Another blog from the open sea. Early this morning the meteo called for a good weather window so Guppy and I decided to cast off the mooring lines and with four other yachts we left the marina in Port Elizabeth to head west. Coming out of the bay the sea was nice rough with a 25 knots head wind creating high waves so Guppy sailed more under water than on it. Than a large school of dolphins appeared to keep us company – they jumped high above the waves, dived back just to come out flipping in acrobatic pirouettes. It was real nice to see. Although the yachts in our group are as big or even bigger than ‘Gup’, early on we easily took the lead… With the bay far behind us, the wind dropped a little and blew more from the side so we did real good under sails. But the past few hours of rough sailing have taken their toll. The middle cleat on Guppy’s deck was so overloaded by the lines pulling on it during the storm in the harbour that now the water washing over the deck is leaking inside the cabin from it. The water made its path over my books, ran into the cabinets, then slipped unto my bed to finally end up inside my sleeping bag. To find the spot that was leaking, I removed part of the ceiling and to keep things as dry as possible, I threw all the other stuff to the side… turning the whole boat into a messy, soaked-wet and salty chaos … But I am enjoying the fast sailing and staying ahead of the group. I feel great to be back at sea and I am looking forward to the high points of rounding the Cape. The wind is weakening a little again so I shall be very busy in the coming days… making it an easy guess as to how I will spend my time right after arrival…

Laura