Charts and other things
12 January 2016 | Simon's Town, SA
Bill/still blowing like stink!
Just after 0600 this morning the wind died off for a short time, that is if you call 20 knots "died off". Mother Nature was nice enough to shift the wind just a tad when it came back(0700)so now we are still getting battered but it's no longer hitting us at 30 degrees off the starboard side. It's now pretty much right on the bow. When the wind hit us at the 30 degrees off the starboard side, it would push our poor hull up against the the dock crushing the 5 fenders we have along the side. We've been adjusting them and adjusting them over the last 4-5 days as they slowly make their way down toward the water. The rope we use to hold them in place just keeps slipping as the crushing hull doesn't allow any give when the boat shifts it position in the wind. For the time being, we are no longer slamming up against the dock and that's just fine with me(and the fenders too).
Another catamaran came in this morning after a long haul getting here. He(a single hander) lost his auto pilot about 30 hours out. He also ripped his genoa to shreds along with his mainsail during the trip here. Seeing the forecast, I'm not surprised. The marina manager along with 4 workers climbed into a big workboat/dinghy and went out and tied up to his side and brought him in. There were another 5 of us waiting on the dock to take in his lines. The wind was still blowing at over 20 knots so we knew it was going to take some work to get him secured but all went well and we got him all tied off. As we left him, he was dragging out more lines to better secure himself to the dock.
We are waiting for the FedEx man to show up today. He's bringing our replacement bank card since ours was stolen in Richard's Bay. He's supposed to be here by 1300. Fed Ex called us last Thursday and told us they had the envelope and would deliver it sometime this week. Today just might be the day. Meanwhile, we aren't leaving till it gets here.
Update on the card. By 1400, I called Fed Ex and was told it wasn't delivered today. "Yes, I know"I told the man on the phone. "When will it show up". "Probably not today"was his response. Mine:"where can I pick it up". His:"I don't know, let me check on it". A few minutes on hold and he came back with "he should be there in 90 minutes". That would make his arrival at 1530. At 1500(always inpatient) I called back and was told that "because of the fires in Simon's Town(where we are), the roads are closed and no drivers can get through". My response:"I'm out on the main road to Simon's Town and I don't see any fires and all the roads I've been on are open". Her response"We haven't been able to get ahold of the driver so we are checking with the office manager. Please hold". A few minutes later, I was told:"He should be there by 1600". Amazingly, he did show up just about 1600 and we got our card. YEA!!! Another problem off the list.no
With it now being after 1600, I could get on Skype and call B & G, the people that make our new chart plotter. We've been trying to download the charts for it since last Friday. To make a long story short, after spending close to five hours on the phone(got disconnected 3 times), we finally got it all downloaded. One thing we did figure out was that each chart pack(i'd bought 2) has to go in it's own SD card. You can't put two different chart areas on one SD card. In the end, I finally finished the download and installation just before 0100 this AM! A long day and frustrating night.
As for the fires mentioned above, there is ash blowing in with the winds and it's covering everything that's exposed and even getting inside. We've had all the hatches and port lights closed for days not only because of the winds but the ash. It's going to take a good bit of work to get it all cleaned off. Every boat is covered in the stuff, some more than others. The catamarans have it bad since they have so much more deck space and their cockpits act like a big wind scoop so it gets in and doesn't get out leaving black soot everywhere. It's not a smart thing to wear white or light color shorts when sitting outside. They don't stay that way long. Add in the blowing sand and it's darn near impossible to keep your boat clean.
The picture today is of the Cape of Good Hope. Winds were blowing about 50 to 60 knots while we were there. Hard to breathe in that wind, let alone stand with out hanging on to something.