I am back in Cape Town after a long tiring trip that took me from Trinidad to Tobago, then on to Antigua and again on to London. The final leg from London to Cape Town was the longest, with the 747 packed with humans like sardines in a sardine tin, with us arriving at 06:45 in the morning. It's good to be home - although for a short period only!

So, what's next? Well, I am taking "In The Wind", a Leopard 40, with the owner, Kyle Mussman and crew member Richard Rotteveel, to Recife, Brazil. From there they will be joined by their partners and will slowly explore the Brazilian coast as they head towards the Caribbean.

The boat is well equipped although the SSB/HF radio is still to be installed, which will happen on Monday 16 February. The next few days will be spent starting the provisioning and getting some extra equipment ordered. We are still waiting for the boat registration papers to arrive from the US (the boat will be US flagged) and then we have to have a safety inspection and obtain the required CoF before we can proceed with departure formalities and get going! We are planning on departing Cape Town around Saturday 21 February.

Steve Searle, a highly qualified technician and fellow radio ham (ZR1ACM), will be installing the SSB/HF radio, together with a Pactor modem, thus we should have some good communications via email, allowing us to keep the blog updated on a regular basis - so, keep tuned!

I will update the blog again in the next few days with a progress report and test transmission from the boat before we depart. John.