When I first quoted on delivering a Leopard 40 from Cape Town to Buenos
Aires, already the prospect of sailing the Atlantic Ocean started bubbling
up in me. The destination changed to St. Maarten as the date the owner
received the boat and the season moved on a bit. I mostly sailed the
Indian Ocean for the last two years, except for a delivery to France early
last year. Sailing to France you normally have a smooth run up to the
equator and from there on beat your way to the Med. This time round, we
are staying with the trade winds, past St. Helena where we will stop for a
day or two, past Brazil and French Guyana into the Caribbean via Barbados
and St.Lucia. Lots of smooth, fast sailing with following winds and seas.
No passage is ever without it's challenges though, the milk run as we call
this route can get a bit hectic at times, but mostly it's a song and a
breeze.
It is always interesting to sail with an owner on board. Different
dynamics for sure, 95% of my deliveries are with a 1st Mate and a
crew member. I have been most fortunate that the owners I have sailed with
before have become lifelong friends, bonded by days and nights out on the
ocean, for weeks on end. The amount of fun we get up to and the laughter
we share, the intense moments when things get a bit rough, the little
stops in between, and then finally, the arrival at our destination. All
moments forever cast in gold and scattered with diamonds.
On a good Monday, I was introduced to Hubert Heyndrickx. A jovial French
gentleman turning 64 this year. He has had some boating and sailing
experience before, but respected the fact that experience in crossing an
ocean is worth paying for, and hired me as skipper. Lots of advantages
attached to that as he found out. A fellow Frenchman, Noburt, has been in
Cape Town a few months and will could still be there for another month
before he can depart. Lots of red tape, safety inspections, registrations
etc you have to do before you can depart on a newly build yacht from South
Africa. To source all the goodies you want for your boat is much easier if
you have a skipper that knows exactly where to find what you need. Even
more so if you are a foreigner. And to have Tui Marine oversee procedures
you have the best team in the world to back you up. Tracker, satellite
phone, epirbs, liferaft etc all supplied and monitored by them. Within a
week of receiving the boat, we were officially ready to leave. We could now
focus on the weather and preparing and provisioning for crossing the
Atlantic Ocean.
La Marie Bulles is the name that the owner and his family chose for their
home on the sea. The name can mean a few things, and is a bit Spanish and a
bit French. It holds a special meaning for the family. In short, it can
also mean bubbles of the sea. And bubbles itself also has different symbolic
meanings. After a week of getting things sorted, the weather looked fine and on
the first Sunday after receiving the boat we took her for a maiden sail. Or
seatrial if you want. Had all the sails up and chased down some other
catamarans that were sailing in Table Bay. Beautiful sunny day it was and a
more spectacular background than Table Mountain and surrounds I have yet to
find, and I have travelled far and wide, on and off the beaten tracks.
Imagine buying a new car, and letting it sit there for a week before you drive
it. Now times that by a thousand and you will begin to understand a bit of
the anticipation Hubert must have experienced. He worked 42 years to realise
one of his childhood dreams. He had owned a few smaller boats before, but
this was the real one, the one you could sail across oceans in great comfort
and style. He also had a crate full of personal goodies imported from France
to find their place on their new home. Goodies that has sentimental value to
him and his wife Marie. All this was stored on board, gas bottles purchased,
filled and fitted, and soon one could start living on the boat. The Sunday
we took La Marie Bulles out for her first sail was very special. Hubert
requested to take the boat out of the mooring into the marina, through the
Bascule bridge and the Chevonne Battery swing Bridge, into port and out to
sea. I gave him a few pointers, and soon the sails were flying and bubbles
were bubbling behind the sugar scoops of the catamaran. I took a picture of
Hubert on the way out behind the helm. I haven't shown him the picture yet,
but the picture says it all. All smiles. We were out for a few hours, sailed
her back in, and after docking the boat, Hubert was a bag of mixed emotions.
A bit tense and a dry throat from docking the boat and ecstatic for having
at last sailed his boat were just two of these emotions. Promptly a bottle
of champagne was opened and with great ceremony a bit of bubbly poured on
the bows and the bowsprit of La Marie Bulles. In good time we had checked
and tested all the systems, all our provisioning was done except for the
final day before departure fresh produce. Now it was just waiting for the
weather to turn in our favour, which it did on the following Sunday.
I have been following and researching a very interesting product. A machine
that makes water from air. I have thought about the possibilities this could
offer for yachts all over the world and mentioned this to Hubert. He was
very interested and asked if we could order one. We only had a few days left
before departure. I contacted the supplier, placed an order, and for once
received service that far exceeded expectations. We expected delivery on
Saturday, a day before our departure, cutting it a bit fine. Friday before
lunch time I received a call, it was the couriers that had the machine ready
for delivery. The machine has not been tested on yachts before, and we are
the first boat to cross an ocean with the water from air machine aboard. On
this yacht we have a few sources of water. Firstly city water that we fill
our tanks with before we depart, 700ltrs.We also have a desalinator on
board. Desalinated water has been stripped from all minerals. Then we also
have 40ltrs of mineral water in 5ltr containers that we stocked up on. To
have water freshly made from the air sounded like a dream, and we could not
wait to test it. But we had to first get settled a bit. The particular model
we have is more for houses, offices, receptions etc. Nonetheless, we wanted
to test one, and it works brilliantly. There are different ways to power
them, and ours is the normal 220v which we run through our inverter. They
can also run on 12v, on gas, on solar etc. As we expected it to draw quite
a bit of power from our batteries, I opted to wait for a spell of light
winds when we could run one of the motors and keep the batteries charged and
keep our speed up. Without the motor on the machine did draw quite a bit of
power from our batteries as, but we ran it for two days. The producers are
looking at developing a product specifically for yachts. After studying the
owner and operator manual carefully, I switched the machine on and watched as
it started performing it's magic. And huge was my amazement after 24hrs of
filling a 5ltr container, then another one, and another one. Just to test the
functions of the machine, I also cooled the water down to 10*C, you can cool it
down to 4*C if you choose. Within a very short period of time, the water was
cooled to 10*C.
WATER IS LIFE
The next big test came in tasting the water. And once again, results far
exceeded expectations. Freshly made water, what a concept !!! And that is
exactly what it tasted like. Fresh, organic, free range water :))) A bit like
rainwater, I thought that it taste what clouds I imagine would taste like. In
most countries a glass of water you drink from the tap has been consumed by
at least 7 people before you and has been treated several times. With
contraceptive hormones and a lot of other things you probably don't want to
know about. Mineral water bottled at source is sometimes less pure than the
water from your tap. And there it is stored and distributed in plastic bottles
far and wide. Have you ever wondered what happens to all the millions of
plastic bottles that are discarded daily ? Sure some of them are recycled, but
I am even more sure that the majority of them are just dumped. Plastic water,
artificial. Desalinated water taste like nothing, and all health has been
filtered from it. Basically also dead water. Water is our most precious
resource. It is what gives our planet her spectacular blue hue when observed
from afar. And to have access to pure, freshly made water, I am still coming to
grips with the incredible health benefits, the possibilities it creates. To
have your own independent source of ultra healthy, ultra tasty water, well, now
you can. I have no doubt that it will change the quality of life for many
people, and I am most keen to share this technology and ideas of where and how
it can be implemented. There has long been talk of alternative sources of
energy i.e. solar or wind generated. Now we can also generate water and all
that brings into play. Email me at sailwithpaul@gmail.com to discuss this
subject more.
We departed from Cape Town at 10am on 21 Feb. North westerlies was blowing
for a few days prior, and to the dismay of the yearly Mykonos Race
fraternity, it was blowing deep into Saturday. The southerly winds came
through on Saturday afternoon as predicted, and Sunday we were ready as ever
to go. Time to wave Table Mountain goodbye and begin the long journey ahead
of us. The southerlies normally curve around Table Mountain and we had more
westerlies for the first few hours out. Main and genoa 2nd reef opened wide
on a broad reach and with 16kts of wind we were of to a great start. Smooth
and fast, and not to huge a stretch to get your sea legs. That night the wind
maxed at 22kts, but as we were deeply reefed, we had no need to adjust any
sails.
The first morning out at sea and the wind turned SSE and we could rig our
twin head sail configuration. And as the swell direction and wind direction
came in line, we started experiencing sailing at it's best, so early in the
journey. As a habit, we don't prepare supper for the first two days. There
are light snacks, biltong, cold meat, bread etc and everyone helps themselves.
The wind dropped even more and at about noon we decided to try the Code 0
sail. Lovely and versatile sail to have in light winds. A Code 0 sail is a
fairly big, light gauge sail that you can easily furl in or out. Relatively
easily I should add. It always takes new crew one or two tries to perfect
deploying and furling a Code 0. Sailing with a full genoa on the one side,
and the Code 0 on the other side, gives a lot of sail to catch the wind.
Balancing the two sails is an art in itself. And when the current or swell
shape and direction change, you have to fine tune your sails again. The goal
is to go as fast and as comfortable as possible with the least amount of
stress on the boat and crew.
On our track you will notice that we sometimes sail nearly north at times,
and at times nearly west. Our heading towards St.Helena is as you can
probably guess, north west. But we are making most of the prevailing
conditions, keeping a fine balance between speed and comfort. The second night
the weather was gentle and we kept flying our twin head sails making good
miles in great comfort. The wind eased off quite a bit more, and we started
motor sailing. The very little wind was predicted to last for two days, and
whilst we were motoring, also used the opportunity to run our water from air
machine, with spectacular results as mentioned before. The third day we were
getting into the rhythm of day and night watches, and I also cooked our first
proper meal for the trip. A hearty country stew it was, and as we haven't had a
proper meal for two days, it went down very well. A hungry tummy is always the
best cook :)
On Thursday the wind came through stronger again from the south and we were
sailing in a northerly direction for most of the day. Just before sunset we
changed sails and opted for second reef main and genoa on a broad reach. That
way we will be prepared for stronger winds than predicted, just in case. We
were now sailing towards St.Helena again. Friday during the day we had twin
head sails up again and Friday night the stronger weather made us rig the main
sail and genoa again. The wind did come through quite a bit stronger than
predicted, but as we anticipated it, we were ready. Sailing with just the main
sail opened wide at about 150* to the wind, we were quite safe and
comfortable. Nice to have the best technology on board to download weather
forecasts anywhere in the world. It takes a lot of guessing out of the
equation, and we can make informed decisions. I don't just make a call what
sail configuration we will use, I show my fellow crew the latest weather,
discuss our options and explain why I make a certain decision. They also then
know what to expect and understand better my decisions as skipper. Yesterday
the wind was a bit stronger again, and we used my loose genoa and the fixed
genoa in unison to optimize the wind from behind. I decided to carry on with
these sails for the night and they served us well. This morning the wind
dropped a bit, and the weather forecast predicted calmer conditions. Looking
at the cloud formations, I decided to drop the loose genoa, and rig the Code
0. And we have been sailing with these two huge sails with the wind and swell
from behind and will probably carry on like this throughout the night.
