Well that was a long and trying night of hard work and little reward apart from a good laugh during the early hours of the morning. We only managed 45NM yesterday thanks to a light variable wind from every point of the compass coupled with rain and waves from three different directions. When three of them combined under the boat it felt like being on one of those stomach tugging lifts as we shot skyward.

The evening started out in good cheer for we treated ourselves to a big fry up with all the works; bacon, sausage, beans, tomato and mushroom omelette. This was to be washed down with a glass of red as a lead in to crossing the Greenwich Meridian. Precision is needed for a line of such magnitude so we flashed up the hand held GPS and waited and waited. It was so painfully slow that at two hundred meters out Mark decided to stand down and go and read his book. It was that bad!

On eventually crossing the line at 20.30hrs on the 16th Dec it was with a hoot of joy as we slipped from the western into the eastern hemisphere with a glass Red from 'Devils Corner Vineyard' that was given to us before we set sail. It comes from the Tamar River in Tasmania and as we built Spirit of Mystery on the Tamar in Cornwall, we have decided to sail from Melbourne to thank them.

By now it was getting late so we settled into the watch system for the night as we tried to coax as much as we could from breezes. With rain and a lumpy sea shaking the wind out of the sails steering was nigh on impossible and there was a few ripe words and pirouettes until we stopped dead. It was time to take the sails down and wait for some wind to find its feet.

One in the morning of the 17th saw the sails go back up to find that somehow we were two miles the wrong side of Greenwich! Don't ask me how for we had been pointing in the right direction all along. In fact it was so ridiculous that we found ourselves in stitches as we tried to get her moving again. So, have no doubt, after two shots at it the Good ship Spirit of Mystery has well and truly nailed the Greenwich Meridian.

It's now midday on the 17th and I am delighted to say that we have a breeze from the North that is giving us between three to four knots in the right direction. Our hope is to clear this fickle area of weather by tomorrow morning so that we can get back to the business of Cape Town.

Cheers Pete

Ding Ding, 162Nm of pure pleasure on the helm and all in the right direction. Good old Spirit of Mystery was in her element with the jib, fore lug and reefed mizzen as she trundled away at eight knots under a bright moon last night, she must have looked lovely. The squid obviously thought so for we had loads of Squid jumping on board for the ride. We are wondering what they eat for they seem to come to the surface at night - does anyone know?

As I type this Eliot is sat on the helm in the rain for we have a front catching up, and once it passes through we are going to have a day of head winds followed by a day or two of light variable frustration; just what we need with Cape Town 945NM miles away.

That's right we cracked the 1000Nm mile line last night and we should cross the Greenwich meridian sometime tonight. Andy has baked a cake to celebrate and we are going to work our socks off to get every last inch out of the next few days. Everything counts at the moment and we have set Thursday night as the night we come up with our first ETA for arrival.

Cheers Pete

The concluding fifteen minutes of my watch welcomed in the 15th of December and saw us cross the same line of Longitude as Newlyn. For us this is a big mile stone for it means, after 56 days of effort, we have only just started to make easting for Australia.

It is as if the vague proximity to home waters has heralded good old channel weather for the night saw us reefing down the big lug and changing the mizzen. The pressure had been falling and we strapped down to await a blow. As it turned out the night was lively but fast as we forged our way into a dark and forbidding horizon.

The sail changes went like clockwork and it struck me how we have settled into this new way of life that has denied us any sight of land for the last forty seven days. Our routines come naturally and allow the freedom to take in the wider picture while details are nailed with routine drills and quiet discipline. Half way through reefing the big lug Eliot found another squid tucked away by the bulwark. It was bigger than the last one and was determined not to let go of the sheet as I tried to return it to the sea.

Sundays are always a good day for it is in the evening that we have our brief weekly call home. Christmas parties are being had, bags are being packed and final travel details are being squared away for their flight to Cape Town. We have a family house sitting and the young boys are desperate to be shown how to feed the chickens and take Mindy for her daily walk. To say Tracey, Gina and the kids are getting excited would be an understatement.

Although distant, Christmas day still holds a glimmer of hope and we in turn are working our socks off for it. So it was with satisfaction this morning that we measured off the latest daily run of 165NM in the right direction. Well above the required average so we have put some distance in the bank to help cover the odd bad day.

Cheers Pete

Last night was a rather trying night with light airs, a choppy sea and having to work really hard for every inch of the way. Not quite the mileage we were after but not too bad at 90miles, so we need to make up the shortfall to maintain our average of 116Nm a day to arrive on Christmas day. It is all starting to get real with Tracey, Gina and the kids flying out in a week's time.

We seem to be seeing a lot more life about us at the moment with a couple of new sea birds, big clumps of kelp and of all things a squid on the deck this morning. How it got there is a bit of a mystery as we have had dry decks. One idea is that it was dropped by a bird for Eliot says that Albatross feed off squid. In fact he saw one swoop down at speed this morning to grab something out of the water.

These Albatross are mesmerizing as they glide about the boat as if propelled by some force field for they never seem to flap their wings unless it is really calm. We have a huge swell rolling in from the SW so I guess there is proper old ding dong going on down there somewhere. But what they offer up here is the Albatross an opportunity to surf on the uplift of the leading face. They surf in at what must be about thirty miles an hour to break off in a sweeping turn up over and around the boat to pick up the face of the next wave and tear off into the distance. Our very own air show.

This morning saw the wind shift into the NW so we have gybed and are now making just south of east to try and tuck under this high pressure. We definitely have some current underneath us and I wonder if we are on some point of convergence for we are seeing a lot of rubbish floating about. In fact yesterday we caught a large piece of old fishing net on the propeller and had to stop the boat to clear it. We also see a lot of net buoys, about the size of a football, with lengths of rope trailing off them. Pollution is always rather sad to see but in many ways it seems even worse down here for there is a kind of purity about the place.

The taste of nature is starting to become a craving and Cape Town evokes all sorts of meals and tastes as it gets closer. I for one am really looking forward to a Cape Peach; one of those peaches that are so juicy that it runs down your chin on the first bite. I can taste it even as I type and I am sure that the craving will only get worse for today is Pancake Day and we finished the last lime. We are now out of fresh food.

Cheers Pete