And so we have finally left Cape Town as part of the Heineken Cape to Bahia race and very excited we are - it is nice to be back on the open oceans of the world after what seems a long time in port. We all enjoyed SA, so much to do , and have vowed to return . It is also great to have a high profile event such at the Heineken to focus the mind - ( drink companies make very good sailing sponsors ! ) and bring added competition in the form of about 10 more yachts all racing in the same class . Instead of our usual white crew T Shirts ( or Black if we are supporting NZ) we were all happy to ware the sponsors Green T shirts - in support of a) Heineken or b) Ireland - you decide
The start was a big local media event, with a huge spectator fleet (some getting in the way !) helicopters, press boats and the like , we managed to have a cracking start , hitting the line at full speed to the smell of the cordite as we powered past the committee boat end of the line, dodging some of our fellow competitors, who under normal circumstances we may have given a hard time to - but given we have sailed so many miles together , we ducked and shouted ( Louis - you owe us some/lots of beer!)
We are now heading north up the coast of Africa, and passing Namibia home of the world sailing speed record attempt by our friend Paul Larsen- look at www.sailrocket.com - while Paul was denied perfect conditions for his recent record attempt - we have no complaints , thanks to Bruce our weather man sitting in Perth, we are enjoying good winds as we stay to the east of the rhumb line heading towards to St Helena - a small British Island circa 1500 miles away in the middle of the Atlantic - this will be a pit stop in the race for the cruising boats - where we will stay between 24 & 72 hours depending on how we feel and what the weather is like . you never hear much about St Helena and we will report fully after our arrival - suffice to say it is like the Azores - but as it has no airport - so not many people go there -however it is British and we will be able to use Stirling - so for once not suffering from a currency exchange rate lower then we had planed for!
We now have blue sky's, sun shine and 10-15 knts of wind and have been flying kites all the time since the start ( having had all 3 up at one time or another in the first 24 hours)The evenings are cool , but getter warmer as each day passes , lovely clear sky - so nice to be back under the canopy of the stars for us to gaze at and study
There is a racing division in this event as well , for the people who don't have air Con, flat screen TV's and the like - this leaves on Saturday , heading straight to Brazil, the thinking been that the slower cruising boats with their pit stop will all arrive at the same time in Brazil ( in time for carnival !) - our hopes are pinned on the British entry "Leopard" - Mike Slade's 100 ft record breaking race boat which is looking to set a new course record.
For now no records for us - just Ipods , and fair winds - but we are very competitive ! At the moment life on board is perfect
I just discovered your blog and it makes me want to leave it all behind and head out as well though I might have to work up to the round the world portion. I am the boating examiner for Seattle and just wrote an article about boating blogs that are worth reading and included your blog. Just wanted to give you a heads up. Enjoy your fair winds.
http://www.examiner.com/x-489-Seattle-Boating-Examiner~y2009m1d7-Boating-blogs-worth-reading
Kayla
Posted by: kayla | January 08, 2009 at 11:37 PM