It is great to be out sailing the open ocean again. Vast expanses of blue. And
at night, the stars are shining brighter and brighter as the moon is waning and
appearing later and later at night. I showed Hubert one of my favourite
clusters in the sky last night. A cluster called Pleiades. One can just not
make out the individual stars that form this cluster with the naked eye, but
through a normal set of binoculars, one gets a glimpse of the magic that is to
be found out there.
I hope you have a wonderful week ahead of you.
Until next time
P.S. Email me if you want to learn more about making water from air !
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
On a wing and a prayer
It has been a while since I shared some of our sailing experiences. Sit
back, relax, and enjoy :)
On our current journey, we have the great pleasure of delivering a Leopard
44 from Cape Town to Seychelles. 1st Mate Malcolm Rennie originally from
Port Shepstone, residing in Knysna for the last 15 years, born in '47 and
who has done six deliveries with me. As crew young gun Joshua Palmer from
Margate who was born in '97, is doing his first long distance ocean
crossing. He sailed for a year or so in the Caribbean on Blue Diamond, his
parent's yacht. Myself as skipper.
We received our boat on Wednesday, 4 February, and took her around to our
allocated berth in the V&A Marina. We started immediately with preventative
maintenance for our journey, and also did a shopping spree to get all our dry
provisions. Thursday we moved all our safety equipment on board, and on Friday
we had our safety inspection. We would have to wait until Wednesday the
following week for our safety certificate, and I decided to fly back to Durban
again to attend to a little crisis there. My daughter's red breasted, yellow
sided conure flew away and my princess was heartbroken. I arrived back home on
Friday night, and Saturday morning launched a search for the little bird, who
has recently joined our family and crept into all our hearts. Cheeky Tweety is
his name, and an apt name to say the least. A small parrot with a huge
personality as conures are. My daughter and myself walked a few kilometres
calling for the bird, hoping he would hear us and either come flying to us, or
make some noise that we would recognise. Before that my wife, friends, my mom,
all placed ads on all the different media platforms. It was four five days since
Tweety flew away. His one wing was clipped, but still he managed to get
airborne. Prospects were looking bleak, but I refused to give up hope. My
daughter decided to side with me on the issue, and also believed against all
odds that we will find him. And then a small miracle happened. We received a
call one afternoon, and a lady informed me that they have our little birdie. I
could hardly speak, I was so overcome with emotion. We immediately got into the
car and found the address where Tweety was. I paid the wonderful people a small
reward, and still could hardly speak. Cheeky Tweety is now back, both wings
clipped, and receiving tons of love and attention from his human family. My
daughter learned a precious lesson to never ever give up. There is always hope.
Just believe and keep on trying. It worked for us. I flew back to Cape Town on
Wednesday to do final prep for our journey.
After the usual preparations, provisioning, inspections and paperwork, we
waited for a good weather window to take on the most dangerous coast in the
world, and also one of the most beautiful I may add. The weather started
turning in our favour, we cleared port control, customs and immigration the
day before departure, and slipped our mooring lines at 10am on Tuesday 17/2.We
were expecting light southerly winds on the nose, which was predicted to turn
west later that evening. Our aim was to round Cape Point before the
westerlies came through, and the weather prediction turned out quite
accurate. We try and do every delivery better than the one before, and
decided to run a light boat. This meant we did not take extra fuel or water,
just filled our tanks, which would give us more speed. Problem with the
South African coast is that there are only a few ports you can run in for
shelter, and they are quite far apart. Running down the coast is the
almighty Agulhas current, and when a westerly front comes through, wind
against current makes for extremely dangerous conditions. Hugging the coast
we always find a bit of counter current, at night running on the 30mtr
contour line, and during the day come in to as close as 10mtrs at times. Our
navigational equipment is as good as you can get, but we still prefer a bit
of space at night. Safety is always our first priority.
We rounded Cape Point in good time and like clockwork the westerly started
building behind us. A little lower the centre of the front was moving
through, and we were well positioned to make the most of it without getting
blown away. Even so, the first night out was quite hectic with wind up to
45kts from behind. It does take a while for the swell to build up a bit, and
we were doing well with just a bit of headsail pulling us along at good
speed. When the swell did pick up, we tied a few mooring lines together,
tied the one end to the boat, and dragged this drogue behind us in the
water. It gives you great stability and prevents the yacht from running
wildly down the swells, just holding her in a bit. At a certain point, the
autopilot started struggling a bit, and I decided to take over the task of
steering the boat, or helming to be more nautically correct. The first few
hours of a front can get hectic, but soon conditions settled a bit, and we
were off to a great start. My fellow crewmembers had to first get their sea
legs a bit, but once they got used to the motion of the ocean, all was well.
Sometimes we only make it to Mosselbay before we encounter strong headwinds
again, but we were doing great speed, the westerlies stayed with us for a
while, and just as the easterlies started coming through, we turned into
Port Elizabeth on Friday 20/2 @ 17h30. Having a lighter and faster boat afforded
us this opportunity. We had a few refreshments that night and also had lunch the
following day at the Algoa bay yacht Club. At first it looked as though we may
have to spend a few days in PE, but noticed a very small gap in the weather, and
left for East London the next night at 6 just as the easterlies started fading.
Once again we had a great fast run to EL, and once again we turned into port
just as the easterlies started blowing. We had to sit there for a few days,
serviced the motors, kept the boat clean from the daily dust that the strong
easterlies blew onto us. We spend a bit of time with some folks at the Buffalo
River Yacht Club, and they also invited us for a braai. All in all we made the
most of our time there. Sitting on a boat for day in and day out not going
anywhere is not as easy as it me seem. Anyways.
The next leg was taking on the Wild Coast, and once the weather turned in
our favour, we were on our way again on 26/2. Here the continental shelf is at
it's narrowest and we were sailing nearly against the raw beauty off the steep
cliffs, waterfalls, grasslands, beaches and rocky outcrops here and there. We
had to cover 240nm to Durban to fuel up and fill our watertanks. We were
hoping this would be our last stop. We arrived there on Saturday @ 13h00
, did what we had to do and Sunday morning our fuel was delivered before
we were on our way again. Josh's mom and dad came to say hi, and my family
also popped in to come and say a final hi and bye. Just before we left,
Malcolm downloaded the newest weather and was a bit concerned. A fairly
strong westerly was predicted, but we decided to go anyway. We have a
schedule to try and stick to. Richards Bay is only 90 odd miles from Durban,
and we thought a slow cruise would have us there at first light. The wind
however had different ideas and slowly building up to 45kts from behind, we
tried our best to slow down. Once again we had long lines with knots behind
us, eventually had no sail out sailing just on bare poles as the saying
goes, but were still going too fast. Richards Bay is notorious for dangerous
conditions, many a boat has floundered here, and many sailors who have
circumnavigated the globe found the most trying conditions here. Quite a few
of them decide after a battle here that they had enough of sailing, leave
there boats here for sale, and fly back to whichever country they were from.
Once again the Agulhas current is the big factor here, and meets the
continental shelf here with full force. If the westerly is not too strong,
you can get through with some serious effort, but if the west is strong, it
turns into a washing machine of note. Current pushing you from one side,
wind pushing you from the other side, waves standing up on you, it really
can get out of hand here. The Wild Coast may produce a rogue wave at times,
but I think Richards Bay is the most dangerous spot for a yacht under
certain conditions. The Wild Coast is not easy either. A bit offshore, and
under the right, or perhaps I should say the wrong conditions, waves of up
to 40mtrs can form that will break a big ship in two. Feel free to google
it, I was also shocked and surprised when I learned of this. We waited in
Richards Bay for a few days as well, and enjoyed our time there at the
Zululand Yacht Club. Had a most fun evening there shooting pool and
generally just getting out of hand a bit. The sailing commodore presented us
with a bottle of champagne, and we were their guests of honour. They have a
good idea of what we are about, what we do, and respect us for that. They at
times admire and envy us, but at the same time also prefer to stay on land
most of the time. There are some serious racers there as well, and we made
some real great friends.
I haven't mentioned this, but some of my colleagues on a yacht just like
ours went missing a while ago. We were hoping that they are ok as their
epirb haven't been activated. Epirb stands for emergency position indicating
radio beacon. It is a device which we all carry that will send your position
via satellite every 12 seconds, and will last for about 48 hrs if you keep
transmitting non-stop. It can be manually activated and de-activated, r it
will activate as soon as it lands in the water. Your boat name etc are
registered with contact numbers, and should your epirb go off, those numbers
will be called from an operations station in France. We also carry satellite
phones aboard, and we call in our position twice a week to our office in
Cape Town. Sometimes the satphones becomes dysfunctional, and there are no
ways to make contact with the vessel. If the epirb has not been activated,
one would presume that everything is ok as the epirb has not been activated.
There is obviously also an estimated time of arrival at your destination,
and should you not arrive there in time, give or take a few days, there is
cause for concern. This boat has not arrived yet, there epirb has not been
activated, and there is now great cause for concern. They did encounter some
seriously heavy weather, but all of us who sail the oceans have encountered
some serious weather. The company that track and manages our deliveries, has
a perfect safety record thus far, but it has now been officially announced
that my friends are missing at sea. They have not arrived anywhere yet, and
are way overdue. Most of you reading this blog will know about this
situation, and there are huge efforts being made by thousands of people in
an effort to locate them. They may have capsized and are afloat somewhere,
who knows. I know of guys who were afloat for 140 days on a capsized
catamaran and the current eventually beached them here on the east coast of
Africa. More and more tales of similar and even longer afloat situations are
surfacing, and I will keep on hoping that somehow, somewhere, they will be
found. Never ever give up. The reality of their predicament really got to me.
It was hard for me to build up the courage to take to the ocean again from
Richards Bay, and reasoning with myself I spend a few restless nights there. A
small weather window presented itself again. There were strong easterlies
predicted, but if we could get up high enough fast enough, we would miss them.
It was time to go, and we waved Richards Bay goodbye. There were some cyclonic
activities further up the Mozambique Channel, but our weather support we have
from home would keep us informed of any trouble. The current was against us,
and we could not maintain the required speed to miss the strong easterlies. 30
miles out of Richards Bay, I phoned our operations manager in Cape Town and
discussed my plan to turn back to Richards Bay and wait for a better window.
It made no sense to be out there against current and wind with both motors
running and getting nowhere, and so we turned around. What a lovely trip we
had back, sailing with wind from behind and the current assisting us. 3am we
requested permission from Port Control to enter the port again due to bad
weather expected. When the friends we made on the dock awoke, they were
surprised to find us back, and one of them aptly said we should be named
Boomerang. I could only reply with a wry smile.
