Last night was interesting in that it was a very uninteresting night despite being illuminated by the brightest of moons. Its reflection off a calm and oily surface was the giveaway for we had a night of absolutely no wind at all. We dropped the lug and waited until this morning when a healthy breeze eventually blew in from the SSW. Spirit of Mystery loved it as much as we did, romping away in an easy sea and bright sunshine. For us it was a relief to be making progress towards Australia after such a slow start; three days out and only 150NM from Simons Town is not what we were hoping for.

Yesterday was a busy old day in that it was spent working on the deck for it is still letting in water thanks to opening up in this dry weather. It is a problem that has been working us hard for the last ten days, as soon as a seam has been dug out and resealed another opens up elsewhere. We thought we had it cracked by the time we slipped so it was very disappointing to find a few more leaks on our first night out. Yesterday was a farmer's repair with loads of Sika being spread about the place as well as putting a coat of Danish Oil over the whole deck. The forecast looks like we are to have wet decks in the next 24hrs so let's hope we have gained some ground. Melbourne's job list has started and a complete resealing of the decks is top of the list. We are also going to have a deck awning made to avoid a repeat of Cape Town.

I have always thought of Albatross as a solitary bird as they soar across the expanse of the Southern Ocean on their great wings. Perhaps I am wrong for 'Birds of a feather flock together' still seems to apply in that as the wind died away yesterday so they settled on the water in great groups of over a hundred birds. Humans are much the same and the instinct to be drawn to one another is heightened by the presence of empty expanses which brings me neatly round to Falcon GT.

Before departing Newlyn I received an email from John Gayford the driving force behind this great project. Five guys in a 46ft foot self made yacht sailing from New York to Melbourne via South Africa in aid of Cancer. We emailed back and forth and pledged to catch up in Cape Town so it was disappointing not to see them until we made Simons Town. Kindred spirits are rare and I have to say we all hit it off immediately and will keep an eye out for each other on this leg. They were planning to leave on Saturday and should be faster than us so the hope is to give them a wave or even better catch up for a Talisker in St Pauls if it works out. In the meantime it is a comfort to know that we are not the only ones out here. Do have a look at www.sv-falcongt.blogspot.com.

Cheers Pete

Last night was a very long night on the helm for all of us seem to be inordinately tired and I am not quite sure why. A combination of not much sleep in South Africa thanks to hard work and play, feeling a bit ill and trying to settle into the watch system I suspect. There is also the mental side of squaring away the scale of the next leg; 5,500NM in the Southern Ocean takes a couple of days to put into context such that it is broken down into the daily routine of here and now, bit by bit.

This morning, our second at sea, was the morning that I felt I had started to settle back into ships routine. For a start I didn't feel ill when I woke up. Two cups of coffee, four slices of toast and a morning constitutional before relieving Mark had me feeling human again. I was able to enjoy the sights and sounds of the ocean again rather than grind through the watch with a dull eyed fixation on the compass and my ever so slow watch. You have no idea of how long two hours can drag unless you have been ill and tired on the helm.

Suddenly it was lovely to be at sea again and as the influence of the land recedes over the horizon so the pleasure of the ocean and its simple routines takes over. The fresh milk has gone off; some of the bananas have had to be ditched despite being green when they came on board. The solar panels went up this morning to allow the sun to do its magic on our batteries. We are starting to be at one with nature and its rhythms again.

Progress is slow due to fickle winds which will be with us for a while as we struggle south in search of the westerly's that the Southern Ocean is renowned for. Once we have found them we will turn left and hopefully start to tick off the miles for Melbourne. One can but wonder how the original crew felt on setting out on this leg. My sense is that it was business as usual for it is much the same on board Spirit of Mystery. Eliot was saying as much over the dishes this morning. Leaving Newlyn was pretty mind blowing whereas this departure does not feel so alien to him. Just another indication of how far we have come as a crew.

In many ways it feels like a period in no-man's land as we work our way down to the front line of the Southern Ocean. That's when the business of Australia will be dealt with and we will start to earn our keep.

Cheers Pete



Picture courtesy of Paul Moody

Sorry about the lack of a blog yesterday evening but we had a lumpy old sea once we cleared False Bay and the dreaded Mal de Mer came to visit! Not like the night we left Newlyn I am delighted to say; we just felt ill but we were all able to keep everything down. As ever it meant that we spent the night either in bed or on watch and tried to keep everything in between to a minimum. Supper was biscuits, breakfast a handful of Jelly Babies and lunch a fantastic bowl of porridge thanks to Mark. A sure sign that we are getting there as a crew but not I am afraid to say as a boat! I made a bad call last night and we tacked too early which coupled with what must have been an unseen northerly current, wasted about eight hours of sailing. Very frustrating and although it is not much when you consider we have 5,500NM to go, it hurts when you think of how long and draggy the watches were last night. Still we are off, the sun is out and we have albatrosses in abundance and I am sure we will be able to manage a nice supper tonight.

Cheers Pete



Picture courtesy of Chris Lee

AUSTRALIA HERE THEY COME!

Hi All

A quick message to let you know that Spirit of Mystery has now officially left South Africa. Pete, Mark, Andy and Eliot were all very excited as they left Simons Town on a beautiful sunny day. With the Cape of Good Hope off starboard to them, they hoisted Spirit of Mystery's sails to continue on their journey to their final destination - Australia.

Pete had the first watch whilst the rest of the crew were below snoring away. As Pete said: "It never takes long to get back into the routine of things." Chris Lee who waved the crew off from another boat with other supporters and friends emailed in to say that the crew had left in a fresh Westerly breeze with big smiles on their faces!

Keep checking the blog for further updates from Pete.

Cheers Mandy

Photo courtesy of Chris Lee