Faith

Greetings from the north eastern tip of Brazil. On watch from 3am to 6am
this morning, the lights of Port Natal was looming in the distance, a soft
white hue on the horizon. About 25nm away one could not distinguish any
particular light or lights. Sister Moon was sinking into the ocean right
ahead of us, her silver veil following her, and only once she disappeared,
the loom became visible. At first I thought it was a cloud that was
reflecting the moonlight. I had a look at our chartplotter and then it
dawned on me; the first sign of land after about two weeks since departing
from St.Helena.

St.Helena, as always, was an incredible visit for us. We arrived there on
a Saturday morning at about 4am. At 3am I did the usual sing song with
St.Helena Radio on VHF channel 16. "St.Helena Radio, St.Helena Radio,
St.Helena Radio, this is Yacht Leopard, Yacht Leopard, Yacht Leopard,
over." Soon a voice on the other side was singing back to me. "Yacht
Leopard, Yacht Leopard, Yacht Leopard. This is St.Helena Radio, St.Helena
Radio, St.Helena Radio. Over." I then sang St.Helena Radio 3 times back,
then This is Yacht Leopard 3 times, and then proceeded to inform them that
we are expecting to arrive at the Jamestown anchorage in about an hour's
time. The radio operator informed me of the usual procedures. An hour
later we tied up to a mooring buoy, and waited for Port Control to contact
us on the VHF radio. At 08h30 Port Control called us and we changed to
channel 14. They asked a few questions and then asked us to stand by on
channel 16. Sometimes Port Control, Customs and Immigration would all get
on the small ferry boat and come to the yacht to clear us in. Sometimes
they would give us permission to come ashore and do all the official
procedures there. This time it was the latter, and by 9am we were waiting
for the ferry to collect us. We had our passports and official boat papers
ready. First visit for James, my 1st Mate, and Hubert, the French owner
who contracted us to sail his vessel to the Caribbean.

The ferry arrived, collecting us after first collecting crew from two
other yachts on the mooring buoys, and proceeded to the landing at
Jamestown. We all disembarked, and setting foot on this volcanic island I
last visited a year ago, was as it always is, a great pleasure. The sail from
Cape Town was a good one, and St.Helena marks reaching a milestone on
our journey. After two weeks on a yacht, solid land does not feel so solid
at all. It feels a bit wobbly and the feeling always makes me smile. Our
first stop was at Port Control and Customs where we were warmly welcomed
by the Port Master, Steve, and a staff member that handed me the paperwork
I had to complete. Always a jovial little affair. We then proceeded to
Immigration and it was good to see familiar faces once again, and welcomed
to the island with open arms. Real, warm people.

From Immigration we walked across to Anne's Place, a place famous to
yachties all over the world. I have visited the island about 20 times
before and have forged close friendships with the people here, so much so
that I very much feel part of the family. And whenever I visit, we find a
reason to celebrate. Like a long lost son coming home. This time round I
sensed a bit of trouble. It was Saturday morning, and the "Closed" sign was
up. That has never stopped me from going in before, which I did as usual.
First person I bumped into was my good friend Sally, and after the
usual warm heartfelt hug and kiss, she informed me that Jessica is in
hospital and fighting for her and her unborn baby's life. She had trouble
breathing, her lips had gone blue. Sally had just come from the hospital to
fetch Jane, Jessica's mom. Jane saw me and I could see the concerned look
in her eyes. Gave her a hug and a kiss, and told her that everything will
be ok. I have known Jessica since she was a little girl, and she is like a
daughter to me. Richard, my very good friend, Jessica's dad, came out and I
could see he was not well either. Stressing beyond what his body could
endure, he lately developed high blood pressure he told me. He was also
complaining of his left arm that has been going numb the last few days. I
told him he should take a disprin immediately, it is not a good sign when
your left arm goes numb like that. My crew wanted to go and explore the
island a bit. I told them to go and enjoy, I will be staying with Richard
until we know what is happening to Jessica. Both Jane and Sally left, and
it was just Richard and myself. I could understand his fear and his stress,
sat down with him and just kept him company. Urging him to stay positive,
sharing his pain with him, but also trying to pull him out of this misery
that was engulfing him. Jessica was supposed to have an emergency caesarean
at 12h00. It was already 13h00 and still no news. Richard is a strong, big
and rugged man, with a heart as soft as you can get. Jessica is his only
daughter, she was in trouble, he was busy falling apart. I love my daughter
more than life itself, and I am sure Richard feels the same about his
daughter. At about 14h30 we got the news.... Jessica is ok, the baby .....
well, it is a girl !!!!!, 5 and a half pounds. There was a silence between
Richard and me; a thankfulness, a gratefulness, a togetherness. A quiet
sense of relief. Not a mad jumping up and down celebration. When Jane
returned I congratulated her, mothers can be so very very strong. On
Monday, the doctors asked Jessica whether she wanted to stay in hospital,
or go home. Although still very weak and in pain, Jessica opted to come
home. Just before we left St.Helena on Monday afternoon, I made a final
turn at Anne's Place to go and say goodbye. Jane came out with the little
newborn baby and placed the precious little child in my arms. Jessica came
out soon afterwards, walking slowly but steadily and gave me a tender
little hug and kiss. She sat down and I knelled down next to her with the
two day old baby smiling in my arms. I asked Jessica what the little girl's
name is. She named her daughter Faith.....a more apt name I could not think
of.

