Early start to check again the weather forecast and go through our safety checklist before leaving.
There is not much wind and it comes from behind with less than 2mt swell from the side. We leave at 8am motoring, it is quite cold and cloudy, we also expect rain around midday. We anticipate about 8 hours passage.
Marcella proposes to have proper shifts of one hour each, great idea, it allows both of us to plan some rest or other activities.
We meet three other boats going exactly on our route but in the opposite direction, all fishing vessels, all with an AIS on. We did not have the AIS in 2002, it works extremely well and increases safety during the passages.
We keep testing and familiarise with our new instruments. I test again the HF radio and the pactor that still does not work. I may be too close to the winlink station I am trying to reach. The HF radio is mainly a backup, we have an Iridium phone and an Iridium Go, both able to download weather forecasts during offshore passages.
After few hours we open the sails, we motor-sail for most of the time to Cape Town and arrive in Cape Town around 4pm. We should have used the spinnaker today, but we did not feel to do it for the first time with just two of us on the boat. It would also help to have a boom preventer in place for downwind sailing , something to organize when we are back in Cape Town.
When we enter the marina there are 20kn of wind, more than the previous time we went back to the pontoon. We call the marina to have some help with the lines but there is no answer. I am still quite nervous when we enter the marina with this large boat, especially with strong wind. But fortunately there is enough space to maneuver in V&A Marina and all goes well.
At 5pm the engines are off and we go for a walk. V&A waterfront in Cape Town is very nice and after four months it feels like home.