3 of 5

3 of 5

Greetings from the land down under! This morning at 0415 UTC+7 Apr 8, I passed longitude 115 08E and under Cape Leeuwin. As far as I am concerned, I am in Australia’s back yard.

It has taken more than 150 days to get here. Fingers crossed, knock on wood and never spit into the wind, if my luck holds I will pass under 3 of the 5 great Capes in a little more than 30 days.

Conditions here now are a little exciting to say the least. And here seems awfully far from home and it’s hard to believe I’ve sailed more than 17,000 miles. I could have been here but yesterday at 1730 I put the brakes on after getting absolutely pounded twice in rapid succession. Conditions ahead of me were forecasted to be 35-40 knots, seas to 21′, and gusts to 50-60 knots under showers. None of that sounded like a lot of fun.

Now we idle along waiting for the front to pass over using us around midnight tonight. In the meantime, I watch for when I must alter and head more downwind to avoid the worst of the building and breaking seas.

Ambling under a Great Cape seems disrespectful and arrogant. I feel I should be up the mast at the trucks, teeth grit and fists clenched as the wind tears at my hair. Instead, I am below thinking if I should have Earl Grey or Bengal Spice. Whenever I get the urge to hurl insults at the elements and crowd on more sail, I look outside and think harder about what kind of tea I would like.

Sir Salty is hard at work asleep. When I bellowed “Cape Leeuwin at last” directly into his whiskers he budged not an inch. Port and Starboard however shifted from their assigned stations to become Starboard and Port thinking, I assume, that that would be appropriate as everything is backwards down under, including aids to navigation.

I have family here. My mother’s parents and siblings migrated to Australia from the Netherlands in the late 1940s an early 1950s. Part of me feels almost at home here and I am glad of it. Home they say is where the heart is and my heart goes out to my Uncle Joe and cousins here.

For now, diligence and attention rules the day. There is still work to do and the elements are still my master. No rest for the weary, but my heart is full buoyed by thoughts of family, my home away from home, and the good luck, fortune, and answered prayers that have brought me this far.

Follow my tracks in real-time:
https://bit.ly/svseaburban