We finally departed Cape Town on the morning of August 6 - a few weeks later than we had hoped. Our first twenty four hours was not the most pleasant as we had massive swells and freezing weather. All of us were not feeling too good but that has now mostly past with only Neels still feeling a bit "off".

Our first leg is to the island of St Helena, a distance of approximately 1700 nautical miles. Due to the fronts moving across the South Atlantic at this time of the year, we are sailing the first section up the South African west coast, as far as the Orange River mouth from where we will then lay a course directly for St Helena.

Although we are quite loaded with provisions, diesel and water, the boat is handling it's self quite well. The wind (16 knots) is from the south west as is the swell (3 to 4 metres). We are sailing with the genoa only and are doing quite well, averaging over 5.7 knots - not too bad considering our size and weight.

I will do a more updated blog entry in a few days when everybody is acclimatised to the motion. Regards from Hardy, Andries, Neels and myself, John.