We once again waited patiently for the weather to turn in our favour, and on 5/3
on the full moon we were on our way again. It would be the first time on this
journey that we loose sight of land, and the first night out the conditions were
not great, but we managed fine. Since then we've had excellent wind pushing us
up the channel and going quite a bit faster than anticipated. We had fairly
strong winds from the south east and gave us a sailable angle of about 120
degrees from behind a broadreach as we call it in sailing terms. Mainsail on 2nd
reef, and genoa furled in and out as the weather dictated, we managed excellent
miles through some squalls, day and night. That is when dark clouds heavy with
rain moves over you and increases the wind speed substantially. The wind
direction shifts a bit, rain comes down, blows over and wait for the next one.
This is at times truly a 24/7 occupation. Yesterday for the first time the wind,
as predicted is very much straight from behind, and we are running with twin
headsails, making excellent progress. Following winds and seas, just going with
the flow. And then I once again remember why we who sail the oceans do this. The
closest closeness to the elements, nature in all her glory. The truest truth I
know, the realest reality I know. The beautiful full moon I saw rising a few
nights ago, and on my morning watch watched the sun rise again. And I wondered
if my buddies missing at sea saw the full moon rise and watched the sun rise
that morning. And still I wonder....
We are halfway up Madagascar, in the middle of the Mozambique Channel, weather
forecast for he next few days becalmed. About 1100nm to Seychelles, and we
should be there in a week or so. I have learned over the many years on the
oceans of the world that it is never over until it's over, and will not be
lulled into complacency. Our lures are dragging behind the boat, not a single
fish so far on this trip. A few ships here and there. Yesterday a small
passenger liner passed within about 4nm. Flying fish scattering here and there.
The days and nights are warm, the stars are shining brighter and brighter as
Sister Moon is waning. Rainbows now and then, but mostly blue all around. Thank
you for joining us for a little while, and hopefully you will join us again
before the trip is over. Take good care.
back, relax, and enjoy :)
On our current journey, we have the great pleasure of delivering a Leopard
44 from Cape Town to Seychelles. 1st Mate Malcolm Rennie originally from
Port Shepstone, residing in Knysna for the last 15 years, born in '47 and
who has done six deliveries with me. As crew young gun Joshua Palmer from
Margate who was born in '97, is doing his first long distance ocean
crossing. He sailed for a year or so in the Caribbean on Blue Diamond, his
parent's yacht. Myself as skipper.
We received our boat on Wednesday, 4 February, and took her around to our
allocated berth in the V&A Marina. We started immediately with preventative
maintenance for our journey, and also did a shopping spree to get all our dry
provisions. Thursday we moved all our safety equipment on board, and on Friday
we had our safety inspection. We would have to wait until Wednesday the
following week for our safety certificate, and I decided to fly back to Durban
again to attend to a little crisis there. My daughter's red breasted, yellow
sided conure flew away and my princess was heartbroken. I arrived back home on
Friday night, and Saturday morning launched a search for the little bird, who
has recently joined our family and crept into all our hearts. Cheeky Tweety is
his name, and an apt name to say the least. A small parrot with a huge
personality as conures are. My daughter and myself walked a few kilometres
calling for the bird, hoping he would hear us and either come flying to us, or
make some noise that we would recognise. Before that my wife, friends, my mom,
all placed ads on all the different media platforms. It was four five days since
Tweety flew away. His one wing was clipped, but still he managed to get
airborne. Prospects were looking bleak, but I refused to give up hope. My
daughter decided to side with me on the issue, and also believed against all
odds that we will find him. And then a small miracle happened. We received a
call one afternoon, and a lady informed me that they have our little birdie. I
could hardly speak, I was so overcome with emotion. We immediately got into the
car and found the address where Tweety was. I paid the wonderful people a small
reward, and still could hardly speak. Cheeky Tweety is now back, both wings
clipped, and receiving tons of love and attention from his human family. My
daughter learned a precious lesson to never ever give up. There is always hope.
Just believe and keep on trying. It worked for us. I flew back to Cape Town on
Wednesday to do final prep for our journey.
After the usual preparations, provisioning, inspections and paperwork, we
waited for a good weather window to take on the most dangerous coast in the
world, and also one of the most beautiful I may add. The weather started
turning in our favour, we cleared port control, customs and immigration the
day before departure, and slipped our mooring lines at 10am on Tuesday 17/2.We
were expecting light southerly winds on the nose, which was predicted to turn
west later that evening. Our aim was to round Cape Point before the
westerlies came through, and the weather prediction turned out quite
accurate. We try and do every delivery better than the one before, and
decided to run a light boat. This meant we did not take extra fuel or water,
just filled our tanks, which would give us more speed. Problem with the
South African coast is that there are only a few ports you can run in for
shelter, and they are quite far apart. Running down the coast is the
almighty Agulhas current, and when a westerly front comes through, wind
against current makes for extremely dangerous conditions. Hugging the coast
we always find a bit of counter current, at night running on the 30mtr
contour line, and during the day come in to as close as 10mtrs at times. Our
navigational equipment is as good as you can get, but we still prefer a bit
of space at night. Safety is always our first priority.
We rounded Cape Point in good time and like clockwork the westerly started
building behind us. A little lower the centre of the front was moving
through, and we were well positioned to make the most of it without getting
blown away. Even so, the first night out was quite hectic with wind up to
45kts from behind. It does take a while for the swell to build up a bit, and
we were doing well with just a bit of headsail pulling us along at good
speed. When the swell did pick up, we tied a few mooring lines together,
tied the one end to the boat, and dragged this drogue behind us in the
water. It gives you great stability and prevents the yacht from running
wildly down the swells, just holding her in a bit. At a certain point, the
autopilot started struggling a bit, and I decided to take over the task of
steering the boat, or helming to be more nautically correct. The first few
hours of a front can get hectic, but soon conditions settled a bit, and we
were off to a great start. My fellow crewmembers had to first get their sea
legs a bit, but once they got used to the motion of the ocean, all was well.
Sometimes we only make it to Mosselbay before we encounter strong headwinds
again, but we were doing great speed, the westerlies stayed with us for a
while, and just as the easterlies started coming through, we turned into
Port Elizabeth on Friday 20/2 @ 17h30. Having a lighter and faster boat afforded
us this opportunity. We had a few refreshments that night and also had lunch the
following day at the Algoa bay yacht Club. At first it looked as though we may
have to spend a few days in PE, but noticed a very small gap in the weather, and
left for East London the next night at 6 just as the easterlies started fading.
Once again we had a great fast run to EL, and once again we turned into port
just as the easterlies started blowing. We had to sit there for a few days,
serviced the motors, kept the boat clean from the daily dust that the strong
easterlies blew onto us. We spend a bit of time with some folks at the Buffalo
River Yacht Club, and they also invited us for a braai. All in all we made the
most of our time there. Sitting on a boat for day in and day out not going
anywhere is not as easy as it me seem. Anyways.
The next leg was taking on the Wild Coast, and once the weather turned in
our favour, we were on our way again on 26/2. Here the continental shelf is at
it's narrowest and we were sailing nearly against the raw beauty off the steep
cliffs, waterfalls, grasslands, beaches and rocky outcrops here and there. We
had to cover 240nm to Durban to fuel up and fill our watertanks. We were
hoping this would be our last stop. We arrived there on Saturday @ 13h00
, did what we had to do and Sunday morning our fuel was delivered before
we were on our way again. Josh's mom and dad came to say hi, and my family
also popped in to come and say a final hi and bye. Just before we left,
Malcolm downloaded the newest weather and was a bit concerned. A fairly
strong westerly was predicted, but we decided to go anyway. We have a
schedule to try and stick to. Richards Bay is only 90 odd miles from Durban,
and we thought a slow cruise would have us there at first light. The wind
however had different ideas and slowly building up to 45kts from behind, we
tried our best to slow down. Once again we had long lines with knots behind
us, eventually had no sail out sailing just on bare poles as the saying
goes, but were still going too fast. Richards Bay is notorious for dangerous
conditions, many a boat has floundered here, and many sailors who have
circumnavigated the globe found the most trying conditions here. Quite a few
of them decide after a battle here that they had enough of sailing, leave
there boats here for sale, and fly back to whichever country they were from.
Once again the Agulhas current is the big factor here, and meets the
continental shelf here with full force. If the westerly is not too strong,
you can get through with some serious effort, but if the west is strong, it
turns into a washing machine of note. Current pushing you from one side,
wind pushing you from the other side, waves standing up on you, it really
can get out of hand here. The Wild Coast may produce a rogue wave at times,
but I think Richards Bay is the most dangerous spot for a yacht under
certain conditions. The Wild Coast is not easy either. A bit offshore, and
under the right, or perhaps I should say the wrong conditions, waves of up
to 40mtrs can form that will break a big ship in two. Feel free to google
it, I was also shocked and surprised when I learned of this. We waited in
Richards Bay for a few days as well, and enjoyed our time there at the
Zululand Yacht Club. Had a most fun evening there shooting pool and
generally just getting out of hand a bit. The sailing commodore presented us
with a bottle of champagne, and we were their guests of honour. They have a
good idea of what we are about, what we do, and respect us for that. They at
times admire and envy us, but at the same time also prefer to stay on land
most of the time. There are some serious racers there as well, and we made
some real great friends.
I haven't mentioned this, but some of my colleagues on a yacht just like
ours went missing a while ago. We were hoping that they are ok as their
epirb haven't been activated. Epirb stands for emergency position indicating
radio beacon. It is a device which we all carry that will send your position
via satellite every 12 seconds, and will last for about 48 hrs if you keep
transmitting non-stop. It can be manually activated and de-activated, r it
will activate as soon as it lands in the water. Your boat name etc are
registered with contact numbers, and should your epirb go off, those numbers
will be called from an operations station in France. We also carry satellite
phones aboard, and we call in our position twice a week to our office in
Cape Town. Sometimes the satphones becomes dysfunctional, and there are no
ways to make contact with the vessel. If the epirb has not been activated,
one would presume that everything is ok as the epirb has not been activated.
There is obviously also an estimated time of arrival at your destination,
and should you not arrive there in time, give or take a few days, there is
cause for concern. This boat has not arrived yet, there epirb has not been
activated, and there is now great cause for concern. They did encounter some
seriously heavy weather, but all of us who sail the oceans have encountered
some serious weather. The company that track and manages our deliveries, has
a perfect safety record thus far, but it has now been officially announced
that my friends are missing at sea. They have not arrived anywhere yet, and
are way overdue. Most of you reading this blog will know about this
situation, and there are huge efforts being made by thousands of people in
an effort to locate them. They may have capsized and are afloat somewhere,
who knows. I know of guys who were afloat for 140 days on a capsized
catamaran and the current eventually beached them here on the east coast of
Africa. More and more tales of similar and even longer afloat situations are
surfacing, and I will keep on hoping that somehow, somewhere, they will be
found. Never ever give up. The reality of their predicament really got to me.
