After the many thousands of miles Shearwater and me have come, perhaps the riskiest 700 plus miles lie directly ahead. The South African coastline, that must be rounded in order to get back into the Atlantic, skirts the northern edge of the Southern Ocean leading southwest to about 34 degrees latitude then turns west to round the "Cape of Storms".

The challenge lies in a confluence of three factors: a shoreline that has few safe anchorages; winds that can be fearsome in their speed and capriciousness; and a current with an interesting statistic: a flow-rate of 80 million gallons per second that can be whipped up into a frenzy by an opposing wind.

So, as I sit at dock, preparing the boat for this crucial leg, I spend some of that time contacting my colleagues who have already made the trip.

Here is what some have said:

Martyn, singlehander in midsize mono: "Its true that the wind gets up at the Cape and I arrived in a very strong wind but nothing that is life threatening."

Olivier and family, in catamaran similar to Shearwater: "We had a very bad squall with 65 knts of wind during 10 mn at 30 miles southwest of East London. Go step by step, but if you have a good window, don't stop if you can proceed ahead until the safe next harbour."

Jon and Jennifer in a catamaran the size of Shearwater: "We were able to bypass East London and Port Elizabeth, the latter being deemed as almost untenuous in even the mildest of weather due to the rickety docks and extraordinary surge in the little harbor."

Ranier and Ursula aboard mid size monohull: "We are in the Royal Cape Yacht Club, it was blowing here until this night like a hell with up to 54 kn! And when we arrived at 22.00 hrs, we had gusts up to 45kn, and nobody on the pontoons to help us."

Uwe and Brigitte in a midsize mono:"Due to the special topography here around the cape, we got williwaws up to 51 knts. The worst thing was, that our engine did hardly manage to get us into the harbour on the last 3-4 miles! All the harbours underway are more or less bad!"

So I continue to think, absorb and strategise as I face this famous next leg.

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