We have had a really busy morning this morning as we drift about waiting for this blow that is on the way. The forecast is for 40knts with gusts of 50knts thanks to a depression that is going to pass very close to us. This means that not only will it be blowing from the wrong sector but it will also have considerable change in direction to throw up chaotic seas. Just the sort of thing to make your blood run cold and to fray ones spirits during this pregnant period in the waiting room.

The reality is that we feel in good spirits thanks to the experience that we have built up as a crew and the confidence that we have in Spirit of Mystery. It is also because we have spent five hours with all four of us working flat out to prepare everything down to the smallest detail. All the floor boards have been secured, the book shelves cleared, the sea anchor set up, batteries charged, spars lashed to the deck and emergency equipment checked out. The amount of work is incredible but the feeling of being prepared is worth every bit of expended energy. There is nothing below that has not been secured, stowed, prodded or thought about.

The forecast should see the wind starting to come in this afternoon from the NE and we will tack on this to make some ground to the N/NW. The hope is that this will make life a little easier once the depression has moved on. By midnight tonight it will be climbing from 25knts with gusts through to a full on 'ding dong' by dawn. Our aim is to keep plodding away until it gets dangerous to remain beam on to the seas. At that point we will reduce sail to just the storm jib out on the bow sprit, deploy the sea anchor in a bid to not lose too much ground in the wrong direction and retire below. In other words we will put the hand break on and wait for it to blow over.

This will be something that I have never done in my sailing career and it is with interest that I await the experience. I have always been racing light weight flyers that are better kept at speed down wind and able to beat to windward if it's from the wrong direction. I have read about lashing the tiller and going to bed as the boat rides it out and now here we are in the Southern Ocean with the conditions and the boat for the job. That's not to say I would have wished for the experience for nothing could be further from the truth. No sane man wishes for bad weather and the attendant risks.

The other aspect of all this, and it's very frustrating, is that in the final reckoning I suspect that coupled with the last two days of calm we will have lost a good five hundred miles or five days of progress. Painful enough as it is but particularly so as we have only just set out on what is a long leg for any boat, let alone a 37ft Mounts Bay Lugger from the 1850's. So cross your fingers for us during the blow, keep them crossed to bring fairer winds in its wake and I will get back to you once we have pulled through what is going to be a testing experience.

Cheers Pete

Well I never thought I would be in shorts and flat becalmed a week out of Simons Town but that is the state of play this afternoon. Poor old Spirit of Mystery is wallowing about in a confused and lumpy sea as we wait for the weather to sort itself out. It would appear that we are to have a further day of calm followed, of all things, by blow from the easterly sector so progress is on hold for a few days. Indeed we may well go backwards for a bit.

It's a bit of a shocker really as we had hoped, indeed, expected to be reeling the miles off for Melbourne. Still that's the lot of a sailor and there is nothing we can do about it but keep spirits up and deal with things as they come along. In the meantime we have been working through the job list and making good for some rough weather.

Now to Cape Town; a big thank you goes to Gavin and Denise Levy who I met during the British Steel Challenge. They are a lovely couple, indeed family now and it was their house that Tracey and I stayed in with the kids. Unfortunately we didn't manage to organize a family get together as Gavin and Denise were away up the coast at their beach house but I did get to see Gavin just before we left. We would also like to thank Stubbles and Mel for becoming such good friends and being so supportive. Stubbles runs the water taxi in Fowey so we will be seeing them on our return home. One of Stubbles hobbies is making lucky necklaces with million year old sharks teeth from his beach rambles. We are all wearing them. Tip of the day - whistle on his taxi and see what happens!

Today Eliot and I did an interview with BBCSW and Eliot managed to get completely tongue tied and has been squirming with embarrassment ever since. They are visiting his class to do an interview and his mates have been on his mind ever since. So to Miss Bell and Class 10BL he has asked me to send his best through the blog and that he is looking forward to seeing you all in May.

Cheers Pete

Whilst Pete and the crew were in Cape Town over Christmas they met a very interesting person - Andy Nixon. Andy is a photographer and graphic designer and we had been playing email-tennis with one another as she had taken pictures of Spirit of Mystery when she departed Cape Town to commence the second leg of the voyage to Australia - (http://pixoftheweek.blogspot.com). After we had passed a couple of messages to one another, Andy came back with the following information which I asked if I could share with you. Like myself, I am sure you will find it a very interesting read:

"It was really great meeting the boys - they are a lovely, entertaining and genuine bunch - and it was an honour being invited on board Spirit of Mystery; she really is a beautiful boat and I am grateful for the opportunity to photograph her, and wave them off on their second leg. It was my Dad who told me about their adventure - he was excited about it because our great, great, great grandfather was a brewer who owned the Star Inn where the idea for original voyage was conceived, and I believe he financed part of the decking. My Dad's great aunt was Cordelia Downing who lived at Vine Cottage until she died a few years ago at 103, and evidently the dining table around which the Mystery's voyage was planned is still there. And we know that at least one nugget of gold made it back from Australia - my grandmother had it mounted on a broach."

"Oh yes, after waving them off, we went and had a beer at the club, where my sister noticed that the beer labels show a rather abbreviated version of the story of Mystery: from the origins involving beer, a little boat with red sails going around South Africa, to get to the gold! We had a laugh about that!" The picture above is of the beer bottle label.

Amazing isn't it, how you can travel half way round the World and meet someone who for whatever reason is involved with the original voyage i.e. relative to the crew, or as in this case a decedent to the owner of the Star Inn at the actual time the idea was conceived? Excellent!


Mandy :-)

We are all looking a bit shell shocked after the last three or so days of 25-30knts on the beam with a big sea running. Brutalized is the word that comes to mind although the conditions haven't been brutal, tough yes but not brutal. I think it is the relentlessness of it and the need to acclimatize to the ever colder conditions that have ground us down. Watch handovers at the helm have had a hollow eyed and slightly glazed look about them as the off watch crew heads for yet more time in the bunk. That lovely warm little spot where one can drift away and have some respite before the next shout.

Today, for me, saw the start of the big grind to Melbourne. We have just about made 40 degrees south, Melbourne is under 5000NM away and we have our first position on Admiralty Chart 4070 which has the East Coast of South Africa on one side and the West Coast of Australia on the other. It's a long way and a huge open expanse that we face and I think we need to see some of the chart ticked off to ease the overwhelming sense of its scale. As ever the trick is to break it down and I have to say it is really nice that St Paul's Island is just about half way. What a treat that will be.

This morning has seen the weather break in that the wind has eased and gone aft so the motion is kinder, a better sleep has been had all round and there is energy to spare for things beyond the necessary; this blog for a start, changing the Communications system from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean Satellite to find a perfect signal. I'm not sure if the tracker has been playing up but if it has then this will have been the problem.

The sun has just started to glimpse through the grey that we have lived with these last days and it is a joy to see. Andy is having a bird bath and Eliot is chattering away across the cabin from me as I type. I am going to put the second solar panel on deck to give the batteries a boost and then put the kettle on. Things are feeling better as we start to bed into this new world where the simple things in life take a lot more effort. The spontaneity of the last leg has had a blanket of equipment thrown across it. Yesterday Dolphins were ignored by those below for they would have moved on by the time sleeping bags had been shed and foulies donned.

For all that Spirit of Mystery is as happy a little ship as ever with crew spirits and humour high. We are all reading, eating and working well as a team. Our routines have dropped into place, pancakes on Sunday Morning and our weekly highlight of a call home. You can change the environment but not the boat and I wouldn't be on any other.

Cheers Pete