It was hard for me to build up the courage to take to the ocean again from
Richards Bay, and reasoning with myself I spend a few restless nights there. A
small weather window presented itself again. There were strong easterlies
predicted, but if we could get up high enough fast enough, we would miss them.
It was time to go, and we waved Richards Bay goodbye. There were some cyclonic
activities further up the Mozambique Channel, but our weather support we have
from home would keep us informed of any trouble. The current was against us,
and we could not maintain the required speed to miss the strong easterlies. 30
miles out of Richards Bay, I phoned our operations manager in Cape Town and
discussed my plan to turn back to Richards Bay and wait for a better window.
It made no sense to be out there against current and wind with both motors
running and getting nowhere, and so we turned around. What a lovely trip we
had back, sailing with wind from behind and the current assisting us. 3am we
requested permission from Port Control to enter the port again due to bad
weather expected. When the friends we made on the dock awoke, they were
surprised to find us back, and one of them aptly said we should be named
Boomerang. I could only reply with a wry smile.
We once again waited patiently for the weather to turn in our favour, and on 5/3
on the full moon we were on our way again. It would be the first time on this
journey that we loose sight of land, and the first night out the conditions were
not great, but we managed fine. Since then we've had excellent wind pushing us
up the channel and going quite a bit faster than anticipated. We had fairly
strong winds from the south east and gave us a sailable angle of about 120
degrees from behind a broadreach as we call it in sailing terms. Mainsail on 2nd
reef, and genoa furled in and out as the weather dictated, we managed excellent
miles through some squalls, day and night. That is when dark clouds heavy with
rain moves over you and increases the wind speed substantially. The wind
direction shifts a bit, rain comes down, blows over and wait for the next one.
This is at times truly a 24/7 occupation. Yesterday for the first time the wind,
as predicted is very much straight from behind, and we are running with twin
headsails, making excellent progress. Following winds and seas, just going with
the flow. And then I once again remember why we who sail the oceans do this. The
closest closeness to the elements, nature in all her glory. The truest truth I
know, the realest reality I know. The beautiful full moon I saw rising a few
nights ago, and on my morning watch watched the sun rise again. And I wondered
if my buddies missing at sea saw the full moon rise and watched the sun rise
that morning. And still I wonder....
We are halfway up Madagascar, in the middle of the Mozambique Channel, weather
forecast for he next few days becalmed. About 1100nm to Seychelles, and we
should be there in a week or so. I have learned over the many years on the
oceans of the world that it is never over until it's over, and will not be
lulled into complacency. Our lures are dragging behind the boat, not a single
fish so far on this trip. A few ships here and there. Yesterday a small
passenger liner passed within about 4nm. Flying fish scattering here and there.
The days and nights are warm, the stars are shining brighter and brighter as
Sister Moon is waning. Rainbows now and then, but mostly blue all around. Thank
you for joining us for a little while, and hopefully you will join us again
before the trip is over. Take good care.
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Becalmed.......
Out here today, as it has been for the last few days, not much wind for
us. Strange how a place that can sometimes blow a storm, can at other days,
be totally becalmed. We have been motoring for the last few days. Watched
the moon grow full and casting her magic spell over us. And the days turned
into nights and visa versa. Clouds come and go, and we are patiently
waiting for the wind to pick up a bit. Our lures have not produced any fish
now for days, only our props caught some rope a few nights ago. By some
rope, I mean a huge tangled mess of rope from a fishing trawler.
I just took over watch from Tim, and we were trotting along nicely at about
7kts and 20kts of wind in our sails. At about 21h15 the boat slowed down
drastically, hardly making 3kts. I let our more sail, but no improvement in
our speed. I remembered a similar situation years ago on another crossing.
he boat speed and wind speed not making sense. At the time I looked
backwards and our water bucket was blown overboard, and a line that was
attached to the boat and the bucket, was as tight as a guitar string. It
was also at night, and no ways I could pull the bucket in by hand. Stopped
the boat by going into a hove to position, retrieved the bucket, and
carried on. On Island Home we don't use a water bucket to scoop seawater,
we have a deckwashpump and hose that we use when we need seawater, much
safer than a bucket. From the helming seat I looked back but could not see
anything in the water as it was a fairly dark night. I decided to start a
motor and see if we could make better speed with a motor, and as soon as I
engaged gear, I felt that something was wrong and turned the motor off.
Walked to the back of the boat, peered into the water, and a meter below
the surface I noticed that we have snagged some rope with our props or
rudders. I fetched the boat hook and tried to lift the line, and it was far
too heavy to hook and lift.
I woke Tim and Geoff to assist as we were in a bit of trouble. Trying to
depower the sails I tried to tack through the wind into a hove to position,
but the weight of the rope were were dragging would not allow it. And
neither could we use a motor to assist, as our props were tangled with
rope. We furled in the head sail, which slowed us down a bit more and kept
the main sail as close to the wind as possible. By then Marina, Phil and
Scott were also up and watching us trying to free Island Home from this
mess. Geoff, Tim and myself were pulling together and after a while we must
have pulled over a hundred meters of 20mm thick rope onto the one side of
the boat, here was hardly any space left to stand. We were hoping to bring
all the line aboard to see what was at the end of the line, but eventually
it got so heavy that we decided to cut the rope. The lined we heaved aboard
we also cut loose and left a few meters to work with. The bunch of rope on
deck we tossed back into the ocean. By this time we had our gears locked
into reverse to stop any turning of the props to prevent them from getting
even more entangled. We tied the loose ends of rope on deck, furled out the
genoa, and after about two hours we were on our way again, sailing fast and
free, and it felt good as always.
As it got light the next morning, Geoff, Tim and myself were up and
assessing the situation. We first took some underwater pics on the GoPro
and studied them on the iPhone. Our starboard side have untangled itself
and was free, which was a great relieve. On the port side one of the props
blades had some rope twisted around it, and we first tried to untwist it and
pull it loose from above. It was difficult as the boat was still doing 2kts
after we turned once again into a hove to position. A bit too fast to jump in
and cut the rope loose, ad the water was also fairly cold, 18*C to be exact.
We furled in the head sail, dropped the mainsail, and with our free motor
at idle speed could keep the bow pointing just off the wind which slowed us
down to under a knot. Slow enough to dive in and Geoff was getting dressed
for the freezing operation. While he was still looking for his wetsuit, we
tried the boat hook one more time as there was very little motion through
the water. When we tried previously the momentum of the water would push
the boat hook back, and by sheer luck,we managed to free the prop from the
rope and with great relieve watched it drift away. Just to make sure we
took a few more underwater pics which confirmed that our operation was
successful. Started the motor, engaged gear, and again to our great
relieve, found there was no vibration on the prop, which meant no damage
was incurred. We hoisted the main, unfurled the genoa, set our course, and
sailed away from what could have been a far more serious situation.
We are currently less than 1300nm from Fremantle and are doing a fair speed
under motor. When we sniff a bit of wind, we let the genoa out a bit, which
is just holding. Our weather forecast predicted quite a bit of strong
winds, but it faded out before it got to us. It looks like we might get
sailable winds later today, and we are ready. Fortunately we have more than
enough fuel to run the motors when necessary, and it is quite pleasant
motoring over a smooth sea, sun shining, a few birds around the boat. The
nights are also fairly pleasant, so all in all things are going well on
Island Home. Life at sea, at it's best. Another ten days at most and we will
reach our destination. Although we are all fairly relaxed at the moment, we
still keep a watchful lookout for ships. As we get closer to Australia we
will stay sharp, and only once we are safely tied up at the marina, will we
let our guard down. Hoping that on the next blog I can report about some fish
caught. We have changed hooks on our lures, have changed some lures, and I
have just spotted a flying fish, a good sign. Until then, enjoy the weekend
and the week ahead. Greetings from the big blue.
us. Strange how a place that can sometimes blow a storm, can at other days,
be totally becalmed. We have been motoring for the last few days. Watched
the moon grow full and casting her magic spell over us. And the days turned
into nights and visa versa. Clouds come and go, and we are patiently
waiting for the wind to pick up a bit. Our lures have not produced any fish
now for days, only our props caught some rope a few nights ago. By some
rope, I mean a huge tangled mess of rope from a fishing trawler.
I just took over watch from Tim, and we were trotting along nicely at about
7kts and 20kts of wind in our sails. At about 21h15 the boat slowed down
drastically, hardly making 3kts. I let our more sail, but no improvement in
our speed. I remembered a similar situation years ago on another crossing.
he boat speed and wind speed not making sense. At the time I looked
backwards and our water bucket was blown overboard, and a line that was
attached to the boat and the bucket, was as tight as a guitar string. It
was also at night, and no ways I could pull the bucket in by hand. Stopped
the boat by going into a hove to position, retrieved the bucket, and
carried on. On Island Home we don't use a water bucket to scoop seawater,
we have a deckwashpump and hose that we use when we need seawater, much
safer than a bucket. From the helming seat I looked back but could not see
anything in the water as it was a fairly dark night. I decided to start a
motor and see if we could make better speed with a motor, and as soon as I
engaged gear, I felt that something was wrong and turned the motor off.
Walked to the back of the boat, peered into the water, and a meter below
the surface I noticed that we have snagged some rope with our props or
rudders. I fetched the boat hook and tried to lift the line, and it was far
too heavy to hook and lift.
I woke Tim and Geoff to assist as we were in a bit of trouble. Trying to
depower the sails I tried to tack through the wind into a hove to position,
but the weight of the rope were were dragging would not allow it. And
neither could we use a motor to assist, as our props were tangled with
rope. We furled in the head sail, which slowed us down a bit more and kept
the main sail as close to the wind as possible. By then Marina, Phil and
Scott were also up and watching us trying to free Island Home from this
mess. Geoff, Tim and myself were pulling together and after a while we must
have pulled over a hundred meters of 20mm thick rope onto the one side of
the boat, here was hardly any space left to stand. We were hoping to bring
all the line aboard to see what was at the end of the line, but eventually
it got so heavy that we decided to cut the rope. The lined we heaved aboard
we also cut loose and left a few meters to work with. The bunch of rope on
deck we tossed back into the ocean. By this time we had our gears locked
into reverse to stop any turning of the props to prevent them from getting
even more entangled. We tied the loose ends of rope on deck, furled out the
genoa, and after about two hours we were on our way again, sailing fast and
free, and it felt good as always.
As it got light the next morning, Geoff, Tim and myself were up and
assessing the situation. We first took some underwater pics on the GoPro
and studied them on the iPhone. Our starboard side have untangled itself
and was free, which was a great relieve. On the port side one of the props
blades had some rope twisted around it, and we first tried to untwist it and
pull it loose from above. It was difficult as the boat was still doing 2kts
after we turned once again into a hove to position. A bit too fast to jump in
and cut the rope loose, ad the water was also fairly cold, 18*C to be exact.
