Departing South Africa

Finally departure day has arrived, I could not have asked for a better Valentines day gift than sailing the world, filled with adventure. That been said it's been a few days of feeling a little edgy as the build up to set sail began, but we managed to get everything done that required attention, we are finally stocked and loaded with food and of course plenty of wine and some other creature comforts. I spent the last 2 days doing loads of food prep, as to minimize cooking if the water gets a little lumpy, and just to generally make life on the water a little easier.

Yesterday we cleared immigration and customs, so we are all stamped out and ready to hit the high seas in search of adventure.

As Bascule bridge opened, we gently eased our way out and set our bearing for Lüderitz, leaving the beautiful Table Mountain behind us. 

15 February 2024

As the day progressed yesterday,  the  water got wilder and the swell grew substantially, it felt like the swell was higher than the boat at some stages, we got thrown around a fair amount but managed to keep going with the jib.

We adjusted way of course to be able to keep the wind in our sail and to get a slightly less punishing angle.

By 21:00 the wind had completely abandoned us, we were getting about 9knots on our back so we were left with no choice but to turn motors on, we rotated port and starboard motors through the night, which gave us an average speed of 5 knots. The drone of the engine was not nearly as satisfying as the sails, but at least the engines kept us moving. Finally around 9am this morning we were able to turn motors off, as the wind has picked up to a 16knot broad reach and now we are cruising along nicely at 5,4 knots in blissful silence, no motors 😁👏 a pretty decent speed considering we only have the Genoa out.

Yesterday was a pretty tough day for some crew as the green sea sick monster was on the top of his game, infact he was around all through the day and night, but thankfully it seems to have left the boat for now and everyone is feeling much healthier this morning. Needless to say this makes my heart very happy, so I prepared a really nice meal and everyone was able to sit at the table and enjoy a good dinner together. Eating well on our journey is something we always did.
We expect to be getting some harder weather early evening, so just enjoying the calm for now. hopefully it won’t be too bouncy.

ETA for Ludritz still seems to be Sunday