Location: Cape Town, SA
Veras blog
At this point, I’ve been woken up more times than I can count. It’s our student passage from Mossel Bay to Cape Town, and so far there have been boats coming too close to us, changes in wind direction, a securte and a mayday call over the VHF, and countless other reasons Mac and I crawled out of bed.
One of the times I woke up, there were mini sugar cookies on the counter that Payton had made for each of us to have four of, so I snacked on those throughout the night :).
It’s 02:13, and Wiley woke me up as watch team leader of Watch Team One, so I crawled out of bed and suddenly Maia goes, “Vera, Vera, I need to get Adda a drying towel,” and I said, “Maia, what do you need?” She answered, “a drying towel…” So I told her, “You can go to sleep, Mai Mai,” and she just said, “Sleeeeeeeeeeeep.” Mac and I got up many more times that night. Fast forward to 05:22, when Zeke woke me up at the “Wake Mac and Vera” waypoint. I woke Fin, our chief mate, and we then spent two and a half hours doing sail handling. We had to remove the running backs, centerline the staysails, switch all the preventers to the other side, centerline the mainsail, and then we jibed! It was super exciting, since it’s actually the first time this voyage that we’ve changed sailing direction (either jibing or tacking).
We then went back to bed, got woken up a few more times, and then Hannah woke me at our second “Wake Vera and Mac” waypoint. Sticking my head up through the companionway felt absolutely magical. Keith, Hannah, Maia, and Sam were all dancing along to music, sailing right next to Table Mountain in the beautiful morning sun. It was amazing to get some great sailing in during this passage, and that morning we were flying at around 9,3 knots! Mac and I spent some time planning, and around 11, we woke the entire crew for more sail handling and preparations for getting into the dock in Cape Town. We took the sails down, blew up fenders, and prepared dock lines. After that, we had a lovely lunch prepared by Payton, Thaxton, and Perry.
After lunch and cleanup, we were closing in on Cape Town, and we were welcomed by multiple HUMPBACK WHALES (and sea lions!). But seriously, HUMPBACK WHALES! We saw them breach multiple times and even saw one jump!
Arriving at the dock, our final destination, felt surreal. To think we just went through this wild adventure together, sailing from Bali all the way here to Cape Town. We came into this stunning marina (definitely an upgrade from the Bali dock) with a big crowd watching as Vela went through the swing bridge and pulled up to the dock.
Afterward, we went into boat-to-bed and odd jobs. Zeke and I spent most of it in the galley, per usual, this time focusing on purging and cleaning. Hannah and Maia mourned the loss of their Gumby suits as we did a swap clean of PFDs and Gumby suits before storing them away. After finishing, we all got ready for a sign-out night!
This student’s passage was an incredible experience. It felt like everyone truly gave it their all and had a great time! Before leaving the dock in Mossel Bay, I gave a small speech and ended with a couple of dares that I feel everyone fully embraced:
I dare you to be proud.I dare you to be present.
I dare you to communicate and lift one another up.I dare you to honor the sailors who came before us by rising to meet these capes with courage.I dare you to give this passage everything you have.
Crew of Vela, Fall 2025,I dare you to finish strong and give us your entire heart.
We’ve got this.
And we will do this together.