We furled in the head sail, dropped the mainsail, and with our free motor
at idle speed could keep the bow pointing just off the wind which slowed us
down to under a knot. Slow enough to dive in and Geoff was getting dressed
for the freezing operation. While he was still looking for his wetsuit, we
tried the boat hook one more time as there was very little motion through
the water. When we tried previously the momentum of the water would push
the boat hook back, and by sheer luck,we managed to free the prop from the
rope and with great relieve watched it drift away. Just to make sure we
took a few more underwater pics which confirmed that our operation was
successful. Started the motor, engaged gear, and again to our great
relieve, found there was no vibration on the prop, which meant no damage
was incurred. We hoisted the main, unfurled the genoa, set our course, and
sailed away from what could have been a far more serious situation.
We are currently less than 1300nm from Fremantle and are doing a fair speed
under motor. When we sniff a bit of wind, we let the genoa out a bit, which
is just holding. Our weather forecast predicted quite a bit of strong
winds, but it faded out before it got to us. It looks like we might get
sailable winds later today, and we are ready. Fortunately we have more than
enough fuel to run the motors when necessary, and it is quite pleasant
motoring over a smooth sea, sun shining, a few birds around the boat. The
nights are also fairly pleasant, so all in all things are going well on
Island Home. Life at sea, at it's best. Another ten days at most and we will
reach our destination. Although we are all fairly relaxed at the moment, we
still keep a watchful lookout for ships. As we get closer to Australia we
will stay sharp, and only once we are safely tied up at the marina, will we
let our guard down. Hoping that on the next blog I can report about some fish
caught. We have changed hooks on our lures, have changed some lures, and I
have just spotted a flying fish, a good sign. Until then, enjoy the weekend
and the week ahead. Greetings from the big blue.
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Alive and well
One of those days today....gentle breeze, sunny skies, long swells rolling
through, up front our big blue genikar sail pulling us along, two lures
trolling for fish behind the boat, and life is great. I have been on watch
from 3 to 6 this morning. Had to drag my feet to get up at first, but as
predicted, the wind started veering to the west, and I had a bit of work to
do. Last night we had very light headwinds, and to squeeze a few extra
miles, we were motor sailing with our headsail only. A the wind came in
from behind, I decided to drop the main sail as she was no longer effective
and furled out the head sail. From just holding on to 4 kts, our speed
increased by a knot or two. I checked the oil and coolant levels in the
motors, and removed the genikar from the locker, ready to raise when Geoff
comes on watch. We were discussing yesterday that we need to get her up so
we can dry her a bit before she gets mouldy, and conditions presented the
perfect opportunity for just that. We rigged all our lines, and before too
long, we had her up and flying. We then enjoyed some Nespresso coffee from
the deLonghi coffee machine .... fabulous stuff. Add a quantity of milk to
the milk frother and heater, insert a coffee pod, place the mug in position
and within a minute or so, the perfect cup of coffee. The small simple
pleasures we enjoy so much out here.
I then decided to boil some eggs, chop them up fine, add some salt, pepper,
garlic and herbs mix, tomato sauce and bbq sauce, a few dollops of
mayonnaise and mixed it all up. Soon everyone was awake and up, and we
enjoyed the egg dish with cream crackers and freshly brewed coffee. In the
freezer we also have bread buns, and soon they were in the oven, and soon
to be enjoyed with sliced cold ham, pastrami, salami and whole grain
mustard and an assortment of cheeses. A load of washing went into the
washing machine, and we are fairly industrious on this Sunday morning. I
sometimes jokingly comment that I rest for six days a week and on the
seventh day I work to pay penance for the my sins. Geoff reckoned that I
will need qute a few Sundays to pay for my sins, I replied more like a
couple of lifetimes :) I also sometimes chirp that if you can't be good, at
least be good at it. Is that bad ? Bwahahahahahaha !!!!!!
So exactly where are we out here. Right now, at 04:00 UTC our position is
29*03.855S/076*18.285E. Somewhere, more than a third of the way, between
Mauritius and Australia. Our heading is more or less south east as we are
after the bit of more steady westerlies further down south. We are still in
the Indian Ocean, but just want to dip a toe in the Southern Ocean. Not to
deep where the roaring 40's roam, but close enough to enjoy the long swells
and the gentle breezes. The roaries 40's is what us mariners call 40* south
and further down down. The winds there sometimes roar, stormy weather in
short.
What makes today extra special is the unexpected good winds. Yesterday when
we looked at our weather grib files, which was sent by our windguru(my mom),
it looked like we may have no wind at all. We made good enough throughout the
night motoring to just slip under this little spell of no winds. When Geoff
took over watch from me I greeted him in the most jovial of greeting that I
love from the French. Bonjoir bonjoir !!! He was for a moment not sure how to
reply, and instead of saying bien et toi, he simply said wee wee. Which is
exactly what he was on his way to go and do, have a wee wee off the side of
the boat :) Wee wee could also be taken as yes yes in French. Being a guy
this is one of the great pleasures of sailing according to me, to stand
outside, day or night, look at the skies, and have a wee wee. On a monohull
boat this is sometimes dangerous, on a catamaran it is much safer. Once again
one of those simple pleasures we enjoy immensely out here. Anyways, instead
of no wind, we have a steady 13-15kts of westeries and sailing silky smoothly
at 7 kts. Marina is our chef on this trip, and us guys can focus mostly on
the business of sailing the ever beautiful Maverick called Island Home. She's
been doing exceedingly well, feeding us all and cooking up a storm, through
the storms and all. I decided to make some spaghetti bolognaise and give her
a bit of a break yesterday.
So what is it like living on a yacht on the open ocean you may wonder. Mostly
bliss as far as I am concerned. Especially on a yacht like Island Home. The
watermaker or desalinator to be more exact, allows us to have a hot shower
every day. Not a long ten minute shower as one would sometimes indulge in on
land, but two three minutes is fabulous when you are used to a quick shower
every three days or so without a watermaker. The little luxuries which one
takes so easily for granted when on land. We can't stop anywhere out here to
buy fresh bread, so we bake our own. Lots of freezing space on board, and
also a nice size fridge which gives extra life to or eggs and fresh veggies.
Eggs are tricky to keep good if you don't have space in the fridge. You mark
all the top sides and then vaseline them. Every two days you turn them over
and they will last for six weeks or so, depending on how fresh they were when
you bought them. Plenty of tricks like this that us yachties share between
each other. On google you will find most of them. And yes, we mostly cook
with gas :) Having inverters and generators on board also allows you to use
microwaves and convection ovens.
Most modern yachts also have great instrumentation. Autopilots,
chartplotters, radars, IAS that tells us where ships are long before radar
can detect them, VHF radios, satellite phones with which we stay in touch,
depth sounders to show us the depth, which is important in shallow waters.
Depth sounders on average will only read up to about 150 mtrs deep. Music
systems, tv's, and of course, a range of Iphones, Ipads, Macs, laptops, tabs,
hard drives with literally thousands of songs and movies and documentaries,
cameras of which the GoPro is quite popular nowadays. So we are not living
spartan lives out here, not even close. Solar panels and wind generators
pumps power into our batteries as do our engines. Fishing gear, tools and
spares to fix whatever may need fixing and so the list can go on and on. Most
obvious though, wide open spaces, without trucks, taxis and cars. A ship here
and there is the only traffic we have to watch out for mostly. Clean
unpolluted air, no insects or other creepy crawlies. So please do not worry
about us or feel sorry for us out here on the ocean. Rather feel sorry and
worry if you don't know what it feels like to really be alive. You can
experience it anywhere, except in front of your tv :)))
through, up front our big blue genikar sail pulling us along, two lures
trolling for fish behind the boat, and life is great. I have been on watch
from 3 to 6 this morning. Had to drag my feet to get up at first, but as
predicted, the wind started veering to the west, and I had a bit of work to
do. Last night we had very light headwinds, and to squeeze a few extra
miles, we were motor sailing with our headsail only. A the wind came in
from behind, I decided to drop the main sail as she was no longer effective
and furled out the head sail. From just holding on to 4 kts, our speed
increased by a knot or two. I checked the oil and coolant levels in the
motors, and removed the genikar from the locker, ready to raise when Geoff
comes on watch. We were discussing yesterday that we need to get her up so
we can dry her a bit before she gets mouldy, and conditions presented the
perfect opportunity for just that. We rigged all our lines, and before too
long, we had her up and flying. We then enjoyed some Nespresso coffee from
the deLonghi coffee machine .... fabulous stuff. Add a quantity of milk to
the milk frother and heater, insert a coffee pod, place the mug in position
and within a minute or so, the perfect cup of coffee. The small simple
pleasures we enjoy so much out here.
I then decided to boil some eggs, chop them up fine, add some salt, pepper,
garlic and herbs mix, tomato sauce and bbq sauce, a few dollops of
mayonnaise and mixed it all up. Soon everyone was awake and up, and we
enjoyed the egg dish with cream crackers and freshly brewed coffee. In the
freezer we also have bread buns, and soon they were in the oven, and soon
to be enjoyed with sliced cold ham, pastrami, salami and whole grain
mustard and an assortment of cheeses. A load of washing went into the
washing machine, and we are fairly industrious on this Sunday morning. I
sometimes jokingly comment that I rest for six days a week and on the
seventh day I work to pay penance for the my sins. Geoff reckoned that I
will need qute a few Sundays to pay for my sins, I replied more like a
couple of lifetimes :) I also sometimes chirp that if you can't be good, at
least be good at it. Is that bad ? Bwahahahahahaha !!!!!!
So exactly where are we out here. Right now, at 04:00 UTC our position is
29*03.855S/076*18.285E. Somewhere, more than a third of the way, between
Mauritius and Australia. Our heading is more or less south east as we are
after the bit of more steady westerlies further down south. We are still in
the Indian Ocean, but just want to dip a toe in the Southern Ocean. Not to
deep where the roaring 40's roam, but close enough to enjoy the long swells
and the gentle breezes. The roaries 40's is what us mariners call 40* south
and further down down. The winds there sometimes roar, stormy weather in
short.
What makes today extra special is the unexpected good winds. Yesterday when
we looked at our weather grib files, which was sent by our windguru(my mom),
it looked like we may have no wind at all. We made good enough throughout the
night motoring to just slip under this little spell of no winds. When Geoff
took over watch from me I greeted him in the most jovial of greeting that I
love from the French. Bonjoir bonjoir !!! He was for a moment not sure how to
reply, and instead of saying bien et toi, he simply said wee wee. Which is
exactly what he was on his way to go and do, have a wee wee off the side of
the boat :) Wee wee could also be taken as yes yes in French. Being a guy
this is one of the great pleasures of sailing according to me, to stand
outside, day or night, look at the skies, and have a wee wee. On a monohull
boat this is sometimes dangerous, on a catamaran it is much safer. Once again
one of those simple pleasures we enjoy immensely out here. Anyways, instead
of no wind, we have a steady 13-15kts of westeries and sailing silky smoothly
at 7 kts. Marina is our chef on this trip, and us guys can focus mostly on
the business of sailing the ever beautiful Maverick called Island Home. She's
been doing exceedingly well, feeding us all and cooking up a storm, through
the storms and all. I decided to make some spaghetti bolognaise and give her
a bit of a break yesterday.