We were planning to just make a quick stop at St.Helena. From Cape Town to
St.Helena took us 13 days, a bit longer than expected. Currents were
holding us back a bit. It is also the place where Napoleon was kept
captive, and Hubert, being French, was keen to visit his house, his grave,
and do a tour of the island. As the house is only open by arrangement
during week days, we would have to wait till Monday. Providence. Saturday
afternoon we lowered our tender into the water, started the brand new
Yamaha 15H.P. outboard and made plans to go ashore under our own steam. The
ferry service only runs till 6pm, which limits your time on the island
somewhat. The landing is a quite rough concrete wall, and to tie the tender
up against it would cause quite a bit of damage. It was also a bit too big
and heavy to lift out of the water. There are lines that is anchored and
runs into the bay. Most of the fishing boats and the ferry is tied to these
lines. We thus tied a long line to our tender, and formed a loop around the
anchored line. After getting off the the tender, we pulled her back to the
line away from the wall, safe and sound. We had a lovely oriental meal at
The Orange Tree on Saturday night. After dinner we wanted to go and play a
game of pool at a place called Donny's on the wharf. The table was however out
of order, they were waiting for spare parts to come by ship, the RMS
St.Helena. Donny's is a bar and disco and the loud music and no pool table
did not really appeal to us after such a hectic day, and we made our way
back to our yacht for a relatively early night.

Sunday morning we woke refreshed and well rested. We brought a few bags of
charcoal and a few other goodies for my friends/family at Anne's Place and
arranged with them to fetch it from the yacht on Sunday morning. At about
9am Richard and his two sons Brian and Michael arrived and we loaded the
goodies on the ferry. Tied up close to us was another sailing boat with 11
crew, the Howard Davies. She is a well known vessel that normally is tied
up at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town doing day charters. This time round
she was a floating sailing school for Two Oceans. The skipper, Wavey, 1st
Mate Nqoba, and 9 Yachtmaster Ocean sailing students. Their route runs from
Cape Town to St.Helena to Rio de Janeiro and back to Cape Town. A classical
50 year old sailing boat, with lots of wood and creaks and things like
that. The 11 of them, Richard and his sons and the cargo from us and the
little ferry boat was just above the water line :) We asked the ferry to
fetch us on the 10am round. We had breakfast at The Consulate Hotel. My
good friend Hazel is part owner and also runs the place. Her business
partner, Peter, an ex physics professor, was on the wharf preparing and
applying a fresh coat of paint on his yacht Galaxy that he recently sold.
St. Helena's coffee is considered the second best in the world, second only
to Blue Mountain coffee from Jamaica. I have had the pleasure to enjoy Blue
Mountain coffee in Jamaica when I ran for shelter from a hurricane there
once. I enjoy both coffees equally, and I am no connoisseur when it comes to
coffee, or anything else for that matter :))) It was splendid to see Hazel
and Peter again. Note that I am trying to refrain from using the word
awesome :))), even though it would apply to many of these situations. The
breakfast at The Consulate was great, and the coffee served in generous
portions in plungers.

Sunday afternoon was quiet, all the shops closed, and we slowly started to
prepare for a bbq at Anne's Place, warming to the occasion with a few
Windhoek Draughts :) We caught the last ferry at 6pm back to our yacht and
fetched our tender. Just quickly, tender, rubber duck, dinghy, same thing,
more or less without getting too technical. I will use tender. We invited a
few bodies from the Howard Davis yacht and proceeded back to Anne's Place.
As always we had a most agreeable time, and at 10pm I called it a day and we
dropped our Howard Davis friends at their yacht and had another good rest on
ours. During Sunday we also made arrangements with Robert, our chosen tour
guide, to collect us at 09h30 for an island tour and to arrange for a tour
of Napoleons house. Robert is part of the history of St.Helena. At 80 years
old he is getting competition from the younger tour guides, but I always
choose him when he is available.

