Pete Goss and his family crew on the replica Mounts Bay Lugger Spirit of Mystery are making slow progress in the Southern Ocean as they head towards Melbourne.

The crew are following in the wake of 7 Cornishmen who sailed the same route in 1854 to join in the Australian Gold Rush. But, as Pete explained, the trip looks to take longer than it did in 1854. “It will be a lot longer leg than the original voyage of seven weeks. So far we have taken just over four weeks and have still to cross the half way mark.”

He continues. “The forecast is for a proper old blow to steamroller its way over us on the 13th. This will be followed by a strong SW wind which will slowly die away into a light variable for the 16/17th, so the stop start pattern looks like it will remain.

“My hope is that we will be well past the halfway mark by then, for at the moment we are in the trough of the voyage where it feels like we are neither sailing away from Simons Town nor sailing towards Melbourne. It’s like wading through quicksand and we are looking forward to when it feels like we turned the corner and have started to count down.”

Keep up with their voyage on Pete Goss’ blog