So what is it like living on a yacht on the open ocean you may wonder. Mostly
bliss as far as I am concerned. Especially on a yacht like Island Home. The
watermaker or desalinator to be more exact, allows us to have a hot shower
every day. Not a long ten minute shower as one would sometimes indulge in on
land, but two three minutes is fabulous when you are used to a quick shower
every three days or so without a watermaker. The little luxuries which one
takes so easily for granted when on land. We can't stop anywhere out here to
buy fresh bread, so we bake our own. Lots of freezing space on board, and
also a nice size fridge which gives extra life to or eggs and fresh veggies.
Eggs are tricky to keep good if you don't have space in the fridge. You mark
all the top sides and then vaseline them. Every two days you turn them over
and they will last for six weeks or so, depending on how fresh they were when
you bought them. Plenty of tricks like this that us yachties share between
each other. On google you will find most of them. And yes, we mostly cook
with gas :) Having inverters and generators on board also allows you to use
microwaves and convection ovens.
Most modern yachts also have great instrumentation. Autopilots,
chartplotters, radars, IAS that tells us where ships are long before radar
can detect them, VHF radios, satellite phones with which we stay in touch,
depth sounders to show us the depth, which is important in shallow waters.
Depth sounders on average will only read up to about 150 mtrs deep. Music
systems, tv's, and of course, a range of Iphones, Ipads, Macs, laptops, tabs,
hard drives with literally thousands of songs and movies and documentaries,
cameras of which the GoPro is quite popular nowadays. So we are not living
spartan lives out here, not even close. Solar panels and wind generators
pumps power into our batteries as do our engines. Fishing gear, tools and
spares to fix whatever may need fixing and so the list can go on and on. Most
obvious though, wide open spaces, without trucks, taxis and cars. A ship here
and there is the only traffic we have to watch out for mostly. Clean
unpolluted air, no insects or other creepy crawlies. So please do not worry
about us or feel sorry for us out here on the ocean. Rather feel sorry and
worry if you don't know what it feels like to really be alive. You can
experience it anywhere, except in front of your tv :)))
Friday, October 31, 2014
At the end of the storm ..... rainbows
We have been sailing beautifully after departing from Mauritius, heading
for the Southern Ocean in a south easterly direction. One day just flowing
into the next, and before we knew it was 28/10 and Geoff's 50th birthday
was upon us. Marina prepared an extra special breakfast, lunch and salad
and also baked a birthday cake. We celebrated and sang happy birthday to
you, and the mood on the boat was jovial. Long strips of cirrus clouds also
appeared above us, and as the night set in, so did the rain as the cold
front was catching up with us. Further down south the eye of the storm was
watching and winking at us. For safety's sake we only had 2nd reef in the
main and genoa sails, and were slowing down quite a bit, expecting stronger
winds which did not come through immediately.
The first sign of something big coming our way was a set of swells that
rolled through under us every now and then. Gently the stronger winds
settled in, not exploding on us as it sometimes does when a squall hits
you. Our weather predictions showed only 25kts of wind and 4.6mtr waves,
but from experience we always times 1 and a half of what is predicted. We
kept to our south easterly course for a while, but as the wind and the
waves grew, we started bearing of bit by bit, and soon we were running east
keeping the wind and waves at safe angle. Starting of in our power zone,
which on catamarans is round about 75 degrees to the wind, it places a lot
of pressure on the rigging. It can take a lot of pressure, but the sea
state can double he pressure as the boat is tossed about in a big seas. And
big the seas did get. Over 7 meter waves were coming through in sets of
three. These waves were coming from where the storm was really raging
further down south. The average ceiling height in a house is 2.4 meters,
times that by three and you will get an idea of size waves we had. Some of
them foaming and breaking over the tops, no ways we want to run sideways up
these monsters. The wind speed topped at about 40 kts, which is just over
70 km/p/hr. Further down south the wind was peaking at 65kts, over 120
km/p/hr.
I get nervous when the sea gets like this. Can't sleep, my stomach stays in
a knot which tightens every time we surf down a big wave, or a big wave
brakes over us. One has a few options when it gets rough like this; face
into it using your motors, run with it, or heave to. Heaving to is a
somewhat magical way of using a bit of main and head sail to work against
each other and keeping the boat at nearly stationary. More for really
extreme conditions. There are pro's and con's to every storm tactic, and we
normally try to run with it, using less and less sail, and placing the
angle of the wind more and more behind you. The ocean dictates what she
wants, and you either oblige or you get wiped out, simple as that. The
beauty of the Maverick named Island Home we are on, is that besides feeling
solid like a rock, she also has a third reef in the main sail. Which means
you can balance the boat perfectly by deploying the small area of mainsail
and add a bit of genoa as conditions dictate. That way the momentum of the
yacht is spreaded and therefore more balanced. Without a third reef you would
just use the genoa, and all the power would be on the bow.It instils a lot of
confidence in your yacht's performance under strong conditions. If you surf
down the waves too fast you get broach, or go head over heel. If you go too
slow, you stall in the trough of the wave and the following waves crashes
over you. The nautical term for that is getting pooped. Anyways, as the wind
speed increased, we were bearing off more and more, and eventually were
sailing with the wind at a 150 degree angle from behind and just the main in
third reef.
The really serious storms I have encountered I can count on one hand, and
having logged more than 200 000nm across the oceans of the world, says a lot
about really big storms at sea. The circumference of planet earth is 22000nm
along the equator, which means I am on my way to having nearly gone around
ten times. When I do get trapped in these huge storms, it becomes a matter of
survival, and I essentially become an animal. Aggression, cursing and
swearing, instinctively you fight with every grain of strength you have. When
you are on the edge of the edge, there is no room for fear. The saving grace
is the only constant factor I know, and that is that things will change. The
storm will abate, just hang in there :), and hope that you are strong enough
both physically and mentally. Physically strong becomes natural when the
adrenalin is pumping, mentally strong comes from somewhere else. As long as
you have a reason to live, you will be mentally strong. I normally visualize
my princess at home waiting for her daddy, and come hell or high water, I
will come home. For her, for my family, for my friends. By far the biggest
part of sailing is pure bliss.
Fortunately the storm we had on Island Home was not even close to being
severe, although it was strong enough to keep me awake for two days. I have a
family on board that trust me to get them to the other side alive, and that
is exactly what I will do. I have unlimited respect for the ocean and all her
moods, and I stay humbly in submission to her will. I am part of the big blue
out here, and at times I am just a piece of flotsam trying to stay afloat. I
have never shed a tear during a violent storm, it is the rainbows afterwards
that brings a tear to my eyes. I hope you have something worth living for,
something worth fighting for. Without that I would be lost.
for the Southern Ocean in a south easterly direction. One day just flowing
into the next, and before we knew it was 28/10 and Geoff's 50th birthday
was upon us. Marina prepared an extra special breakfast, lunch and salad
and also baked a birthday cake. We celebrated and sang happy birthday to
you, and the mood on the boat was jovial. Long strips of cirrus clouds also
appeared above us, and as the night set in, so did the rain as the cold
front was catching up with us. Further down south the eye of the storm was
watching and winking at us. For safety's sake we only had 2nd reef in the
main and genoa sails, and were slowing down quite a bit, expecting stronger
winds which did not come through immediately.
The first sign of something big coming our way was a set of swells that
rolled through under us every now and then. Gently the stronger winds
settled in, not exploding on us as it sometimes does when a squall hits
you. Our weather predictions showed only 25kts of wind and 4.6mtr waves,
but from experience we always times 1 and a half of what is predicted. We
kept to our south easterly course for a while, but as the wind and the
waves grew, we started bearing of bit by bit, and soon we were running east
keeping the wind and waves at safe angle. Starting of in our power zone,
which on catamarans is round about 75 degrees to the wind, it places a lot
of pressure on the rigging. It can take a lot of pressure, but the sea
state can double he pressure as the boat is tossed about in a big seas. And
big the seas did get. Over 7 meter waves were coming through in sets of
three. These waves were coming from where the storm was really raging
further down south. The average ceiling height in a house is 2.4 meters,
times that by three and you will get an idea of size waves we had. Some of
them foaming and breaking over the tops, no ways we want to run sideways up
these monsters. The wind speed topped at about 40 kts, which is just over
70 km/p/hr. Further down south the wind was peaking at 65kts, over 120
km/p/hr.
I get nervous when the sea gets like this. Can't sleep, my stomach stays in
a knot which tightens every time we surf down a big wave, or a big wave
brakes over us. One has a few options when it gets rough like this; face
into it using your motors, run with it, or heave to. Heaving to is a
somewhat magical way of using a bit of main and head sail to work against
each other and keeping the boat at nearly stationary. More for really
extreme conditions. There are pro's and con's to every storm tactic, and we
normally try to run with it, using less and less sail, and placing the
angle of the wind more and more behind you. The ocean dictates what she
wants, and you either oblige or you get wiped out, simple as that. The
beauty of the Maverick named Island Home we are on, is that besides feeling
solid like a rock, she also has a third reef in the main sail. Which means
you can balance the boat perfectly by deploying the small area of mainsail
and add a bit of genoa as conditions dictate. That way the momentum of the
yacht is spreaded and therefore more balanced. Without a third reef you would
just use the genoa, and all the power would be on the bow.It instils a lot of
confidence in your yacht's performance under strong conditions. If you surf
down the waves too fast you get broach, or go head over heel. If you go too
slow, you stall in the trough of the wave and the following waves crashes
over you. The nautical term for that is getting pooped. Anyways, as the wind
speed increased, we were bearing off more and more, and eventually were
sailing with the wind at a 150 degree angle from behind and just the main in
third reef.
The really serious storms I have encountered I can count on one hand, and
having logged more than 200 000nm across the oceans of the world, says a lot
about really big storms at sea. The circumference of planet earth is 22000nm
along the equator, which means I am on my way to having nearly gone around
ten times. When I do get trapped in these huge storms, it becomes a matter of
survival, and I essentially become an animal. Aggression, cursing and
swearing, instinctively you fight with every grain of strength you have. When
you are on the edge of the edge, there is no room for fear. The saving grace
is the only constant factor I know, and that is that things will change. The
storm will abate, just hang in there :), and hope that you are strong enough
both physically and mentally. Physically strong becomes natural when the
adrenalin is pumping, mentally strong comes from somewhere else. As long as
you have a reason to live, you will be mentally strong. I normally visualize
my princess at home waiting for her daddy, and come hell or high water, I
will come home. For her, for my family, for my friends. By far the biggest
part of sailing is pure bliss.
