After a long period on land it was finally time for us to move on. We left for Saint Helena the 15th January, excited to get back out to sea. We had also indulged in some new running rigging for Penny, which we could’t wait to test out. The first few days proved to be windier than forecast, thankfully it was all downwind. Penny went the fastest she’s ever gone, even heavily reefed. 

By day 4 the wind had subsided and the rest of the passage was plain sailing we the wind averaging 10-15knots. Each day we would hoist the kite to ensure we maintained good progress in the lighter air. For the first time, the hydrovane did an excellent job of maintaining the course and flying the kite enabling us to sit back and “relax”. 

The passage had a lot of cloud cover, especially overnight. It was also a new moon which made the nights even darker, occasionally it was hard to distinguish the horizon from the sky. During the day, we would have the occasional burst of sunshine which helped to boost our moral and charge our batteries. 

On day 6 we managed to catch a beautiful dorado, it was a huge fish that made over 5 meals. We enjoyed it best in fish tacos, which we battered in an “Old bay” spice mix reminding us of the Caribbean.

Other big milestone on this leg was when we crossed the Greenwich meridian line, as a result Penny has sailed through every time zone and we are now back on UK time. This is the closest we’ve been to home since Aruba last year, it’s exciting to think that we have almost completed our circumnavigation!

Cape Town to St Helena

Crew: 1

Crew Logs

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