It has been an interesting first few days at sea, with all of us, except Neels, fully getting our sea-legs. Neels, unfortunately, has not fully recovered from his sea sickness even though we have a relatively calm sea at the moment. However, his prayers may have been answered as we have lost the use of our port engine and are busy making our way to the port of Luderitz in Namibia for mechanical repairs. I think Neels will be departing the boat if he can find transport back to Cape Town - and I do not blame him as being sea sick on a small boat in the Atlantic Ocean is not what I would wish on my worst enemy.

We should reach Luderitz during Monday morning and hope that we are able to repair our engine with great speed as I have been to the port before and there is not too much to get excited about there. However, the rest of the crew will be able to explore the old German town with its unusual architecture and may even be able to visit the old "ghost town", a mining town just outside Luderitz which was deserted and is now mostly covered by sand dunes.

This morning I spoke to David Savage, the skipper of a Leopard 40, also en route to Annapolis. He had departed Cape Town a few hours after us and was only 20 odd nautical miles to the east of us. He and his crew were all well and were preparing to change course for St Helena island - we were busy changing course for Luderitz and would thus cross close to each other. Although we kept a good lookout and gave a few calls on the marine VHF, we never saw each other.

On Saturday we managed to catch our first fish, a small Yellowtail, which was just large enough to feed all four of us. It was really delicious and was served with baked potatoes and some gem squash. The chef of the day was Andries who did an excellent job cooking the fish. This morning (Sunday), Neels, although not feeling great, set out the line and managed to catch a fair sized long-fin Tuna. It is in the refrigerator and is our Monday night meal as this evening I cooked up an Indian curry, which appeared to go down well with all on board.

As soon as we know what is happening to our engine, I will update the blog and add a photo or two of Luderitz. For now, regards from Neels, Andries, Hardy and myself, John.