Fortunately the storm we had on Island Home was not even close to being
severe, although it was strong enough to keep me awake for two days. I have a
family on board that trust me to get them to the other side alive, and that
is exactly what I will do. I have unlimited respect for the ocean and all her
moods, and I stay humbly in submission to her will. I am part of the big blue
out here, and at times I am just a piece of flotsam trying to stay afloat. I
have never shed a tear during a violent storm, it is the rainbows afterwards
that brings a tear to my eyes. I hope you have something worth living for,
something worth fighting for. Without that I would be lost.
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Departing from Mauritius on Maverick Island Home
Island Home explored Mauritius for a month, and now it was time again to go
and seek out the deep blue ocean again. I flew in from South Africa and
Tim, Geoff's brother, flew in from Australia on the 17th. Once again, we
were six aboard Island Home, and getting ready ready for our sail to
Fremantle, Australia. Portitis set in a bit, Marina's word for that
restless feeling when you have been sitting in the same spot for a few
days, especially in port. We had to wait for some repair work to be done
and decided to spend the weekend in Grand Bay, the main spot in Mauritius
for yachties. Tim and myself decided to explore a bit and had lunch at the
Beach House. A fairly famous restaurant and pub owned by Cabous van der
Westhuizen, a colourful rugby character from South Africa. Long hair and a
flair for a gap, Cabous is fondly remembered by most South African rugby
fans. We each had a beer to contemplate what we will have for lunch, and
another beer to enjoy with our burger and chips. I have never seen such a
big burger patty anywhere, and the centre was filled with cheese. Donna,
our waittress, made sure we were well looked after.
Monday morning at first light we lifted our anchor and set course back to
Port Louis, a nice and easy downwind run. Our windscreen was supposed to be
replaced on Monday morning and we tied up at the boatyard. It took quite a
bit of time to remove the windscreen which was completed on Monday. On
Tuesday the sealant that held the broken windscreen in place was removed
and a primer was applied and allowed to dry before the windscreen was
sealed into place and allowed to set. Wednesday the outer bead of sealant
was applied and Thursday morning the final finishing touches were done. By
which time we all had a spell of portitis and departed on Diwali which fell
on 23rd October. Tuesday the bulk provisioning was done, and Wednesday
fresh produce was sourced in a fairly big fresh fruit and veggie market. I
was impressed with the quality and variety of fresh produce on sale. Diwali
is a Hindu festival and lots of fireworks can be expected.
We cleared customs and immigration on Wednesday, and on Thursday at about
10am casted off. We called port control on the VHF radio and they granted
us permission to depart. We motored into the wind to round the island on
the north, and set sail under a spectacular cliff called Gunner's Quoin.
Loads of tropical fairy terns were nesting on the cliff. A smallish white
coloured tropical bird with a long white tail. Our sails filled with wind
and we were sailing south for a while before we tacked sailing north east
again to miss Mauritius. When we tacked back we had a good line and sailed
down the easter side of Mauritius. The night set in and bright displays of
fireworks were lighting up the evening skies. Quite a fitting farewell to
this colourful island. Some fairly heavy squalls also kept us on our toes
with fairly strong gusts of wind and heavy rain pouring down for short
periods of time. It was a bit choppy, but once we reached the southern tip
of Mauritius and entered the deeper waters, things settled a bit.
Our route to Australia is taking us in a south easterly direction into the
Southern Ocean from where we will head east towards our destination. Our
weather predictions were fairly accurate and we sailed conservatively with
second reef in our main and head sails for the first night. The wind at
first will be from more or less an easterly direction and slowly back to
north until we get to the westerlies which is the trade mark of the
Southern Ocean. We are not planning to go down too deep in the Southern
Ocean. 40 degrees south is called the roaring forties for a reason. It is
mostly one big storm after the other coming through. We might go down to
38 degrees south to check out an extremely small island called St.Paul, or
to use it as a safe haven should a fierce front come our way. We should be
there in about 8 days or so, and from there on we will curve back up to
Fremantle which is on the south westerly coast of Australia.
Friday we still had some fairly strong weather and kept to our second reef
sail settings. We are doing close to 6kts average since we left Mauritius.
On Friday we also landed a fair size dorado, and today we had a totally
delectable fish curry served on basmati rice prepared by Marina. Just after
lunch the sea was settling nicely and it was time to to get more sail up
and we tied first reef on the main and head sails. Starting to sail really
smoothly and loving every moment being out here. From Mauritius to
Fremantle is about 3250nm and we will probably sail it in three weeks or
so. We have full tanks of diesel on board, but will mostly have to use it
for charging our batteries.
Everyone on board is settling in nicely. Scott had a quick seasick session,
and wished at that moment that he flew to Australia instead of sailing.
Given that it was a bit rough and it was the first few days out, he is once
again in his element and happy to be out here. That is how we know Scotty.
Tim is fine and enjoying his time out here. A bit hot still and his cabin a
bit too hot for his liking, he is joining the saloon sleepers. Smooth and
with a bit of a breeze, definitely the best place to sleep. He woke me
early this morning as there was a ship that was on a collision course with
us. Waited half an hour before calling the ship and requested the captain
to alter their course 10 degrees to starboard to give us room to sail.
Fortunately they have spotted us and have already altered course by 10
degrees, altered another 10 degrees just to give us extra peace of mind,
and wished us a safe journey onwards.
Soon we will have the wind and waves from behind and do what we enjoy doing
most; running with the wind. Wishing you all the best until we touch base
again.
Paul
and seek out the deep blue ocean again. I flew in from South Africa and
Tim, Geoff's brother, flew in from Australia on the 17th. Once again, we
were six aboard Island Home, and getting ready ready for our sail to
Fremantle, Australia. Portitis set in a bit, Marina's word for that
restless feeling when you have been sitting in the same spot for a few
days, especially in port. We had to wait for some repair work to be done
and decided to spend the weekend in Grand Bay, the main spot in Mauritius
for yachties. Tim and myself decided to explore a bit and had lunch at the
Beach House. A fairly famous restaurant and pub owned by Cabous van der
Westhuizen, a colourful rugby character from South Africa. Long hair and a
flair for a gap, Cabous is fondly remembered by most South African rugby
fans. We each had a beer to contemplate what we will have for lunch, and
another beer to enjoy with our burger and chips. I have never seen such a
big burger patty anywhere, and the centre was filled with cheese. Donna,
our waittress, made sure we were well looked after.
Monday morning at first light we lifted our anchor and set course back to
Port Louis, a nice and easy downwind run. Our windscreen was supposed to be
replaced on Monday morning and we tied up at the boatyard. It took quite a
bit of time to remove the windscreen which was completed on Monday. On
Tuesday the sealant that held the broken windscreen in place was removed
and a primer was applied and allowed to dry before the windscreen was
sealed into place and allowed to set. Wednesday the outer bead of sealant
was applied and Thursday morning the final finishing touches were done. By
which time we all had a spell of portitis and departed on Diwali which fell
on 23rd October. Tuesday the bulk provisioning was done, and Wednesday
fresh produce was sourced in a fairly big fresh fruit and veggie market. I
was impressed with the quality and variety of fresh produce on sale. Diwali
is a Hindu festival and lots of fireworks can be expected.
We cleared customs and immigration on Wednesday, and on Thursday at about
10am casted off. We called port control on the VHF radio and they granted
us permission to depart. We motored into the wind to round the island on
the north, and set sail under a spectacular cliff called Gunner's Quoin.
Loads of tropical fairy terns were nesting on the cliff. A smallish white
coloured tropical bird with a long white tail. Our sails filled with wind
and we were sailing south for a while before we tacked sailing north east
again to miss Mauritius. When we tacked back we had a good line and sailed
down the easter side of Mauritius. The night set in and bright displays of
fireworks were lighting up the evening skies. Quite a fitting farewell to
this colourful island. Some fairly heavy squalls also kept us on our toes
with fairly strong gusts of wind and heavy rain pouring down for short
periods of time. It was a bit choppy, but once we reached the southern tip
of Mauritius and entered the deeper waters, things settled a bit.
Our route to Australia is taking us in a south easterly direction into the
Southern Ocean from where we will head east towards our destination. Our
weather predictions were fairly accurate and we sailed conservatively with
second reef in our main and head sails for the first night. The wind at
first will be from more or less an easterly direction and slowly back to
north until we get to the westerlies which is the trade mark of the
Southern Ocean. We are not planning to go down too deep in the Southern
Ocean. 40 degrees south is called the roaring forties for a reason. It is
mostly one big storm after the other coming through. We might go down to
38 degrees south to check out an extremely small island called St.Paul, or
to use it as a safe haven should a fierce front come our way. We should be
there in about 8 days or so, and from there on we will curve back up to
Fremantle which is on the south westerly coast of Australia.
Friday we still had some fairly strong weather and kept to our second reef
sail settings. We are doing close to 6kts average since we left Mauritius.
On Friday we also landed a fair size dorado, and today we had a totally
delectable fish curry served on basmati rice prepared by Marina. Just after
lunch the sea was settling nicely and it was time to to get more sail up
and we tied first reef on the main and head sails. Starting to sail really
smoothly and loving every moment being out here. From Mauritius to
Fremantle is about 3250nm and we will probably sail it in three weeks or
so. We have full tanks of diesel on board, but will mostly have to use it
for charging our batteries.
Everyone on board is settling in nicely. Scott had a quick seasick session,
and wished at that moment that he flew to Australia instead of sailing.
Given that it was a bit rough and it was the first few days out, he is once
again in his element and happy to be out here. That is how we know Scotty.
Tim is fine and enjoying his time out here. A bit hot still and his cabin a
bit too hot for his liking, he is joining the saloon sleepers. Smooth and
with a bit of a breeze, definitely the best place to sleep. He woke me
early this morning as there was a ship that was on a collision course with
us. Waited half an hour before calling the ship and requested the captain
to alter their course 10 degrees to starboard to give us room to sail.
Fortunately they have spotted us and have already altered course by 10
degrees, altered another 10 degrees just to give us extra peace of mind,
and wished us a safe journey onwards.
Soon we will have the wind and waves from behind and do what we enjoy doing
most; running with the wind. Wishing you all the best until we touch base
again.
Paul
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Next stop Mauritius
Out here on the big blue today, the wind has finally decided to take a bit
of a breather. Having blown for days on end from the north-east, the best
we could do to get to Mauritius was close hauling north. We now find
ourselves due west of Reunion and Mauritius, and 200 nautical miles to go.
Just yesterday I was wondering when we will see dolphins again, lo and
behold, this morning they came around for a little bit of fun in the sun.
