Undercover - In China - Book 7

Part 52 - squall

As the morning passed, the wind grew stronger and the sky became very dark. Denny started to look worried. 'This looks like a squall,' he yelled. 'Get the sail down!'

We were too late. A gust of wind hit us, and the boat heeled sharply as it leaped forward. We all scramble up to the high side of the boat, to balance the force on the sail while Denny frantically released some of the sheets to reduce the sideways force on the sail. The boat was skimming over the surface of the water and sheets of water flew from the bow . . . and I was first in line.

 'Hey!' I shouted at Denny over the shriek of the wind. 'You didn't tell us we would get a freezing cold shower.'

Denny was fighting with the tiller. 'Hey!' He spat out a mouth full of river water. 'It's the crew's job to keep the spray off the skipper.' 

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The wind gradually subsided but we kept up a good speed through the flat countryside. The Long River varied from one to two kilometres wide as it looped in a series of long bends, meandering passed farms, marshes and woods. We found ourselves sailing north and then south again, alternately sailing down wind or zig-zagging back up wind. Late in the day, the wind dropped and were able to relax and eat some of Grandpa's rice and beans. We shared a bottle of cold tea and argued about how far we had sailed. Licia thought we were about 400 kilometres from Xiacou. Denny estimated our speed at 10 km/h so it would take us 40 hours or nearly two days of continuous, fast sailing. We had a long way to go. 

 Licia interrupted the conversation. 'I forgot to ask Grandpa where the washroom was.'

'Use the bailing bucket,' Denny suggested. 'Or you can sit with your bum over the side. We promise not to look.'

Licia insisted I sit in the stern with Miguel and Denny while she and Chen Ling planted the wooden bucket in the bow. 'This, is the girls' washroom. Don't look!' She announced as she hitched up her coat carefully and squatted. 

 Chen Ling thought Licia's modesty hilarious. She pulled her trousers down, sat on the edge and peed over the side. The wind dropped with the temperature as the sun set. We decided it would be warmer on shore, so we beached the boat in a bamboo grove, covered ourselves with dry leaves and fell asleep quickly. I woke up several times with bamboo leaves tickling my nose but otherwise it was a quiet night.

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The cold woke me up at dawn and I found Denny and Miguel already awake and shivering. We had to wake up Licia and Chen Ling before we could launch the boat. We took turns rowing to get warm and that's when we found out that we had to stand up and push on the oars, instead of sitting down and pulling.