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Video Journal: Days 4-8

Since I am online and the comp seems to be dry, will fill you in on the current state of affairs. Its our fourth day out here, and the first where I could sit on deck with my little computer and upload video and get in touch with the outside world. We just escaped from a violent storm the pulled into Cape Town the night of the day we left. It was brutal out here, with waves bearing down on us from the very first night.

We were headed directly into the wind, and had relentless tacking and powering along with both sails and the motor. Diesel spilled ithe he cabin, no one slept for more than a couple of hours at a time, and the whole boat pitched and rolled violently for three days. Yesterday we hit the trade winds, that blow across the Atlantic towards St Helena, our first destination. The swells and rolling waves from the storm are even now pitching us about but the sky is clear and an albatross has been following us for the last few hours. We are about 160 miles off the Skeleton coast of Namibia, and now running a dircet line for ST Helena with a stiff 17-knot winds on our left rear quarter.

There are fluffy white clouds in the most pastel blue sky, you can imagine. What a pleasure. All our rain gear is scattered about the top deck drying off. I am going to get something to eat, now that I seemed to have acclimated to the boat and dont feel like throwing up every time i go below. I am hungry. We arent making great time because of the variable winds. But maybe tomorrow they will get a bit better. I think we are still feeling the cold. I am looking forward to covering some of the science from St Helena and meeting the folks from airport project there. Regards from the South Atlantic!

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