After three weeks of being immersed into the sailing world Josh and myself can now say we are Day Skippers. The last three weeks have been absolutely incredible; I have met some great ‘okes’, made amazing memories and have definitely caught more of the sailing bug. Some of the highlights have to include sailing with penguins, whales and dolphins, dancing all night long in Mitchells, my first ever yacht race in Table Bay, seeing the city bowl and table mountain at night from the boat, sailing around the Cape of Good Hope and sharing all of this with such great guys.

Our first week was a good intro to the boat with Hugh, Josh, Tim and Greg. Up at 6.45am everyday regardless if you went to sleep at 4am the night before. We sailed in-between the V&A Waterfront and Hout Bay, the bouquet of Hout Bay will be one few can ever forget!! We started to get to know the other two boats on the trip and had several unforgettable nights and fantastic sailing days. Josh experienced his first on the Pacer, a 37” racer, and we all managed to irritate the rear outside commodore of the Royal Cape Yacht club upon sight! The weekend brought me much needed respite for my muscles after excessive amounts of push ups and winching!

The theory week saw me cramming like crazy to pass our 3 hour exam on Friday. On Wednesday Hugh left us to further pursue his diving, and I experienced my first ever yacht race, which took place in Table Bay – in up to 28 knot winds – exhilarating doesn’t even cover it!! By Friday both Josh and I passed our theory to great relief and drinks all round. Sean was a great teacher and we learnt so much in such a small space of time all in preparation for the final week on the boat.

On Friday night the old crew of Enigma reunited, with Nick another English addition to the party for a few well earned drinks and a good boogie at Assembly. After a chilled weekend wine tasting and a lovely valentine’s day spent walking and chilling with a picnic, Josh and I met Hilary bright and early on Monday morning to start our final week on the boat. That morning we shortly found out we would be sailing around Cape Point, the Cape of Good Hope, many sailors dream, including mine! So we quickly set off on our 8 hour sail to Simonstown, with myself skippering and Dale ready and waiting, just in case! Enigma, The Pacer and our crew on Benguela looked beautiful storming down the final stretch of the west coast of Africa. As we neared the Cape, for the final stretch the wind picked up to gusts of around 30 knots and Dale’s steady hands took over to guide us back to his home turf. After a great night spent in beautiful Simonstown we all headed back to Hout Bay; we were on course and ready for an amazing sail when a banging pulled us up short – our spreader had come off! – an integral part of the rigging, which meant we had to motor all the way back. While we watched the other two boats battle it out for pride and first place.

Wednesday brought docking practice; parking a 42” yacht with no experience can be a scary experience! Doug joined us on Thursday to get some footage and experience the thrill of sailing, though unfortunately felt rather green all day. We did Man over Board Practice and all managed to save our man before an absolutely beautiful sail into the V&A. We sailed into the Royal Cape which was a buzz of activity in preparation for the race up to Mykonos the next day and enjoyed the pre-race atmosphere and banter. On Friday we left the other boats as they headed up the coast while we headed back to Hout Bay and the final sail of the course.

The three weeks spent on our course were absolutely amazing and will stay with me forever. Massive thank you to Sean and Hilary, Greg and Dale and all the guys on the boats who made my day skipper so much fun.

This has been Bridget Jones reporting,

Over and Out.