And so, just like that, we were off on Leg 3. It had been such an incredible arrival in Cape Town at the end of Leg 2. We finished in the early afternoon so had seen Table Mountain appear out of the morning mist as we closed in on the finish. The people of Cape Town have been generous and gracious hosts. The first stopover day was spent completing the obligatory deep clean: everything out of the boat. Everything, including the boat top to bottom, cleaned and then everything back in - restoring the boat to pre-race condition after three weeks of racing across the South Atlantic. A couple of days of boat maintenance followed.
It is nearly summer in Cape Town, and we had beautiful sunny days against the backdrop of Table Mountain. Lunches were a fabulous combination of fresh salads and fruit from the Woolworths in the V&A Waterfront - a welcome change to the tinned and dried food menu while racing. The world-class restaurants of the V&A Waterfront provided multiple venues for evening meals accompanied by excellent local wines. During the stopover we were privileged to take out for a day on the boat the team running The Little Optimist, which is a charity that teaches sailing to under-privileged children from Cape Town’s townships; introducing them to a whole world of new possibilities, as well as educating them on water safety and ocean health. Many of their instructors started their sailing careers through a course with The Little Optimist. A day sightseeing; a trip up Table Mountain; coffee in Muizenberg and a visit to a foggy Cape Point brought our stopover week to a close. Race Start day started with the Crew Parade which gave us a great opportunity to thank the people of Cape Town and the V&A Waterfront Marina.
It’s now Day 4 of the race. We had a great breeze for the start, but it quickly died out, and Table Mountain was still very present at dawn on Day 2- much as I love that sight, I really would have preferred it not to be visible on day 2. The breeze did come back on day 2 and we’re now racing towards Australia. Yesterday we could still see a number of the other boats. Today the fleet has separated as we each pursue our weather-driven strategies to get to the finish first. The weather has been pretty varied so far. We have had light winds and gales, sunshine and this unbelievable greyness where the sky and the sea are so grey that you feel you may never see the sun again. My personal top speed so far is 21.2 knots, in the pitch-dark last night. Bring on the Roaring Forties.