Hugh
11/07/08, St Helena

This was after we had rounded the north end of the Island and were lining up the anchorage just below all the houses on above the cliff.......

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Hugh
11/07/08, St Helena

Then one day we came across St Helena.....what a site that was........

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Hugh
11/07/08, Atlantic

This was some of our first catches at sea........every morning I would have to walk around the deck to pick up all the dead flying fish that comes aboard during the night. Some people actually fry them up but they were too boney for us, so we just threw them back overboard. This was our only type catches between Luderitz and St Helena.

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Hugh
11/07/08, Atlantic

Some beauty at sea...

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Hugh
11/07/08, Luderitz

Then eventually we left.....this was just out the harbour...before we ran into fog again, but typical coastline.

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Hugh
11/07/08, Luderitz

They claim this to be their best beach.......

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Hugh
11/07/08, Luderitz

Luderitz was very cold and foggy but we did get desparate for a braai........

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Hugh
11/07/08, Luderitz

Great buildings...

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Hugh
11/07/08, Luderitz

Looking across the town towards the harbour

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Hugh
11/07/08, Luderitz

In town......they do have tarred roads but....

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Hugh
11/07/08, Jacare, Brazil

So we crossed the Atlantic........now what....Well now I am back in Angola doing another stint of work, I arrived back yesterday, 10th July and will be here until the 7th August. We are planning on staying in Brazil for my next hitch off work, so will not be moving the boat. We hope to do some tours around Brazil, would like to see Rio and Salvador. But for now I would like to add a few photos from where we left off in Namibia.
The crossing went off well but I did feel a lot of pressure with our arrangement of Work/Sail which was not always enjoyable. We were getting to one stage, in Namibia, where we were within a week of calling it all off for this year as we were being delayed with bad weather in the Atlantic, which we were told was so unusual for the Atlantic. But we got away ok from Luderitz, yet in fog. The seas between Luderitz and St Helena were very uncomfortable, we kept on wondering if we were crossing the correct ocean, as the Atlantic is supposed...to be the easiest.....well after 14 days and on my birthday, we arrived in St Helena, the last 2 nights were the worst. After 5 days in St Helena, after lots of rain, we said our goodbyes to St Helena and we set course for Brazil. We wanted to stop off at Ascension Island but because of our schedule......we had to miss it. Then on this leg we had some of our best sailing ever, we had about 10-12 days of steady winds where we never touched our sails or the windvane, and Pizzazz just sailed along on her own, we caught a nice big fish, after only seeing dead flying fish on the deck every morning up till then, so it was very welcome at that stage. But after 17days, we saw land on the other side, our last 2 day/nights we had a lot of rain squalls which made things interesting again. We motored up the river to Jacare where we anchored and were quite pleased with ourselves.

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Hugh
01/07/08, Jacare, Brazil

Well we arrived in Brazil on Sunday, (think 30th June!!). Internet was a problem in St Helena, so could not update the blog. We sailed for 14 days from Luderitz to St Helena, stayed for 5 days and then sailed straight through to Jacare, Brazil, which took 17 days. So we are both well and now busy organising our trip back and a safe place for Pizzazz. So keep checking, will update blog with more info and photos soon.

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Hugh
23/05/08, Luderitz

Well the weather looks good to leave tomorrow, Saturday 24th May, checking out today Friday and sailing for St Helena, so could be a while before we are available again.....

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15/05/08, Luderitz

Typical Luderitz scenery......

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Hugh
15/05/08, Luderitz

Pizzazz moored in very different surroundings

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Hugh
15/05/08, Luderitz

Our mooring in front of the Luderitz Yacht Club

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Hugh
15/05/08, Luderitz

This is sailing into Luderitz on emergency tiller steering, and fog....and very cold........lots of fun.......

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Hugh
15/05/08, Luderitz

We passed Cape Town early the next morning with no wind, so had to do quite a bit of motoring.

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Hugh
15/05/08, Luderitz

Leaving Simonstown with a wind from the front, so had to tack to get out of False Bay. We rounded the Cape Point just as it was getting dark.

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Hugh
15/05/08, Luderitz

Well we are still stuck in Luderitz, the weather is just not playing the game.....we are waiting for favourable weather but it seems like we have left it too late in the year. We have been given a 35-40 knot wind forecast on our route to St Helena and may have to sit for another week or so. will keep you posted.

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Hugh
08/05/08, Luderitz

Well we were on our way to St Helena when we got news of a front that would affect us, so after 4 days of sailing towards St Helena, we change our course for Luderitz. It was a difficult course as we were in a gale at the time and got news to run from a worse gale. We had to cross the SE winds and SW swell, so was very uncomfortable, the seas were the biggest we had seen before. Things carmed down as we got closer to Luderitz but it got very...very cold and also sailed into mist. But on our 6th day we approached Luderitz harbour and eventually picked up a bouy in front of the yacht club. We have enjoyed our stay here and are hoping to leave on the weekend 10th/11th, but weather permitting. I tried to load photos but the system here cannot handle it so will have to load another time, Thanks for all the e-mails and messages and we will keep in touch, chow for now. Hugh & Glyn

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Hugh
27/04/08, Simonstown - Cape Town

So the day has finally arrived for us to sail away into the sunset. We have had a busy week preparing and final provisioning. We had a few problems sorted and others that surfaced as well. So we are hoping to sail away at about 1 to 2 o'clock today the 27th, and everything going well we should hopefully arrive in St Helena in about 2 weeks or so, we have decided to give Luderitz a miss, as we are leaving a few days later than we wanted to, so until St Helena, cheers to all.

