We’re sailing 5 miles out from Dover, doing MOB drills with our volunteer ‘Bob’ (a fender tied to a bucket). It’s Saturday, the sun is shining, the wind is good, the white cliffs gleaming off to port. Every now and then a WWII spitfire roars overhead taking tourists for a spin. It’s a perfect day. What could possibly go wrong?

There’s a clunk in the steering system. Then another clunk, and then … we lose steering all together.  Suddenly the carefree Saturday has gone. I’m now completely focused. There’s plenty of sea room, so no need to panic. I called Dover Port Control and informed them of the situation. We pulled out our emergency tiller, and with DPC clearing the traffic from the Western Entrance, we made our way through the rip tide and then safely into our berth. All were safe and for a brief moment we could breathe a sigh of relief. It was a brief moment though. Once I started to investigate the problem, it became clear that this was a serious problem that would need the whole steering quadrant removed and opened up. And so I spent the next 30 hours (!) deep within the cramped bowls of Novara, lying prone in the small space between the hull and under the cockpit sole, twisting to reach for seized nuts and bolts, cursing as I dropped something in the bilge, not really knowing what I was doing. But thanks to Steve’s remote guidance I eventually extract the steering quadrant … at 9pm on Tuesday evening. I was so exhausted and yet proud of the achievement. And now the challenge begins of working out what the problem is.

I’ve surprised myself with this whole episode. In the back of my mind I think I should be angry or frustrated that this happened. And yet I’m feeling remarkably positive – this problem couldn’t have happened at a better time so close to a safe port. I’m learning so much about Novara. It’s giving me confidence that if I can fix this, I can fix anything! It’s not over yet though.