Devil's Rock - Chris Speyer [86]
Zaki found he was shaking. He was very cold, they hadn’t eaten all day and he was frightened.
‘What do we do?’ Anusha bit her lower lip.
Zaki tried to stop the shaking. ‘Watch the waves . . . There! You see? Watch this one. It doesn’t run straight in. We have to catch one of those. But if we get it wrong . . .’
‘I know. You don’t have to explain.’
Zaki turned Morveren away from the reef and began a circle that would take them to the point just west of the opening, where he reckoned they should begin their run in. They needed to be moving at speed when they caught the wave. If they slid off it, the next one would catch them from the side. Every time Morveren climbed to the crest of a wave, Zaki studied the waves in the distance, trying to see which were running at an angle. As he completed the circle, Zaki slipped the engine into neutral and let the mainsail out as far as it would go. With just the reefed sail to drive them they were moving forward – but not quite as fast as the waves. The white crests of the waves behind them seemed to advance in regimented rows.
‘When I shout, give her full throttle, then hang on tight.’
Anusha nodded and moved to be by the engine controls.
In the distance a wave reared above the others as though lifting itself up so Zaki could see it. It was skewed out of line and bearing down on them at great speed.
‘Now!’ Zaki screamed.
Anusha gunned the engine and Zaki heaved hard on the mainsail, filling it with wind. Morveren quickly gathered pace, each passing wave adding to her speed until the chosen wave was beneath them and they were careering on its hissing crest towards the reef.
Where was the gap? With so much spray and surf and the angle of their approach it was hard to see the break in the rocks. There! Yes, there! Zaki willed Morveren to stay on course. His hands stopped shaking. He, the boat, the gap in the reef – that was all that existed.
They were through!
‘Keep down!’ Zaki shouted as he heaved the helm over and the boom flew wildly across the deck. He hauled the sail in so that it would force Morveren’s stern round and keep them from being driven on to the bar. To starboard, angry waves threw themselves at The Orphans, tearing themselves apart in their desperation to break through and devour the yacht.
He looked up at the cliffs ahead. There was the cottage – Rhiannon’s cottage. The last time he had seen it, it was just a landmark, just an abandoned ruin.
‘When we’re round the sandbar, I’d like you to take her. I’ll get the sail down.’
‘How are we going to get to Curlew?’
‘The dinghy. Look – you see? That side of the bar – it’s sheltered. We can land there, but it’s too shallow for Morveren.’
When the sail was down, Zaki unlashed the dinghy while Anusha steered them into Dragon Pool. He had been so preoccupied with getting them this far in safety, that he hadn’t spared a thought for Maunder – not Michael – he couldn’t think of him as Michael. Now, he searched the rock for movement. Daylight was fading, and the rock was silhouetted against the grey sky. A small figure was climbing towards the summit.
‘He’s almost there,’ Anusha said, as she too looked up.
They anchored close to the entrance of the pool, launched the dinghy and rowed back as fast as they could. As soon as they rounded the small headland that divided Dragon Pool from the outer bay the wind struck them. The air was full of salt spray from the waves that pounded on the other side of the sandbar and the roar of wind and waves made speech almost impossible. Their progress slowed to a crawl and their arms ached from the strain of battling against the wind. Eventually, the dinghy’s bow grated on sand and they jumped out to pull the boat clear of the water. The biggest breakers were now sweeping right across the bar and threatening to wash the dinghy back into the bay.
‘Stay here and hang on to the boat,’ Zaki yelled.
He staggered up the low bank against the gale. The spray stung his eyes, forcing him to bow his head and pull his hood down over his face. Curlew’s mast was broken,