So at around 1am local time we flew past East London at around 11 knots and decided to head on towards Port Elizabeth as the weather looked likely to hold for at least another 24 hours.
During the morning the wind moderated and we lost the effect of the current and we were back to a slow 5 knots, which in any other conditions would be quite respectable. Right now we have some 47 miles to run before we reach Port Elizabeth and will make that at some time after dark. Stronger winds are predicted for the afternoon so we may get there before midnight with any luck. The Gods have clearly been on our side and Neptune has done his bit.

We are likely to stay in Port Elizabeth for for a day or two until the south westerly predicted for tomorrow afternoon has run it course. Then we will head for Cape Town which is just 400 miles around the corner from Port Elizabeth and one of the major deeds of the expedition will be done. Meanwhile we will all be delighted to have reached Port Elizabeth which is approximately half way between Durban and Cape Town.

Although we have only come half-way  from Durban to Cape Town (but all the way from Indonesia) the welcome has been ecstatic. Our passage here was so fast that we arrived 24 hours ahead of most people’s expectations and some thought it was a voyage too far and we wouldn't make it. Still we made it without incident and enjoyed one of the most incredible sails that one possible can experience. The voyage went like a dream  and the crew worked magnificently together. The significance of what we are doing is only just becoming apparent. As one person said “The expedition is rewriting the ancient history of South Africa with this voyage”. And as comments go they don’t get much bigger than that. We are likely to be here for another 2 to 3 days before finding another good weather window to continue towards Cape Town.

At 1200 hours GMT we were about 3 miles off Cape Recife, having given the Cape plenty of room as there are many wrecks around that indicate it is not too wise to go  close inshore. We now have light southerly winds and occasional rain showers. We have hoisted our main sail and hope that the wind will come around to the east before too long and give us a good passage towards the Cape of Storms, as the Cape of Good Hope is known locally. We are just about doing 4 knots but don’t seem to have picked up any current to help us on our way.

We are looking forward to spending some time at sea having been spoilt by the wonderful hospitality from the community of Port Elizabeth. Our very grateful thanks go to all concerned in making our stay so welcoming and memorable. In particular we would like thank Nazeem and Yusuf and their families, the Algoa Bay Yacht Club, the NSRI, the South African Navy, the Nelson Mandela Bay Libraries and Foundation, and the Eastern Cape Malayo Cultural Society for all your generous support. It was tremendous and very much appreciated by all the crew.

During the morning we have seen a few ships, many seals, two or three whales at a distance and lots of bird life. The coast off of Cape St. Francis was spectacular, with many undulating features. The coast was particularly impressive at sunrise this morning, when it was bathed in a golden red glow from the rampant rising of the sun.

The wind has now freshened from the east  and is dead astern of us. In order to maximise the area of sail exposed, the sails are configured in a “goose-winged” formation. That is to say that the mizzen is set as if we are on a starboard tack and the main sail is set as if we are on the port tack, thereby significantly increasing the sail area that is exposed to the prevailing easterly winds. It is a wonderful sight and is a sail configuration we are likely to use much more as we progress up the South Atlantic towards Ghana. Meanwhile we have around 100 miles to run to Mossel Bay and  300 miles to Cape Town but our weather window is closing and we are unlikely to make it to Cape Town in one go. Strong south westerly gales are forecast for the 24^th December!

At the beginning of the afternoon we sailed through an arch of clouds into an area of clear blue sky. Our spirits lifted as we sailed “goose-winged” at around 7 knots. The spectacular Tsitsikamma Mountains to starboard, the sunset produced an awesome green flash and then the clouds on the horizon became outlined in gold, giving the appearance of icebergs. We were surrounded by seabirds as the sky faded from the golden sunset and the first of many stars appeared that were to entertain us all night. Sailing doesn’t get much better than this. Later we furled the mizzen to reduce our speed so we could enter Mossel bay in daylight. 

We anchored at 0730 hours GMT. It was a shame that we couldn’t continue beyond Mossel Bay but 3 to 4 days of south westerly gales are forecast from tomorrow and we will therefore be sheltering in Mossel Bay until the next weather window can get us round the Cape. That is not likely to be before 28^th December. Meanwhile Happy Christmas to all of those who are following our progress and thanks for your support.

By mid-day we were some 8 miles off the coast and the weather had become much brighter. The sea had turned a beautiful turquoise with sun’s rays shimmering on the surface of the water. The crests of the wave were a fresh and foaming crispy white and out little wooden ship was cutting through them at around 7 knots. We were powering ahead in spectacular conditions which were almost too good to be true. And sure enough it was too good to be true. By early afternoon local time we picked up a Gale Warning from our Navtex system. The bad news is that winds of 30 to 40 knots are expected over the next few hours. The good news (if there is any) is that the winds are easterly (from behind us) and therefore going where we want to go and best too from the ships point of view. A westerly gale would really whip up the sea because of the currents and act like a washing machine!

Anyway it is too late for us to turn back, the wind is just too strong to fight against it. So we acted pretty quickly and furled the main sail and mizzen. We then hoisted the small storm sail which is about a third of the size of the main sail and looks a bit like the sail used on the Kon Tiki expedition. In all it took over an hour to change all the sails as we have no mechanical aids on board. The wind has already picked up and even with much reduced sail area we are still doing more than 5 knots. Hopefully when the gale comes it won’t be too bad but no one knows for sure. We are heading offshore a little bit for extra space in case the wind direction changes and pushes us towards the rocks. Other than that we are just going to take what comes our way.

No wonder the locals call this area the Cape of Storms!

