Rounding the Cape of
weather was benign: no wind and a mild sea. We crept up
Good Hope in good
towards the nearest rocks of the Cape and passed between
conditions provides
some huge rocks and a narrow channel marked on my charts
a momentous photo
opportunity for Mike
that would bring us within 50 meters of the actual Cape. We all
(below left) and
took pictures and had a great time rounding one of the most
the calm conditions famous points in sailing history.
continue into the South
I did the entire night watch alone; the boys were worn out
Atlantic (below right).
from playing so hard the previous day! I only woke them when
we were just about ready to toss dock lines to the guys at the
Royal Cape Yacht Club. We were again invited to stay for free.
I had explored the region during the few previous days on
my Harley trip from False Bay so I was just waiting for decent
forecast and the opportunity to seize it and embark on the
next leg across the Atlantic. It was becoming boring anyway
because my crew were picked up by their parents after inviting
me for lunch on our third day at dock. Things were just not the
same after having the exuberance of youth aboard for almost
two months.
At the next possible weather window I was prepared to
leave Cape Town, South Africa and head across the entire
Atlantic ocean, south to north, a distance of over 7,700 miles to
Miami. My first stop would be about 1,000 miles out to a small
rock of an island, St Helena. n
next month – Mike heads west for the final leg across the Atlantic.
business meeting in Cape Town and found the boys playing in
Wanderlust’s dinghy with three other young girls in their own
dinghy, laughing and splashing like young kids do. The fathers
knew this would be a lifelong memory for them and did not
even bother to call them over.
The presentation in the Yacht Club was a tremendous
success with over 120 guests, many over from the Royal Cape
YC. I was able to meet some very amiable people and even
some famous local sailors. The winds outside were in the 40-
45 knot range for over a week so we were happy to stay in the
protected bay. one afternoon the winds stopped. My on-board
weather GRIB files showed a two day lull in the SW storms so
I gathered the boys together for a very rushed late afternoon
cast off. There was still one friend left on board, so he called
his mom to ask if he could sail with us around the Cape of
Good Hope. I do not know what mom said but he told me it
was okay so off we went.
I let the three boys plot our course out of False Bay and
up to the lee of the Cape cliffs. It was nearing sunset and the
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