St Helena to Cape Town 2019

Delivery day 22 S 34°33.250’ E 017°55.509’ Wild weather- you either love it, or you hate it. Riding the 2m swells in the 20-30 knot winds around the Cape of Storms show you exactly what you’re made of. Some of us are jumping at the chance to helm, rising to the challenge of keeping the boat riding smoothly (and not bouncing on the waves, which feels like sledgehammers being taken to the hull from down below.) And the others have adopted the foetal position. Doing ... Read more

Delivery day 21 S 35°17.946’ E 016°40.010 The crew are all eagerly watching the mileage as we close in on Cape Town, and they already plotting warm showers, massive English breakfasts and coffees. Rob attempted more bean menu items for breakfast, and todays’ ventures were rated more highly than yesterday’s by the panel of judges, who all thoroughly enjoyed it. During lunch, both fishing lines started whirring, and the crew rushed to find a nice double-catch of Skipjack tuna, about 5kgs each! The crew, especially ... Read more

Delivery day 20 S 35°27.606’ E 13°53.416’ The wind dropped during the night, and we had clear skies for the first time in a while. The slow bob at two knots made it difficult to stay awake. But fear not- this is not a tale of tragedy, but rather a tale of triumph! This morning everything went up; the winds picked up, the spinnaker was raised, our spirits soared, and our anticipation built. We reached our fastest speed for the delivery trip so far, a ... Read more

Delivery day 19 S 35°39.420’ W 011°33.000’ The crew are all anticipating arriving in Cape Town - at the moment the ETA is on Friday - and there have been a few schemes hatched for our arrival; Stan insists on coming in, beer in hand, blaring music, (‘coming in hot and blowing out snot’ he calls it) whilst some of the more aesthetic-seeking minds fancy coming in on a nice sunset. The wind has been consistently inconsistent; we know roughly at what times it ... Read more

Delivery day 18 S 35°45.235’ W 009°06.311’ Everyone is missing the sunny weather, otherwise not much on board has changed. There is little to no activity besides the daily duties. Basically the atmosphere is drowsy and cold, but kept alive by those favourite playlist on various devices, and good natured teasing. The tack we are on is less ideal for using both the galley and the heads; the tilt makes food more likely to fall out of the oven because of the way it ... Read more

Delivery day 17 S 35°46.607 W 006°44.136 The crew have all retreated into hibernation mode - those who previously swore alliteracy are now comfortably awaiting their watches in their bunks, eagerly reading and swapping books from people’s various stashes. The sun comes and goes, and the wind has a chilly bite, but we are speeding along and enjoying such comforts as warm beds and hot foods. But alas! Our hot drinks supplies are dwindling! We are now rationing our hot chocolate, rooibos and coffee - ... Read more

Delivery day 16 S 35°42.100’ W 004°03.348’ The evidence of our southerly position is the growing bite in the air. After the wind changed yesterday the air has been chilly, so the frequency of crew members in the cockpit is mostly limited to being on watch and eating lunch and supper. Foulies are all the rage, and the various coloured suits are being modelled aboard the Rotary Scout. We are happy to report that the spinnaker we repaired is as good as new, and ... Read more

Delivery day 15 S 35°45.817’ W 001°57.200’ We all are thoroughly enjoying the wind - with our spinnaker up, we reached the whopping speed of 10.5 knots! This morning at around 4:00 we crossed the Greenwich meridian with a proud hoot of the airhorn - and mumble of a sleepy crew, some of which did not even hear the horn! Warrick has been bent on catching us a nice fish for when our tuna stock inevitably runs out - every time a fishing ... Read more

Delivery day 14 S 35°20.445’ W 001°13.530’ The whole night was super chilled for all the crew members. We bobbed around… due to lack of wind at the mercy of the huge ocean. We found ourselves silently wishing we still had a fully functional motor. (Even a functional one would’ve been amazing.) Thank goodness the high didn’t last longer than the night. We got decent wind this morning and have been going very nicely since doing a sail change; the spinnaker no longer ... Read more

Delivery day 13 S 34°41.241 W 002°11.580 On awakening, we found ourselves back in another high pressure system. We have all been rather amused by the calm and chilled return trip weather thus far, although the grib files foretell an incoming low pressure system that will speedily send us onwards to Cape Town. We spent the day drying laundry, mending our fabulous spray-dodger (which has worked wonders thus far) and lamming in the hot sun. We have been gorging ourselves on all the tuna, ... Read more