 Mountainous walls of foaming water approach from astern and then proceeds to lift the whole ship out of the water as the massive waves pass under the vessel. Occasionally some of the water fills the cockpit area, so the first 2 of our 4 weather boards are now in place to stop the water from entering into the cabin area. Even then with the biggest waves we have had water in the cabin. At the same time the ship is rolling around the cooking is a real problem. A whole bowl of 20 beaten eggs went flying across the deck just as they were about to be made into a beautiful omelette. And with the wind from astern the paraffin stoves have been on a go slow mission and have taken ages to heat anything. It took one watch 4 hours to boil a kettle of water. Enter 5 cups-of-tea-a-day Eric who missed out on tea for most of the yesterday and proposed a new solution to improve the stoves. A piece of cloth was attached above the stove cabinets to prevent the drafts and this has helped speed up the cooking process. However it still takes over forty minutes to boil a kettle of water but it is better than having no boiling water.

In all though, we are experiencing an incredible piece of fast and at times furious sailing. Unfortunately we passed Cape Agulhas at night time so we never got to see it. Hopefully we will be luckier with the Cape of Good Hope and get to see it before nightfall. Then we just have to remember to turn right and head up to Cape Town. Otherwise we are going to be in the Falkland Islands before we know it.

P.S. 1500 hours GMT. Wind speeds have increased again and we are making even faster progress. We have just seen the Cape of Good Hope for the first time. There is a growing sense of excitement on the ship tempered by the fact that even when we get round the Cape there is still around 40 miles to run to Cape Town itself.

We had a spectacular sail around the Cape of Good Hope in gale force winds.Still the driving wind from astern caused little difficulty for the ship and we made well over 6 knots for most of the period. The view of the Cape
Point was awesome and we managed to get some good aerial photography of the ship in heavy seas from a helicopter that was hired by the film crew for the purpose. 

The run up the 30 miles or so to Cape Town started well but shortly after midnight the wind direction changed and we motored to overcome the lack of wind. The wind then became much stronger and with only one engine working, because a propeller had been broken leaving Mossel Bay, we were making little actual progress. We could have held on for better conditions but that could have taken a day or two. So whilst we were in no danger but time was short we asked the local National Sea Rescue Institute  for a tow for the last 14 miles into Cape Town. Thanks guys. 

So most of the 250 miles of the trip from Mossel Bay was done with a storm sail and even after getting a tow, was done in record time. We have now done over 7000 miles since leaving Jakarta in August and the voyage must rank as the longest voyage of its type and along some of the world’s most difficult and treacherous coastlines. We are now planning to get ready for the next 3200 mile leg to Ghana and hope that we can do so within the next 5-7 days.

The Yacht “Foam” from the Traditional Boat Association fired cannon to salute the start of another epic journey for the Borobudur ship and to wish us “bon voyage”. They accompanied us to the top of Robben Island, made infamous because it was home to Nelson Mandela during his years in incarceration, before turning for home. They also gave us a guitar during our stay which will be used to the full. Thanks. In the bay it was a hot but a virtually windless day. We hoisted the mainsail for the TV cameras only to furl it up later and motor on out to catch the strong offshore wind that had been forecast. At around 1330 GMT we caught the breeze and with both sails set we are doing around 7 knots, with a fresh wind just aft of our port beam. The waves are about 3-4 meters high, and the sea is a dull greenish-brown colour, topped by the occasional white peak. But our speed is creating quite an impressive wake of white foam as we surf along. As long as we don’t get any more wind, these conditions are as good as we can hope for.

Our next stop is the island of St. Helena made famous by that other prisoner: Napoleon. It is some 1690 miles from Cape Town and we therefore have many days sailing ahead of us. At the moment (1500hrs GMT) it is still a lovely day, with fresh winds and strong sunshine. The top of Table Mountain is covered in cotton wool-like clouds and is now disappearing into the distance. With it we have great memories of a wonderful stay in Cape Town and we would like to thank all the people who made our visit such a success. Thanks in particular to the following and anyone we may have missed out; Samhuri, Aris, Ikhsan, Indra, Mandala, Iman Adam, Khalil, The Indonesian Ambassador Mr Abdul Nasir, Kolonel Witjaksono, Capt. Bill Shewell and Robin, Trevor Wilkins at the Royal Cape Yacht Club, Karey Evett, NSRI Cape Town, Barry New and his team at P&O Nedlloyd, and Marco and team at the Radisson SAS Hotel.

Thank you.

Overnight we maintained a good speed of around 6-7 knots and have therefore managed to do some 141 miles over the last 24 hours. With the southerly winds blowing up from the Antarctic, our night at sea was pretty cold and once again most of the crew were wrapped in at least 3 or 4 layers of clothing whilst on watch. Down below the bunks were very cold too. Oh for a sunny day in Cape Town! 

The night sky was very clear and we could see a fantastic array of stars across the southern hemisphere’s night sky. During the early morning at around 0200 hours local time we witnessed a spectacular rising of the moon. As a relatively new moon it is just a small crescent but its reddish-golden colour gave it a special character against the background of the mid-blue night sky. A sight to remember.  

We passed 5 or 6 fishing vessels during the night and we are now off the South African coast by over a hundred miles and heading further out to sea towards the little island of St. Helena. We caught our first fish in Atlantic waters this morning- a “yellow tail” which made for a beautiful lunch-thanks to a new line and large squid-like lure that Putu managed to rig up. We have also seen a couple of Albatrosses and many cormorants, also looking for fish. The sea is now a clear blue with white tips on many of the waves and the sun is providing some welcome warmth and lifting our spirits. However we have a few more cold days ahead before we reach warmer waters but the voyage has started well.

Report received by telephone. Ship couldn't raise a signal for laptop.

Report received by telephone. Ship couldn't raise a signal for laptop.

Sea state Moderate - Weather Good - All well.

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