Malevolent Matemo

35knots and 90degrees cross to the runway is what greeted Mark and I as we awoke on Medjumbe yesterday. We had hoped for calmer conditions but alas this was not to be.
With Mark still feeling under the weather and weak we knew that our take off would be pushing the limits to the extreme. With the wind trying its best to throw our flying machines over Mark set off first. With my heart pounding and the adrenalin tap opened wide I gunned the throttle and hanged on for dear life. I did not dare rotate and waited for the airspeed to reach its mark. Keeping the port wing low the trike leaped into the air and veered sharply to port. With the engine bellowing its protest the fearful takeoff was
suddenly over. We climbed to 6500ft to escape the strong headwind and suddenly the groundspeed
became more acceptable. We were not dressed for the occasion in our tropical gear and we
Realized that if we did not reach Matemo soon we were going to freeze to death. On arrival
at Matemo the runway did not want to stand still in the severe conditions and we realised the journey
had some more moments to offer. We arrived safely and promptly found the biggest bushes to tie our trikes
under. It was great to see Maximus arriving to assist in the tying down as we were too anxious to get out
of the trikes in fear of the wind blowing us over. At breakfast Mark was really not feeling well having
expended all his energy. Louis from Matemo promptly mixed him a concoction of whiskey-honey-hot water-aspirins and we sent him off to bed..

Today Henk and I took the Hobie Getaway for a burn in the trying conditions. We raced across the channel
when the leeward hull dug in to a classical pitch pole sending Henk catapulting forward into the water.
Later we were all taken deep-sea game fishing on the Matemo launch. We caught nothing as the conditions were not really suitable. Henk assured us that there was plenty of Duradoes,Yellowfin Tuna,Kingfish,Wahoo etc. We never the less had a fabulous time.

Tomorrow morning Maximus is departing for JHB and we will start the long journey South to Lumbo. We look forward to seeing Maximus in Vilanculos two days later.