Well, my last blog, I see, was written when "Nereida" was in Cape Town in 2010 - and here we are, back again (actually, just around the Cape of Good Hope in Simon's Town, beside the S.A.Navy base). A mere 28,000 miles or more and 14 mths of voyaging resulted in our return last May, having hopped from Cape Town to Nelson, N.Z., to Hawaii, to the Strait of Juan de Fuca between Canada and the USA... On to and around Cape Horn (with the hiccup of a nasty knockdown beforehand), via the Beagle Channel to Ushuaia (for repairs!) and on to the Falklands and then dramatic Gough Island (S. of Tristan da Cunha) before getting back to Table Bay for a big celebration!
Plan now is almost a repeat, leaving Cape Town end of January, but it would be nice to pause in Perth, if the weather permits, before making for Hobart. I'm very tempted to sail up to Sydney - would be nice to sail into that lovely harbour for the first time. Then on to NZ before heading N ... with as much Easting as we can manage to avoid problems when meeting up with the NE Trades - with the strong W-flowing Equatorial current adding in to the equation. Then we'll have a last fling at a nonstop, solo RTW (my third attempt!) starting, as in 2010, from Victoria, B.C., close to 1st OCtober .... Fingers crossed, we'll not suffer from another knockdown, but will get around successfully in 7-8 months ... Time will tell! I'll be trying to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care again, with an easy link for anyone wishing to sponsor me via my Home Page daffodil.
The other memorable event of last year was being invited by the Queen and Prince Philip to an "Adventurers and Explorers" Reception held inside Buckingham Palace on 8th December - all kinds of interesting people were there and it felt very special to be part of it!