Day 3: The barometer starts to rise

The barometer reading finally started lifting at around 11pm last night, and with that the breeze settled down. The state of the sea remained a mess though, making it a very bumpy ride. It was also bitterly cold. You must know how cold you are when the water from the Benguela current crashing over you actually feels warm.

At this stage it was not only our foul weather gear that was soaked. We got off watch to find our mid layer soft-shell, and base layers all soaked. Bunks were wet, sleeping bags damp, and sense of humours low.

Due to the high levels of seasickness, we decided to move to a diet of rehydrate and woollies chocolate brownies. Not because the brownies had any particular nutritional value, but rather because they drastically improve the taste of whatever came up.

This morning however, looks far better. It was the first sunrise of the trip (yesterday we were robbed of a sunrise). The conditions have also improved, resulting in us shaking out the reef and put our small kite up. The inside of the boat resembles a Hillbrow balcony, with clothes hanging everywhere, but hopefully we can get most of the stuff dried out before tonight.

After a relatively rough day 2, it is time to make up some lost ground. We hoping that we can get the pocket-rocket (Ryan) onto the helm later today provided he starts to feel better. We’ve decided to bribe him with the last roti and samoosa, sent kindly to us from the Jacobs family. We are ready for those trade winds now...