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Hugh
16/04/08, Simonstown - Cape Town

Well the time has come for us to start thinking of leaving, I am on my last day of work 16th April, for the next 12 weeks and looking forward to getting out of here and onto Pizzazz in Cape Town. We should be back on Pizzazz on Saturday, to do our last bit of preparation for our departure for Brazil. We have hired a car for a few days to speed up the process. We hope to complete everything that is required and then leave before next weekend, 26th April.
Our planned route from here is still to sail up the coast towards Luderitz, Namibia, stay there for a few days to rest and do last diesel, water and provisions for the crossing to St Helena.
We will hopefully do a last entry before we leave Simonstown, next week some time, so until then......

Route plan

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Hugh
26/03/08, Cape Town

A shot of the mountain range around Table Mountain from Signal hill.....

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Hugh
26/03/08, Cape Town

This is a shot from Signal Hill, of Table Bay with the famous Robben Island in the distance......

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Hugh
26/03/08, Simonstown-Cape Town

A view from the moorings of False Bay Yacht Club......

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Hugh
22/03/08, Simonstown-Cape Town

So with quite a few jobs off the list, we are just about ready, some final packing and tying up to do when we arrive again on the 19th April. We have had a great time in Simonstown, the Club has been great and am pleased we decided on going to Simonstown. The picture is the Simonstown waterfront as seen from the bow of Pizzazz, the house just below the house on the hill with the green roof........is our new friends, Ralph & Pats house, so can imagine the great view from there...

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Hugh
22/03/08, Simonstown-Cape Town

We were also lucky to be in town for the Navy Festival weekend. There were German Navy ships visiting and doing practice operations with the South African Navy. Saturday night they were shooting flares into the bay and firing rounds with tracers, so was quite a noisy weekend but a great weekend with canons firing through out the day, sounded like a war going on......

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Hugh
22/03/08, Simonstown

On the 9th March we had the Argus Cycle race come through town and was very festive and a beautiful morning weatherwise, not a breath of wind and clear sky's

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Hugh
22/03/08, Simonstown-Cape Town

We met some great new friends and we also had some great old friends visiting as well. Our friend Peter from the yacht "Ianda" who we met in Richards Bay, was there and also checked on Pizzazz when we were away, which we were very greatful for. We met George & Colleen from the yacht "Affirmation" who we had some great evening with and helped us tremendously with transport and tours around Cape Town. We also met Ralph, Pat & Maureen, Ralph & Pat are resident in Simonstown and Pat's sister was visiting from Wales, super people and also had great evenings with them and thank them for a great...uninvited braai at their house with an excellent view of the bay. We also had friends Pam And Graham visiting from Hondurus, who also took us around on a tour and to visit other friend, Gerry & Yvonne in HoutBay and then we had our great friends Francois & Mads visiting and giving us more tours of Cape Town, so a great time was had by all.....

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Hugh
22/03/08, Simonstown-Cape Town

And then he had to rest for the evening.......

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Hugh
22/03/08, Simonstown

We had 3 to 4 seals roaming the walk-ons day and night, but we had one that used to consantly catch his or her fish at night, right next to our boat. The walk-on light attracts the fish and the fish attracts the seal. While sleeping at night we would wake up with him bumping & pushing against Pizzazz. We offen sat before we retired, watching him catch these fish. This spot attacted many spectators, sometimes 5-6 people standing watching....

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Hugh
22/03/08, Cape Town

After arriving back in SA from another stint in Angola, Glyn & I had a great breakfast with my father & brothers in Pretoria on the Saturday morning and then spent Saturday night with Glyn's sister Di, for her birthday. On the Sunday we flew down to Cape Town. We spent just short of 4 weeks on Pizzazz, preparing her for her crossing to Brazil and also just chilling out. We decided to work in the mornings and then play in the afternoons, False Bay Yacht Club has a really great setting....when the wind does not blow.........

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10/02/08, Simonstown-Cape Town

Able Seaman Just Nuisance, R.N.
Great Dane - Great Friend "Just Nuisance", as the dog was to become known by, was by all accounts born on Thursday, 1st April 1937 in Rondebosch, a suburb in the south peninsula of Cape Town.
At an early age, the pup was sold to a Benjamin Chaney who moved to Simon's Town to run the United Services Institute (USI). The USI was frequented mainly by the Royal Navy sailors - The Royal Navy at that time being in charge of the Simon's Town Naval Base. This Great Dane soon grew to be a massive dog and it was here in Simon's Town that he was to become a legend.

