What a difference a day makes. We wake up to a beautiful blue sky, light wind and strong sun. At 8 am it feels strong enough to burn.
Mike goes over to Lady Ev once more to look at Jorg’s PC and having fixed it again instructs all the crew not to fiddle with it. When he comes back to the boat we begin the process of disengaging ourselves from the dock and A Lady, managing to pull away from her without scratching her lovely blue hull.
The harbour looks prettier than it did yesterday – it’s amazing what a little bit of sunshine can do for a view and a mood!
Photo: Looking back at the Yacht Club
Photo: Fishing boats at Port Elizabeth
We motor out of the harbour and as leave we get a good view of the town. When we entered yesterday everything was grey and miserable so it is quite a surprise to see a nice looking built up area even though I had heard good things about Port Elizabeth. It’s a pity we haven’t got time to explore it but we need to get to Knysna as soon as possible to give us time to get to Cape Town and meet Victoria on Saturday.
Photos: Leaving Port Elizabeth
As we leave the harbour entrance a load of dolphins are playing around the boats. We are still motoring at this point and don’t have much wake so they don’t swim by the boat but are still lovely to watch.
Photo: Dolphins come to play
Once we get out of the relative shelter of the harbour, the wind starts to pick up but Mike waits until we are around the headland to see how the wind changes before deciding what sails to put up. Initially we just sail with the genoa and one engine, then switch the engine off and sail at around 6 knots.
I cook a huge breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and bread fried in butter for the Master and Commander which puts me in his good books for the day. Later in the morning we put the main up then Mike, with the aid of a full stomach, has a nap.
We continue to sail at a good rate, a pace which should get us to Knysna just at high tide first thing in the morning. Ann and Terry had wanted to be at the cafe at the opening of the lagoon to film us coming in but I’m not sure they will want to be there at 6 am! Mike rings them to warn them.
It is a lovely sail. Most of the time we are getting between 6 and 8 knots and the waves are gentle and just nudge us along. A far cry from yesterday’s misery. Suddenly there’s a yacht screaming up behind us. No surprise that it’s Grand Filou, last out of the harbour and now zapping past us at nearly 12 knots.
Photo: Grand Filou catches us and races past
I watch the sun set over our last night at sea for some time. It’s not the best one but I’m glad we will see some from land for a while.
Photo: Our last sunset at sea for a while
We decide just to do four hour watches tonight as we will be in so early and I head off down to bed at around 8.30 pm. I’m excited about seeing my sister and brother in law tomorrow as it’s been a year and one week since I last saw them. The icing on the cake will be when we see Victoria in a few days.
Our position is: 34 deg 20 min S, 23 deg 46 min E
Distance so far: 18389 nautical miles
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