder, and the quadrant, must have jumped a centimeter or so to catch the sensor arm and bend it. I managed to bend it straight again and put it back on its mount on the quadrant.

All this took me good four hours. Just when I was finished, I could feel the wind coming back. Out with the genua again, and then on a course to take me to the nearest land so I could get internet and phone connection and check the weather. The wind got stronger, and I hade to take in a reef, but still made over 5 knots, sometimes over 6. As soon I got phone contact, I called the marina in Beaulieu and told them I was on my way and would be there around one in the night. I explained I had engine problem and needed assistance to get in. But they could not help me that late, I had to call in the morning. Tiredness and pain hit me like a hammer. I decided to heave to right at the spot, 23 miles from Imperia. It was only afternoon, but I was desperate for some sleep. Heaving to is to set the genua and the main sail so they counteract each other, and then you lock the rudder. The boat moves now slowly towards the waves, making a knot and a half or so.

I switched on the navigation lights, got something to eat and went to bed, long before dark. The VHF with the AIS I set on highest volume. The pain just got worse, rays of pain was shooting from the neck up the back of my head, and it was impossible to find a position for any longer period that did not hurt. I got a few hours of sleep in 12 hours. During the night the wind died out and made the boat roll in the swell with a lot of noise from the rig.

At five in the morning I gave up trying to sleep and started to sail again, but there was not enough wind. I had drifted east during the night and was out of internet connection and had no chance to check the weather. It was just to wait for some wind to go to the 23 miles to Imperia, I had given up on reaching Beaulieu for the nearest future.

I tried to figure out what could be wrong with the cooling system. The obvious reason would be the sea water intake being blocked by barnacles or some debris, but that I had ruled out from the beginning since the toilet was working, and it has the same intake. But what if the toilets hand pump was much stronger than the little impeller in the sea water pump, and sort of hide the problem? The sun was now up and I got naked again, tied the rope around me to jump in the water and see if I could examine the intake and eventually clean it if necessary. But before I went into the water, I got the notion to start the engine once more. And now there was water coming from the exhaust! Not as much as there should be, but enough for me to dare to use the engine. I got my clothes on and started going on low revs towards Imperia, running back and forth between the stern to see there was water coming and the engine compartment to feel the engine not getting too hot.

And I think within 15 minutes the nicest breeze was blowing up from the south, letting me go for sail almost all the way to Imperia, just the last two miles or so I had to start the engine again - and with the cooling water still squirting from the exhaust.