We arrived in St Helena at 0400 on Thursday 20th. We managed a few hours sleep before going ashore to clear in. It is essential to use the water taxi and even then the landing at the dock is very difficult with the waves and swell dashing the ferry against the wharf.

A complementary tour had been arranged and 30 of us visited the 'main attractions' Longwood House is where Napoleon was held during his 7 year imprisonment on St Helena. This, together with his tomb and Briar Pavilion are now owned by the French Government and give an interesting insight into this period of history. The tour also took in the countryside of the Island, Jacob's Ladder etc.

We started our re-provisioning and were pleasantly surprised at the variety and cost of food available. In the evening there was a great braii (barbeque) organised by the yacht club, after which the first yachts A Lady and Wild Tigris left for Brazil.

We will fuel and continue provisioning on Friday and leave Saturday but the winds are forecast to remain very light  so progress to Salvador may be very slow. We will replace the yankee with the genoa as it doesn’t look like the twistle rig will serve.