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Hugh
10/02/08, Simonstown-Cape Town

A view of the main street in Simonstown

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Hugh
01/02/08, Simonstown-Cape Town

Crew - Peter & Mandy

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Hugh
01/02/08, Simonstown-Cape Town

Crew - Di

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Hugh
01/02/08, Simonstown-Cape Town

Crew- Hugh & Glyn

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Hugh
01/02/08, Simonstown-Cape Town

View of the Club House.....

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Hugh
01/02/08, Simonstown-Cape Town

View from the club house...

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Hugh
01/02/08, Simonstown-Cape Town

All safely tied up...........the wind did not stop for 5 days.....chafed through 3 ropes in 3 days.......

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Hugh
01/02/08, Simonstown-Cape Town

The emergency tiller worked very well, but by this time, we did not know at the time, but people were recording 58 knots on the moorings. As we approached the yacht club, we were protected by the Naval base harbour wall, before rounding directly into the wind....towards the mooring. Pizzazz moved on very slowly, but we noticed an empty mooring, just where we needed one, so we headed straight for it, luckily there was help waiting on the mooring, but could only get on with a second attempt. Once safely on the mooring, we were all relieved....but also very happy that Pizzazz had done so well and we were all ready for a cold beer.

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Hugh
01/02/08, Simonstown

So with Simonstown just 15 miles away, entering Valsbaai, Pizzazz was closing in very quickly, with the SE wind still blowing 20-25 knots and the seas up about 3-4 meters, Pizzazz surfing on every swell. We just had Roman rock with in our sights, when we noticed that we had lost our hydraulic steering, I switched from hydraulic to manual steering, so had to install our emergency steering tiller, I then went and topped up the hydraulic fluid but did not need much so this was not the problem, I then checked our hydraulic rams in the aft cabin bunk and then thought we had sheered a bolt, so we had to then plan our entry into Simonstown Yacht Club............

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Hugh
01/02/08, Simonstown-Cape Town

Once the SW had blown itself out and the wind moved to more Southerly and then South Easterly, we had another 100 odd miles to cover. By the morning of the 24th Jan, the SE wind had really picked up and with it the seas as well. Pizzazz was handling this very well and we were all happy to see all the mountains of the cape ahead of us. Beck's, our windvanes was a real treat, he was steering like a real champion...

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Hugh
01/02/08, Simonstown-Cape Town

By the time we were passing Mossel Bay, we heard there was a weak, 12 knots SW wind at Cape Agulhas so we decided to continue on, as we were sailing along quite comfortably at that stage. Our new Autohelm autopilot decided to stop working so we were sailing with "Becks", our windpilot steering. As we approached Cape Agulhas, the wind did change to SW, but were sailing quite comfortably in to it, until we noticed some water coming into the forward heads, by the time we noticed it we had to spring into action, so turned Pizzazz around and then decided to hove to, to keep the water off the bow, we eventually pumped the bilge dry and then investigated the cause. We found that we had fitted a electric windlass (anchor winch) to the bow, and where the chain entered through the anchor locker, there was a big hole for the chain, and the anchor locker was not draining quick enough, so the locker filled and the water entered through this hole, so we covered the anchor locker with plactic bags and cloths, as best we could, and decided to hove to until the SW wind changed to more southerly or easterly, which took about 30 hours of hove to......

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Hugh
01/02/08, Cape Town

We had some wonderful sunsets..........much to Di's delight

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Hugh
01/02/08, Cape Town

When we left Richards Bay we had a very weak SE wind so had to do a lot of motoring, once in the current it gave us a very comfortable boost. We passed Durban after 12 hours and were happy to be continuing on to East London. Finally after about 24 hours we got about 15 knots of NE wind and with the main & a poled out genoa, we were moving along nicely in about 4 knots of current.

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Hugh
01/02/08, Cape Town

So we finally got to start our voyage. When I arrived at the boat on the 11th Jan, Glyn & Di had got Pizzazz ship shape for her trip and we had a few final things to organise and load. Everything just fell into place, we had a spinnaker pole, Windvane and a garage that we did not know what to do with and within 2 days, all was sold, so we were pleased with that. Although it took a week to get going and say all our goodbyes, we were very fortunate to have our friend Gunter around, as he was a great help to us in our final moments and appreciate all the help he gave us, Jenny in the office was also a great help in getting our garage sold in such short notice, thanks Jen. So the weather window arrived that we were looking for, as we wanted to get past Durban at least, so on Thursday the 17th Jan we let go the mooring lines and Pizzazz was on her way..........Bye-bye Zululand Yacht Club.......thanks for some fantastic friends & memories!!!

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Hugh
03/01/08, Richards Bay, South Africa

Well we are one week away to me arriving back at Pizzazz and being ready to leave. Glyn & Di (Glyn's sister) are leaving Joburg tomorrow on the bus for Richards Bay. They are going to be doing a few last bits & pieces preparing Pizzazz for her first leg of her voyage.
We are hoping to sail from Richards Bay to Port Elizabeth or further, we are hoping to at least miss Durban. I will be weather watching next week and we will see how we get on, so until then.....

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Hugh
10/12/07, Richards Bay, South Africa

Amazing what a boat can take!!!

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