Another installment from SinBrad the sailor

Hi all!

We had an amazing time in St Helena. We met some amazing people, saw a
very unique island, and enjoyed some rest and relaxation before the next
part of our journey.

Pieter and I ended up climbing "Jacobs Ladder", which was hell for the
legs, but heaven for the eyes. What an amazing view from the top! The
record for climbing the 699 steps stands at 5min 11seconds...We managed
about 15-20 minutes:) We were not taking stain, but merely enjoying the
sight! Once we reached the top of the climb, we walked a bit towards the
village up on the hill. To our amazement, the walk carried on uphill. So
we decided it was about time to let our thumbs do the work for us. We
hitch-hiked our way uphill, and finally got a lift with a lady and her
friend who were heading in our direction. We were on route to find a
place that sells pizza. We quickly came to the conclusion that none of
the locals, called "Saints", had any clue of what distances meant. They
all told us that the place we were looking for was "just half a mile up
the road". Needless to say, we ended up getting a lift about 3 miles up
the road. We arrived and enjoyed some delicious pizza. From there we
decided that we wanted to make our way to the old plantation house to
see one of the islands celebrities. This individual is a giant tortoise,
approximately 180 years old. We were not suprised to be told that this
house was "just half a mile up the hill". We ended up walking this
distance, and then once again decided to hitch-hike the rest of the way,
which ended up being about a ten minute drive. When we finally got to
the our destination, we were amazed at the beauty of this old house. It
is a massive, white slatted house with a large grass lawn and tennis
court, which is now home to the Governor of St Helena. Pieter and I
walked around the house and the forest which was in its backyard. After
hitch-hiking our way back to jacobs ladder, we walked down the stairs
again, which was much easier, and caught a ferry back to our boat. In
total, a very enjoyable day making our way around the village.

On sunday we enjoyed a braai at "Annes Place" where we met some more
interesting people and made some great contacts. Its amazing how sailing
automatically establishes a connection between people. One never feels
like you are meeting a stranger, as we all have our own stories from
past and future routes at sea. So, when one meets a fellow sailor, it is
as if you are catching up with an old friend, hearing all about his past
exploits. There are some truly interesting people out there, who have
done some amazing things in their lives. Thats one thing about
sailing...everyone has an amazing story to tell! I look forward to
meeting many more people like this in future.

We are currently two days into the next stage of our journey, which will
see us pass Ascension island, cross the equator, pass Cape Verdes and
the Canary islands on route to Madeira. This will be a three week
passage (approx), some 3000 nautical miles. I have decided that it will
be a lot of fun to jump off the boat and swim across the Equator when we
get there. I will time my jump so that I dont end up swimming too far:)

The wind has been a bit on the still side the last two days. We are
hoping to get a bit more wind here and there before we approach the
equator where we may have a period of weak winds as we enter the
doldrums. We are hoping to cross the equator such that we are not in the
doldrums for too long, and can thus make our way up to Madeira with not
much time lost.

We hope you enjoyed some of the pictures that were posted on the blog.

Chat soon

Brad