The final push

After 3 weeks together it was hard to say goodbye to Gordy on Tuesday morning. It was all the worse because Julie and I were both apprehensive about the leg ahead and knew we could use his help. Having said goodbye we transferred the boat to a holding and customs area were we waited and waited and waited... Gordy loyally delayed his taxi and posted over Costa coffee via the customs guy. Finally, at 12:25 we were allowed to leave. The sea breeze had kicked in but the sea state was slight so I gambled that there would be sufficient fuel and pushed the speed up. Rather than hug the coast I took a direct track in the hope of losing the sea breeze and, about 10 miles out that paid off.

At 17:00, just before sunset, I set about the first refuel. I figured that I should be able to empty about 2 barrels but, since they were all spitting fuel from the poorly fitted caps in the chop, I decided to take about 20cm off the top of each barrel. The hand pump that had been an afterthought immediately proved it's worth. However, the siphon rate (with or without the hand pump connected) proved to be woefully slow. I had thought that the first refuel would be completed before the end of the dusk period; in fact it was 2 hours and 30 minutes later that I finished topping up the integral fuel tanks.

In the dark the speed feels really fast. The small judders as the bow hits the next wave that go almost unnoticed by day suddenly feel really substantial and the spray that catches in the moonlight really appears to zip by. Up on the foredeck, messing about with pipes, pumps and bits of rope you feel quite vulnerable. There seemed little likelihood that Julie would find me if I fell over the side, by the time she'd slowed the boat and turned round. The task was made all the more interesting by the spilt diesel fuel that had turned the foredeck and sides of the boat into an ice-rink. Although there are handrails, these too quickly became covered in diesel from my hands.

There was a full moon from the start last night. We were able to watch it rise from the easterly horizon and set in the west at dawn. Behind the moon there was a planet that followed its track, perhaps Jupiter, then Orion. By the middle of the night, when the moon was at it's apex, the foredeck was well lit. The light was welcome because I started the second refuel at midnight and didn't finish till 04:00! It was impossible to see how much fuel had drained from each barrel so I ended up letting each siphon dry then repeating the start-up faff with the hand pump. I lost the handle overboard at about 01:00 but it was possible to pump by jamming my finger in the drive. The fuel seems to manage to get into little cuts and scrapes that you didn't know you had and sting furiously. I had to set up a bucket up with some washing up liquid on the stern and wash my hands and feet after each iteration.

By about 02:30 the sea state had picked up and we were slamming into waves with showers of spray covering the spilt diesel. There was also an incredible amount of condensation that had soaked everything outside. Happily the sea state subsided again before the dawn. The sky started to lighten at about 04:40 and, at 05:25 we had another, very welcome, burning sunrise. All of the Red Bull had been drunk but our eyelids had turned to lead.

The dawn is what I'd been waiting for to do a scavenge round the barrels. I wasn't able to get any more fuel out but in the light I could see how much gunk was being sucked out of those dirty barrels into the boats tanks. After the scavenge we were able to wash the decks down and generally tidy up prior to our arrival. I've had some moments when I've found myself not loving this boat but last night certainly wasn't one of them; the engines just kept on pushing and the boat felt really solid all night.

The dawn was hazy and, for some reason, my hand-held GPS back-up wasn't agreeing with the boat's GPS plotter. With the reefs around Jeddah rushing up, this led to an anxious half hour with the binoculars glued to my face. In the still, hazy conditions there was no prospect of seeing the reefs but there is a large marker buoy on the south-west tip. Finally it appeared out of the gloom and I could rest easy, then the GPS plotter gave up completely..... The immediate surroundings of Jeddah harbour are peppered with reefs so this wasn't a crowd pleaser. Coupled with running down to the salon to use the radio, it felt like a very busy arrival as I juggled the paper chart and tried to remember how to programme a few key points into the hand-held GPS. When I finally got through on our rubbish radio at the customary 3 miles (vice the 20 that I'm supposed to call at), I got the telling off that we've become used to. However, Jeddah were expecting us and in we went; alongside at 11:15.

Omar, from BAE Support Services, had worked some magic. I'm still in fear as to what the agents are going to cost, but we completed customs and immigration by 17:00 and were able to relocate to the Hyatt marina as the sun set. Certainly, that was a far better outcome that I had ever dared to expect. I owe Omar a huge debt of thanks; he's sorted all of the admin at this end and spend most of today, until well into the first evening of his weekend, on the phone sorting out my problems.

When I came up with this hair brained plan to buy a boat and drive it back from the Mediterranean, I had no idea how hard it would be. I had planned to scuba dive most lunchtimes and eat out every evening. The reality has been so so different. I feel very lucky to have managed to arrive on the day we planned. There were many things that could have stopped us in our tracks. I'm also immensely grateful to Craig, Sandra and Gordy for their friendship, support and graft. When I dreamt up the idea, I thought that I could probably crack it with just Julie if required – how wrong I was! I've come away with a great suntan, a loathing of the smell of diesel, a completely empty wallet, 985 unique pictures and, most importantly, some great memories.