Year 3 -24 August 2026 -Day 6 Cape Town-St Helena
Julian and I had the 2.00am to 5.00am watch and we had little sleep due to the roll as the waves were pushing the stern of the boat. Our watch was relatively quiet. We were sailing with staysail and 3 reefs in the main. We made good progress of 8 kts an hour and the wind was gusting up to 30+kts on occasions.
We handed over at 5.00am and we were glad to climb back into bed again and this time I did sleep some as I was probably so tired I could not avoid it.
I was woken by the smell of bacon again and Dave was cooked bacon and scrambled eggs which was lovely. After breakfast I decided to make a loaf of bread and Julian watched me so he can try himself going forward.
Mark said he wanted to check the oven as he did not think it was getting hot enough. I got out the instructions. It seemed one reason could be that the burner orifice (the hole through which the gas comes into the oven could be blocked. This can be removed with a spanner so we got it out and cleaned it with acetone and put it back. We lit the oven and it was then ready for my bread and it seemed to work well and browned the loaf so we may have resolved the issue.
Julian and I were back on at 12.00noon and the wind was still gusting into the high 20’s but we did throw out one reef in the main. We continued all watch on the same sail plan as we were sailing well and fast. The sea state calmed a little but inn checking the weather we will have this wind until tomorrow pm. I calculated our 24 hour runs and the best was 7.00am yesterday to today which was 193nm. The 12.00noon run was 180nm so we are doing well.
We had prawns in garlic butter for lunch with bread and coleslaw and salad which was nice. The afternoon wore on and I am still having issues with Starlink and they want me to do things which I cannot do safely until I arrive in St Helena. Luckily I can use Julian’s.
We handed over at 4.00pm to Mark and Dave who had prepared another fishing line but we are going too fast at present to fish for the right size we want. Tuna will swim up to 7.5kts but beyond that we are getting into too bigger fish like Marlin. We had commented that other than albatrosses we had seen little wildlife but Mark and Dave saw a pod of about 15 small dolphins so they are some way out. By about 7.30pm we should have reached halfway as the crow flies although we have sailed a little more.
Paul prepared a good supper of white Oreo Fish with a mixed vegetable stew which had a bit if a chilli tang. This went down with all and was very warming as believe it or not it is still quite cold in the evenings. I feel we are making progress toward St Helena.
The picture of the day is of my old sailing mucker Mark and I in the cockpit. It is so good to have him back on board again.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
I am now on the way to St Helena, Cape Verde, Azores and back to the UK.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com