As we approach rounding the Cape, the Indian Ocean is realizing that we are going to escape her and she is slowly letting go of the grip that she has possessed over us this year. The seas for this passage have been well behaved with little pounding or hull slapping. The winds have been moderate to mild, just about as predicted. However, the Indian Ocean is still showing us that she is the boss as the low pressure cell that was predicted to leave the inland parts of South Africa and move over the ocean behind us has turn the skies to light rain and lower visibility. We can see about a mile around us and no more. We are hoping that things will improve as the night passes and we will be able to see the Cape as we round her tomorrow morning around 0900 or so. At least the barometer is slowly rising, which is a good sign.

The Cape, which is the southernmost portion of the African continent, is actual Cape Agulhas, not Cape Of Good Hope. We will be passing by the Cape of Good Hope as we enter False Bay, which will be tomorrow afternoon or evening. It is about 85 nm NE of Cape Agulhas. We will actually be passing the Cape of Good Hope on its eastern side since it juts out into the Atlantic Ocean making up the western most flank of False Bay.

Simon's Town, where we will be parking good ol' Leu Cat while we are back in the States, is about 11 nm into False Bay. It is situated along the eastern shore of the peninsula which the Cape of Good Hope caps. If you have a map or Google Earth, you should take a look at this area to get a better idea of where Simon's Town is. We are told it is a very picturesque and quaint village and we are looking forward to making landfall there and exploring it a bit before we return to the States for the holidays. It is about an hour's drive south of Cape Town.

With the light winds we have been having we are using both the sails and our engines to keep our speed up. We have been fighting a countercurrent of between 0.5 and 2 knots. Without the help of the engines, we would just been making 4 or 5 knots since the winds have been in the 10 to 12 knot range. With just sails, we make between 5 and 6 knots with those types of winds but fighting the current would reduce our speed further. Thus, with both engines on at moderately RPMs (2200 RPMs), we are making between 6.0 and 7.0 knots. We want to keep our speed up as much as possible because the winds are predicted to pick up as tomorrow progresses, hitting strengths of 20 to 30 knots. Docking in such winds may be a problem since we will be arriving after the marina office is closed and we will have to secure our docking lines from the boat. If the winds are too stiff, then we will just anchor outside of the marina and wait until the next morning when dockhands can catch our lines as we wrestle Leu Cat through the stiff winds.

Last night the winds did pickup for a few hours and we were making between 7.5 and 8.5 knots in 16 knot winds, sailing in a wing and wing configuration. It was lovely. We only wish that the winds would have stayed that way but with having mild seas and light winds, we are not complaining since this is an easy way of getting around that part of the world which has a horrible reputation of bad weather and seas and of claiming a lot of ships. We have our fingers crossed that this mild passage continues.

As of 1808, our position is 34 45.1'E:021 24.1'E, our speed is 7.4 kts, our course is 248, True. The winds are from the ENE at 8 knots. The seas are mild and running from the SE with heights of just 1 to 2 meters . We have made 237 nm so far, have about 171 nm to go and have averaged 6.8 knots so far. With luck, our next blog post will be from the dock of the False Bay Yacht Club in Simon's Town.