Air temp - 5 degrees
3197 nm to "The Horn"

KOOEE (COMMUNICATIONS) ..... anyone out there.

The party is officially over. I've had a good run to get to this point unscathed, but 65 hours ago payback time arrived. We are just coming off the back of two successive cold fronts that have had us firmly in their grip since 1.00am Friday morning. 45 knots from the south started the fun and it is only in the last hour or two that the breeze has faded out to around 20-25 knots. When the breeze is on down here, it is full of grunt all the time ..... relentless. When working on deck you cannot wear gloves all the time, and the cold bites very quickly like nothing else. Your hands feel like they are on fire. This is a far cry from life back in the lovely CITY OF LAKE MACQUARIE.

The sea has been up around the 30 foot mark with "Sal" being taken out plenty of times. But she does not falter, gives herself a shake and pushes on ..... beautiful thing she is.

I managed to get some good footage of the rough stuff with our brilliant SONY equipment. We are getting a lot of condensation below which needs to be dried up as it runs, pools and then wets stowed items. Whilst mopping up yesterday I found a pair of shorts. You've got to be joking!! I had a bit of a rough day mentally yesterday, so I came out swinging. I cooked hot chips (BI-LO potatoes) for lunch, belted out Dire Straits all afternoon and read Billy Thorpe's latest book. All in all, a nicely triangulated collection of rebellion.

Just on dark yesterday, the safety tube on the MONITOR self-steering system broke (it is designed to break to protect the rest of the system). I am now waiting for calmer conditions to replace it from my spares kit. Meanwhile my COURSEMASTER is world class and doing a wonderful job.

Kevvie and Franky babe were a bit quiet while the two fronts were on. At one stage I heard Kevvie tell Franky babe that he needed a good cup of tea, a sit down and could he borrow his hankie?

Thank you for your interest,

Tony Mowbray