Our first stop was at the most remote distillery in the world, owned and
operated by my long time and good friend Paul. He is Sally's hubby and
stokes some of the most amazing moonshine in the world in huge copper
kettles that was custom made in Germany. His coffee liqueur, Midnight Mist,
is second to none. I enjoy coffee liqueur, Tia Maria from Jamaica, Kahlua
from I don't know where. Midnight Mist takes the number 1 spot for me. His
White Lion Spiced Rum has also improved in heaps and bounds, his gin is made
from real juniper berries that grows wild on the island, becoming a very
rare item indeed. Tungi, his exclusive brand, is made from prickly pears
that is harvested in season on the island. He also made a special limited
edition brandy for Napoleon's 150th anniversary. All sold to someone in
Switzerland who will supply exclusive clients in France. To have a little
sample of all these products early in the morning before breakfast is a very
merry occasion indeed :))) Liquid breakfast. I have heard of beer as a
liquid lunch, but this is on another level. Everything in moderation though.
Hubert acquired a few bottles of what he enjoyed most.

We then visited Napoleon's house where he passed on, his grave where his
body was laid until the French took his body back to Paris, and the Governor's
House where Jonathan roams. Jonathan is arguably the oldest living animal in
the world, between 180 and 250 years old. And still actively procreating
:))) Maybe his secret is taking it slow, being an Aldabra Tortoise and all.
All too soon our time at St.Helena was up and it was time to go. We then
visited the newly build airport, a massive project that apparently will cost
about 300 million British pounds. The official opening is on 21 May if I am not
mistaken, and a member or two of the royal family is expected to attend. It is
an end of an era, the end of the RMS St.Helena, a passenger/cargo ship that ran
a route between SA, England and St.Helena, and supplied all the goods that the
island required. A weekly flight from Johannesburg contracted to Comair is
planned. A flight from England is also on the table. The RS St.Helena will be
no more. The end of an era. I trust that the airport will have a positive
effect on St.Helena.

We've had a lovely sail from St.Helena up to Brazil, despite the currents
which just wouldn't let us go. But we kept up our good cheer, kept doing our
best, weathered a few tricky moments. One of them was at about 1am on
Hubert's watch. I heard him shouting for me from my cabin and on the way up I
shouted at James to get up to come and help. Running past the db board I
also flicked on the deck light. We were both next to Hubert in a flash. In an
instant I assessed what happened and had to react swiftly and safely. The
wind was fairly strong, and our Code 0 sail has become undone where it is
attached to the bowsprit. The huge sail was flogging wildly loose in the
wind, and as if that was not enough trouble, a dark cloud came over us and
rained poured down in buckets. No time to don foul weather gear, dressed in
shorts, that's it. I took over the helm and started shouting instructions to
James, and shouting to Hubert to get out of the way of the flogging sail,
shouted at him to gtf down. I do swear and curse at times. It is at times
like this when injuries and man over board are most likely to happen. No time
for being nice, no second changes. The noise of the rain and flogging sail
was deafening, and James understood exactly what I was going to do. Or rather
was already busy doing. He has done a few trips with me before and he knows
when the chips are down there are no time to discuss anything, just follow
instructions. I was busy dropping the sail while James was dragging the sail
towards the back of the boat and gathering the sail that was coming down. The
front part of the sail was the dangerous part, the part that could take you
out in a flash. Once we had regained control of the sail Hubert could now
safely assist. We don't want any sail or ropes in the water that could get
around the props and just make matters worse. A pin came loose and the
fastening part was bent open. Hubert was in a bit of despair as he thought that
was the end of us flying this great sail. We however sorted it out the next
day, made some alterations preventing the pin from coming loose again. Hoisted
the sail and with great sighs of relief sat back and enjoyed.

We are stopping in Fortaleza a bit later today for some fresh produce, some lpg
gas, but mostly to spend a bit of time on land. Good for morale as extended
time on the ocean does take it's toll. Just a 24 hour stop though, an looking
forward to catching up with my good friend Armando again after many years. He
is the marina manager and we are always delighted to see each other.

I hope you enjoyed sharing some of our experiences on the ocean wide. Looking
forward to share with you again soon.

Take care

Paul