8 January 2011
We were all taking back and forth within the confines of Hout Bay. A Lady and Destiny had come south from their berth in the V&A Marina in Cape Town for the start. With Jeannius, Wild Tigres and Brown Eyed Girl who are to start from Cape Town, the group will number fourteen. Because of the topography of the place the wind was all over the place. The outhaul which David had spent so long trying to correct slid up the track as we unfurled the main. In exasperation we fired up the engine and motored for 20 minutes to clear the bay and catch a more consistent wind.
Before we knew it we were sucked into a bank of thick fog. On went the radar and with no more than 20metres visibility we were all ears and eyes. Not only had we to avoid the other rally yachts, we were going across a traffic separation scheme. There was no opportunity for me to go below to make lunch so we had to content ourselves with a cup a soup and an orange. Twenty nautical miles later we finally emerged from the fog into a fine sunny day, flat seas, a steady fifteen knots of wind from the south, southwest. Perfect!
We could just see Table Mountain above the mist, seeing its flat table top for the last time 29nm out from the coast. Huge long tendrils of kelp floated past. Tzigane gradually overhauled us and by nightfall we had lost all sight of them. A thin sliver of orange moon came up briefly. This means that we will have moonlight all the way to St Helena. At 10 o'clock we sailed through a local fishing fleet. We saw nothing more after that. We are truly on our own now on the ocean.....
Susan Mackay