Spirit of Mystery sails on
Pete Goss is preparing to set off on the second leg of a journey sailing from the UK to Australia in Mystery, his wooden Cornish lugger. He and his crew of three reached Cape Town in South Africa just before Christmas in their specially-built boat, the Spirit of Mystery. They are due to set off on today on their voyage recreating a passage from 150-years ago by a group of Cornishmen.
Pete and his son, Eliot, brother Andy and brother-in-law Mark Maidment set off on 20 October from the UK and are retracing a voyage from Cornwall made in 1854. They hope to make it to Australia by the end of February. The trip has been raising money for the charity Mr Goss is patron of, Cornwall Playing for Success, which provides out-of-hours activities for children.
In his blog Pete writes: ‘Other than the deck and a few other odd jobs we are ready to go in that Andy has the boat fully stored apart from water and fresh fruit which we will do on Monday. Logistics have been made so much easier thanks to the generosity of Bernhard Diebold who loaned us his van in Cape Town. In fact he even took the time to drop it off in Simons Town where he was on the pontoon to meet us with a friendly smile and the keys. He is a man of many adventures of his own and we spent a lovely evening at his home where we met some real characters from the world of sailing and mountaineering.
‘Indeed, we had the good fortune to meet Roy who has visited the remote Island of St Paul which lays half way between Cape Town and Australia. The original crew on Mystery might not have stopped there but to sail past without a look on our voyage would seem to be the waste of a once in a life time opportunity. It is two miles across and is the remains of a volcano that has been breached to make a perfect anchorage. It has a rare albatross colony, a penguin colony and is a haven for seals so his local knowledge is priceless and we are all very excited. It will make a fantastic break in what I sure will at times be a long and testing voyage.’