Update #43 - 23rd November 2000 (11.30am AEDST, 6.30pm local time)
Position - 51°11' S, 101°04' W

Wind - W at 15 knots
Air temperature - 7 degrees
Barometer - 1021 mb
1236 nm to Cape Horn


YES, YES, YES, YES .....
Solo Globe Challenger ("Sal") and the boys are back in business. The fat lady can pack her things and #@%$^* off. No stopping, no mucking about. Someone else will have to go to Chile to find out how much a chile dog costs.

We are now as ready as we're ever going to be to try and finish the job we started. After 6 days the work is complete, except for some minor bits 'n pieces and I feel bloody good that we survive to fight another day. In the last couple of days I have completed the bolting on of the two pad eyes to the hull, and today I have progressively refined all the support systems while at the same time removing (bit by bit) the temporary halyard supports. It's like taking the plaster cast off and seeing if you can walk again. We now have 4 supports that all go to the lower port spreader -

1) The purchase system from spectra loop through the deck
2) Two 7 x 19 wires and chain with turnbuckles and toggles from the stainless steel flat bar
3) Cascade purchase system from the forward pad eye on hull
4) Cascade purchase system from the aft pad eye on hull

I also have taken the load that the D1 looks after with a rope purchase. Tomorrow I have to install some safety lines to take the load if a block or shackle loses the plot and tidy up with rags where necessary to stop chaffing. Then we are as good as we are going to be.

I feel so lucky that we can carry on and once again I have to say a huge thank you to all the people who have taken the time to e-mail me. It has been a tremendous positive for me. I also understand that people at home have been following our situation via the media and I am very appreciative of their interest.

I feel so relieved. Only 5 Australians have completed this goal and I thought that my chances of being #6 were gone. But we are not in the clear yet. We still have 17,000 miles to cover together and there will be all sorts of problems to be overcome. I hope they are not as monumental as this one, but if they are then so be it.

It's nearly dark here now so I'm for a good sleep. Tonight and tomorrow we get fair dinkum again and head for The Horn. Are you coming along?

See you soon,

Tony Mowbray


P.S.
Are you wondering if it's still cold down here? Two days ago whilst in the bow cannibalising the boat, I sliced my index finger with a Stanley knife ..... it started to bleed today!!