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George asked such an obvious question I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it. ‘What about the radio? Shouldn’t we send a distress call or something?’
    ‘Can’t,’ Nick replied. ‘It doesn’t work.’
    ‘What do you mean?’ George asked.
    ‘It just doesn’t work,’ he snapped. ‘It’s been busted for a few weeks and I haven’t got round to fixing it, all right?’
    ‘But your dad said there’s a Sat phone. What about that?’ I asked.
    ‘It’s down there,’ Nick said through gritted teeth, pointing towards the cabin. ‘It was in my bag on the floor. It’ll be stuffed now.’
    For a moment we stood in stunned silence, trying to make sense of what was going on around us. A deep rumble of thunder boomed as a huge flash of lightning spread through the darkening clouds.
    I looked down at my watch and suddenly realised things could get much, much worse than they already were. It was nearly six o’clock – soon it would be dark. And what would happen then?
    Matt put my worst fears into words. ‘Are we going to die?’ he asked.
    Nick flashed him an angry look. ‘Matt, no-one is going to die, all right? We’ve got power and when we get rid of all this drag we’ll be fine.’ He turned and glared at me. ‘So just get on with it.’
    I pulled Matt close, hoping he wouldn’t see how scared and clueless I really was, and thrust the tomahawk into his hand. ‘I’ll take the roof. You stay down here. Just cut everything … and for god’s sake, hang on, yeah?’
    Matt nodded, blinking hard at me as salt water sprayed into his eyes. I rarely felt like much of a big brother to Matt, but he looked terrified and I knew I had to swallow my own fear for his sake. ‘Matty, we’ll be fine,’ I said firmly. ‘Let’s just get rid of all this rigging so we can get moving again. Okay?’
    ‘Yeah,’ he replied with an uncertain smile.
    ‘All right then … let’s do it.’
    Leaving the others in the cockpit, I climbed onto the cabin roof and started sawing at the mast wires. Up on the roof, out of the shelter of the cockpit, waves didn’t just wash over you, they smashed you, hard and heavy with a massive womp . Wave after wave hit me, allowing only seconds of frantic sawing before I’d have to hug what was left of the mast to avoid being swept away by the force of the water.
    It seemed an insane, hopeless task until finally, with burning arms, I pushed the saw through and heard a sharp whip crack as the wire snapped. I jumped out of the way as the mast shifted sharply across the deck and slipped further over the side of the boat. But then it got caught and stuck fast.
    ‘What the –?’ I roared in a mix of frustration and anger.
    I looked back and saw George. She’d taken over the steering and was gripping onto the wheel with both hands, tight-lipped and determined. She gave me a thumbs-up without letting go of the wheel. She could turn it.
    I couldn’t help but grin back. Then I turned back to the stubborn mast. Summoning all the energy I had left, I sawed like a machine, pausing only to let each wave wash over. A huge clap of thunder directly overhead pulsed through me as shards of lightning spread through the clouds like veins. Spurred on by the fury all around me, I didn’t stop until the final wire finally snapped. This time the mast shifted massively and disappeared over the side. But when I went to check I could see still, impossibly, it was holding on by a single rope. I slumped onto the cabin roof, completely spent.
    In the cockpit, Matt hacked away at the remaining rope with the tomahawk. I watched, admiring his rhythm. His arm arched back then pounded down, over and over. After nearly a dozen blows, the rope frayed then snapped. In an instant the hungry sea swallowed the tangle of mast, wire, rope and sailcloth, and we were free.
    ‘ Woo hoo ! Way to go, Matt!’ I yelled, punching the air as I slid off the cabin roof and back down into the cockpit. Exhausted, but triumphant, we