The forecast was right and the weather held out and we made it right around to Cape Town in 3 and a half days. Really fast sailing in the current to start with and we made 200 miles in 24 hours, very happy with that considering we only had the little stay sail and no genoa! We had easterlies the whole time around the cape and no more than 20 kts so the weather was fine. That was until we were on the other side on the last day and the wind slowly built, we ended up dropping the mainsail and just carried on nicely with the new stay sail and by the time we arrived in Simons Town we had over 40 kts and were absolutely flying! We rounded the breakwater with massive gusts blowing in and dropped sail rounded up and dropped anchor just outside the marina entrance next to our friends on "Mystic". Luckily our Rocna anchor bit straight away with loads of chain and we cracked a bottle of champers but couldn't still quite relax as the breeze was howling all night but we were all good and the next day it was flat calm and we went inside the marina at the False Bay Yacht Club. Great spot! Lots of international boats there so we caught up with some we knew and met a lot also. Great bar with happy hour each afternoon on the upper deck with cheap beers so happy days!
We got a few jobs done including the furler drum and top bearing taken of by a local rigger and taken away to have a new bearing kit put in. Will be very happy when that job is finished. We also took a hire car in Cape Town and went to Southern Ropes factory, sailors heaven with loads of rope for everything and cheap so we are getting some new halyards ect and did a bit of a tour out the back and saw it getting made, awesome to see!
We then took a drive around the coast from Cape Town south and absolutely spectacular! Wow, with the mountains and coast and really nice little villages it makes for a really nice drive. We will explore more next week as my uncle and aunt from London arrive and no doubt we will be doing a lot of wine tasting around the place :)
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