We have just passed the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope having travelled from Ushant in just under 18 days, putting us 450 miles ahead of Orange at the same line. We are all very pleased with that considering all the repairs we have done since entering the Southern Ocean. I estimate that we lost 150 miles in the forestay incident, but we were so close to losing our chance to finish the trip that I cannot complain about that at all.

The weather is looking good downstream for us and we are looking at a series of 500-mile days if all goes well with the boat, so we anticipate being able to catch up some more miles in the next week. Orange had a very good run in the Pacific Ocean so having something in the bank is going to be useful.

Just a few more hours on this starboard gybe that is taking us south-east, and we will be gybing on to port and getting in good winds to push us east for the next five days. So far we have gone south from 39S to 47S and expect to be running along the line of 48S after the gybe.

The seas are quite awkward at present as our course is changing with the shifting wind so that we are heading up into them. After the gybe the waves will be behind us and the ride is going to smooth out, and the stresses on the boat will diminish.

It is now 6pm (Wednesday), we have gybed and are heading east now at 20-25 knots, we had some good sunshine during the day but now the clouds have rolled in as the first sign of the depression coming up behind us. We should have great winds of 20-25 knots for the next few days, so some big mileages if all goes well.

During the day we had to drop the main to the deck to repair a broken batten car, in fact the same one we had to repair in the Atlantic. We were a little slicker this time and had it up and down in 45 minutes. Maybe tomorrow we will have a day free from repairs, we can but hope!

All for now, its time to go and drive!

Brian

Report courtesy of brianthompsonsailing.com