Last night I had to choose a movie to watch with Scott. Having 2T's of
movies and documentaries to choose from, my eyes fell on Ace Ventura - Pet
Detective. Asked Scott if he has seen it, and nope, at 9 he has not seen
this classic. A classic in my books that is. Jim Carey is certainly one of
my favourite actors for pure mad genius type of acting, and we enjoyed the
movie thoroughly. Which also features a dolphin named Snow White who was
stolen and thus entered Pet Detective Ace Ventura to the rescue. Scott's
brother Phil(15) is the more reserved of the two. They do home schooling
and mommy Marina sees to it that they stick to their schedule. My daughter
Maryna calls it boat schooling, which is probably a more apt description
A lot of ships around the last few days. If you haven't seen a ship for
weeks, two or three ships a day counts for a lot. Nice to have AIS on
board. AIS is a system whereby all ships are required to transmit their AIS
signal. AIS stands for Automatic Identification System. This relays via a
VHF signal the ships vital navigational data. The ship's name, approximate
position, destination, type of ship, speed, direction that the ship is
moving in etc. Radar has been used for many years, and AIS is also assists
to prevents collisions at sea. Radar can only detect a ship in relative
close proximity, whereas AIS detects ships at a much greater distance.
Radar is excellent in many regards, and adding AIS to the equation, makes
travelling the oceans much safer. We have both AIS and radar on board
Island Home.
Our trip is not over yet, and it is prudent to take extra care as one gets
close to your destination. There is a tendency to relax a bit and let your
guard down, when exactly the opposite is required. There are many tales of
people who have sailed around the world, or very nearly before they ran
their boats aground. Car accidents also often happen close to home, focus
focus focus. It is never over until it is over. But thus far it has been an
excellent trip.
While I was writing the above, the alarm was raised by Marina that there are
dolphins around the boat. In a flash we were out on the trampoline and
watching the dolphins doing their antics around the bows of our boat.
Jumping, diving, this way that way we were thoroughly entertained for a
while. Soon the dolphins were gone, they are always such a delightful sight
to behold in their natural environment. Seeing that there were dolphins I
knew there had to be fish in the area as well. Usually tuna. On Marina's
intuition the lures were out early this morning. I went out to see if
everything was in order when I noticed that one of the fishing lines were
taught. I pulled on it and felt that it was a rather big fish fighting the
line. I have taken fish on many times in this manner, and for many years now
leave the battle to someone else so they can also experience this one on one
battle. Jasmijn was nearby and I asked her if she would like to have a go.
She agreed and lots of fun watching the tug of war. As the fish came closer
we once again saw the familiar deep blue body and golden tail carving big zig
zags through the water. Geoff just had a shower and joined in the capture of
the fish. I handed him the gaff, and also got out the T-shaped spiked, or
icky-jimmy as it is also known. We use this to push into the fish's brain and
kill him instantly. I know it sounds cruel, but it is also kind in a way.
Soon Jasmijn had the fish right next to the boat, Geoff gaffed the fish and
lifted the dorado cow onto the sugar scoop. The sugar scoops are the back
part of the hulls on a catamaran. While trying to hold him the fish fought
back and gave Geoff a few slaps on the head with it's tail. I also prepared a
noose line which we tie around the fish's tail, the other end tied to the
boat. There is then no escape. Geoff slit the throat to drain most of the
blood and we then dragged the fish backwards through the water on the noose
line. Geoff have been filleting the last few dorados we landed and this time
I volunteered. Scott also joined in and learned how to remove the scaly skin
with a sharp knife and a cutting board. For a biology lesson I carefulle
sliced the fish belly open exposing the heart, lungs, liver and stomach. I
remove the stomach and asked Scott to squeeze the tummy a bit and feel the
remains of bait fish inside. He was not to keen on squeezing it out, just
slightly squeamish. It is a rather squirmy type of job, but soon I had the
tummy inside out and we found an interesting array of small fish, half
dissolved already. Marina mentioned that the floppy tummy turned inside out
looks a bit like a male part, which it does if you look at it in a way. Soon
the fish was filleted and we also cut some strips for fish biltong. We washed
the deck thoroughly and then proceeded stringing on the biltong strips we
prepared from our dorado catch yesterday. Real easy, just place it in a bowl
and add liberal amounts of soya sauce. Leave it overnight to soak in and hang
it up the next day. In two days it will ready for nibbling on during night
watches. Except that we should be in Mauritius in the next two days.
Nonetheless I am sure it will be thoroughly enjoyed by one and all.
Since I was busy anyway I volunteered to make lunch as well. Spaghetti
bolognaise is Scott's favourite and he assisted me wherever he could. Phil
also joined in and grated some parmesan cheese, and at about 2pm, we were
ready to start our meal. I came back to my cabin to finish the blog when I
heard a bit of activity outside wth Scott calling me. Geoff had the diving
ladder down and the boys had there feet in the water. I recommended we throw
a line out and attach a floating fender to the end of the line. Soon Jasmijn
was in the water while we were motoring slowly and having a ball. Geoff jumed
in soon after, then Phil, and finally Scott, who had a self-inflatable life
jacked on. What a laugh it was as he was just halfway in the water when the
life jacked imploded. The shocked, amazed and confused expression on his
face makes me laugh even now while writing this. Anyways, we had a fantastic
day, a beautiful sunset. In the distance we can maybe make out Reunion, or
maybe not. We will be right next to it when it gets light tomorrow morning. A
beautiful volcanic island with high peaks, the highest over 3000 mtrs.
Anyways, hope you are having a great weekend too. From Island Home, salute.
of a breather. Having blown for days on end from the north-east, the best
we could do to get to Mauritius was close hauling north. We now find
ourselves due west of Reunion and Mauritius, and 200 nautical miles to go.
Just yesterday I was wondering when we will see dolphins again, lo and
behold, this morning they came around for a little bit of fun in the sun.
Last night I had to choose a movie to watch with Scott. Having 2T's of
movies and documentaries to choose from, my eyes fell on Ace Ventura - Pet
Detective. Asked Scott if he has seen it, and nope, at 9 he has not seen
this classic. A classic in my books that is. Jim Carey is certainly one of
my favourite actors for pure mad genius type of acting, and we enjoyed the
movie thoroughly. Which also features a dolphin named Snow White who was
stolen and thus entered Pet Detective Ace Ventura to the rescue. Scott's
brother Phil(15) is the more reserved of the two. They do home schooling
and mommy Marina sees to it that they stick to their schedule. My daughter
Maryna calls it boat schooling, which is probably a more apt description
A lot of ships around the last few days. If you haven't seen a ship for
weeks, two or three ships a day counts for a lot. Nice to have AIS on
board. AIS is a system whereby all ships are required to transmit their AIS
signal. AIS stands for Automatic Identification System. This relays via a
VHF signal the ships vital navigational data. The ship's name, approximate
position, destination, type of ship, speed, direction that the ship is
moving in etc. Radar has been used for many years, and AIS is also assists
to prevents collisions at sea. Radar can only detect a ship in relative
close proximity, whereas AIS detects ships at a much greater distance.
Radar is excellent in many regards, and adding AIS to the equation, makes
travelling the oceans much safer. We have both AIS and radar on board
Island Home.
Our trip is not over yet, and it is prudent to take extra care as one gets
close to your destination. There is a tendency to relax a bit and let your
guard down, when exactly the opposite is required. There are many tales of
people who have sailed around the world, or very nearly before they ran
their boats aground. Car accidents also often happen close to home, focus
focus focus. It is never over until it is over. But thus far it has been an
excellent trip.
While I was writing the above, the alarm was raised by Marina that there are
dolphins around the boat. In a flash we were out on the trampoline and
watching the dolphins doing their antics around the bows of our boat.
Jumping, diving, this way that way we were thoroughly entertained for a
while. Soon the dolphins were gone, they are always such a delightful sight
to behold in their natural environment. Seeing that there were dolphins I
knew there had to be fish in the area as well. Usually tuna. On Marina's
intuition the lures were out early this morning. I went out to see if
everything was in order when I noticed that one of the fishing lines were
taught. I pulled on it and felt that it was a rather big fish fighting the
line. I have taken fish on many times in this manner, and for many years now
leave the battle to someone else so they can also experience this one on one
battle. Jasmijn was nearby and I asked her if she would like to have a go.
She agreed and lots of fun watching the tug of war. As the fish came closer
we once again saw the familiar deep blue body and golden tail carving big zig
zags through the water. Geoff just had a shower and joined in the capture of
the fish. I handed him the gaff, and also got out the T-shaped spiked, or
icky-jimmy as it is also known. We use this to push into the fish's brain and
kill him instantly. I know it sounds cruel, but it is also kind in a way.
Soon Jasmijn had the fish right next to the boat, Geoff gaffed the fish and
lifted the dorado cow onto the sugar scoop. The sugar scoops are the back
part of the hulls on a catamaran. While trying to hold him the fish fought
back and gave Geoff a few slaps on the head with it's tail. I also prepared a
noose line which we tie around the fish's tail, the other end tied to the
boat. There is then no escape. Geoff slit the throat to drain most of the
blood and we then dragged the fish backwards through the water on the noose
line. Geoff have been filleting the last few dorados we landed and this time
I volunteered. Scott also joined in and learned how to remove the scaly skin
with a sharp knife and a cutting board. For a biology lesson I carefulle
sliced the fish belly open exposing the heart, lungs, liver and stomach. I
remove the stomach and asked Scott to squeeze the tummy a bit and feel the
remains of bait fish inside. He was not to keen on squeezing it out, just
slightly squeamish. It is a rather squirmy type of job, but soon I had the
tummy inside out and we found an interesting array of small fish, half
dissolved already. Marina mentioned that the floppy tummy turned inside out
looks a bit like a male part, which it does if you look at it in a way. Soon
the fish was filleted and we also cut some strips for fish biltong. We washed
the deck thoroughly and then proceeded stringing on the biltong strips we
prepared from our dorado catch yesterday. Real easy, just place it in a bowl
and add liberal amounts of soya sauce. Leave it overnight to soak in and hang
it up the next day. In two days it will ready for nibbling on during night
watches. Except that we should be in Mauritius in the next two days.
Nonetheless I am sure it will be thoroughly enjoyed by one and all.
Since I was busy anyway I volunteered to make lunch as well. Spaghetti
bolognaise is Scott's favourite and he assisted me wherever he could. Phil
also joined in and grated some parmesan cheese, and at about 2pm, we were
ready to start our meal. I came back to my cabin to finish the blog when I
heard a bit of activity outside wth Scott calling me. Geoff had the diving
ladder down and the boys had there feet in the water. I recommended we throw
a line out and attach a floating fender to the end of the line. Soon Jasmijn
was in the water while we were motoring slowly and having a ball. Geoff jumed
in soon after, then Phil, and finally Scott, who had a self-inflatable life
jacked on. What a laugh it was as he was just halfway in the water when the
life jacked imploded. The shocked, amazed and confused expression on his
face makes me laugh even now while writing this. Anyways, we had a fantastic
day, a beautiful sunset. In the distance we can maybe make out Reunion, or
maybe not. We will be right next to it when it gets light tomorrow morning. A
beautiful volcanic island with high peaks, the highest over 3000 mtrs.
Anyways, hope you are having a great weekend too. From Island Home, salute.
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