Upper lips are stiff, but it's a rather sorry tale in l'Aberwrac'h tonight, Wednesday 29 June. Lazy Life had engine trouble and had to come in under sail (!) and be helped by a RIB, and, the big disaster, Mary Lunn has lost her rudder.The cruise dinner in Camaret tomorrow has been postponed a day (a wonderfully helpful and laid back Breton chef/restaurant manager in the Hotel de France couldn't have been more helpful), while Lazy Life's engine is attended to and the crews take a welcome breather after the lively and pressured passages so far.

But Mary Lunn's problems are much more serious. The story isn't entirely clear, but it seems that she went on the rocks while at anchor and has completely lost her rudder. Divers have been looking for the rudder, but haven't yet found it, and of course even if they do repairs will be major - the stock is sheared off. So she won't be going any further on the cruise. Our commiserations to Robin Whaite - it must be heart-breaking. 

Barrie Martin has switched to Lazy Life (his second berth swap, the first being to Mary Lunn when the mast on A Day at the Races was condemned before the start of the cruise). So it's not that he's brought bad luck or anything..........!

So the plucky band is now down to 4 boats - Silver Tide, Willow, Aeolus and Lazy Life. And they haven't got round the corner yet. But it seems that good food and wine in delightful Breton surroundings is helping to keep up morale.

See Graham Broadway's succinct summary of the situation in his latest tweet here.