Solo Global Challenge report

by Tony Mowbray on 18 Feb 2001 Air temperature - 15 degrees
Water temperature - 'Getting cold'

You good people at home have just watched 60 Minutes, and are now into a movie. Here, 700 miles SW of Capetown, The Cape of Good Hope, called the
'Cape of Storms', it’s blowing 45-50 knots from NW.

A quick impression ….. last 12 hours, ugly seas, curling, lipping, breaking, see that magical clear bit at breaking section, now 30 feet high, steering 135 degrees
magnetic, seas on port quarter, mainsail lashed to the boom, just the clew of the #4 headsail out, doing between 6 and 8.5 knots, everything on deck tied down, a
real big #%*!^ just got me, like a canon going off, I hope repairs hold good, checked 'em for the 1,000th time, gotta keep the rig in it, sea boots/wet weather pants
on, ready to go on deck if something breaks, listen to BBC, play a cassette, take your mind elsewhere, drink lot's of tea, Hugh says 'a displacement activity', no
sun, bleak, grey, back down here where they make the wind and waves, solars not pumping out power, wind generator off it's head when let loose, storm boards
in, hatch shut tight, Hang On!, another one, no leaks except chainplate, sink full of dirty dishes, wash up later, other things to worry about, weather forecast from
Capetown Radio, no improvement for at least 12 hours, can't blow forever, chip away at it minute by minute, wave by wave, hour by hour, make little rocks out of
big rocks, keep chipping, film the action, never look as big on film, (except ’98 Hobart), heaps of rain, flattens sea a bit, brings more wind, seas building more,
thinking about deploying drogue, not yet, will slow her down too much, 6,189 miles to Tassie.