A mid-course report

Back in October I wrote about the Spirit Of Mystery, a replica fishing lugger from England that was to retrace the voyage of the original Mystery from that country to Australia in the 19th century.





Pete Goss and his crew left Newlyn harbor on October 20th. They've covered more than three-quarters of the distance to Cape Town, South Africa, where they hope to spend Christmas. The globe below shows their position as of this evening.




Pete writes in the expedition blog:

The concluding fifteen minutes of my watch welcomed in the 15th of December and saw us cross the same line of Longitude as Newlyn. For us this is a big mile stone for it means, after 56 days of effort, we have only just started to make easting for Australia.

It is as if the vague proximity to home waters has heralded good old channel weather for the night saw us reefing down the big lug and changing the mizzen. The pressure had been falling and we strapped down to await a blow. As it turned out the night was lively but fast as we forged our way into a dark and forbidding horizon.

The sail changes went like clockwork and it struck me how we have settled into this new way of life that has denied us any sight of land for the last forty seven days. Our routines come naturally and allow the freedom to take in the wider picture while details are nailed with routine drills and quiet discipline. Half way through reefing the big lug Eliot found another squid tucked away by the bulwark. It was bigger than the last one and was determined not to let go of the sheet as I tried to return it to the sea.

Sundays are always a good day for it is in the evening that we have our brief weekly call home. Christmas parties are being had, bags are being packed and final travel details are being squared away for their flight to Cape Town. We have a family house sitting and the young boys are desperate to be shown how to feed the chickens and take Mindy for her daily walk. To say Tracey, Gina and the kids are getting excited would be an understatement.

Although distant, Christmas day still holds a glimmer of hope and we in turn are working our socks off for it. So it was with satisfaction this morning that we measured off the latest daily run of 165NM in the right direction. Well above the required average so we have put some distance in the bank to help cover the odd bad day.

Good luck for the last leg of the first half of your voyage, guys. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas in Cape Town (I have many memories of the same, having grown up there), and that the second leg, from Cape Town to Australia, goes as well as the first has done so far.

Thanks for keeping the spirit of adventure alive.

Peter