09/02/2010
Pic: RMS at sunset
It's rather strange sailing a boat without a name. Boat names are rather special and often bring out the character of the vessel. Here however we only have a number and whilst it is serving us well it's just not thee same. The lack of a name was highlighted with our short stop at the island of St. Helena. We soon got used to calling the authorities with our number however.
The short stop allowed us to catch up with some much needed work that was not possible whilst on the move, and should stand us in good stead with the condition of the boat later in the delivery. It was possible to go ashore and top up some supply items and stretch our legs a bit. We all enjoyed the visit to the island, with its special nature and the utter friendliness of the people. For me it was wonderful to be able to say Hi and reacquaint with so many friends from previous visits. Walking up the main street into town was a slow process as there was someone to greet every few steps.
Yeah for a county with NO cells phones... Mark was able to get a cell phone charger, and with a little sticky tape, chewing gum and the helpfulness of the islanders it has been converted into an ebook charger, so the library is open... a good thing too as all the mp3 players are now dead due to the laptops inability to charge items via the USB port, means that there is alot of reading to do, as the only 'classical music' we have 3 CD of Elvis!!!- thank you, thank you very muuuch.
There was a great deal of activity as the RMS St. Helena, the islands supply ship, also arrived on Friday. It had brought with it "THE QUEENS BATON" which is a special baton with a message from Queen Elizabeth ll to all the Commonwealth countries around the world. This baton will continue on it's ways to all the member countries while making its way to the Commonwealth Games later this year. Various events were held to let as many people see and pass it on as possible. Leaving the island yesterday afternoon it was already low on the horizon when the sunset in spectacular fashion. The western sky was ablaze with oranges, reds and pinks in a sight to behold. Darker clouds provided a framework to the scene and gave it great perspective and depth. During the spectacle the RMS St. Helena passed us way off to port on her way to Ascension Island and looked splendid adding to the wonderful sight. I still say one can only get these sunsets out here on the ocean! Having left in light conditions which have improved a little we are now continuing on our way northwards.
Cheers Tom, Mark and Troye.
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Comments [2]
Hi Hannes, I am sure Tom will be keen to hear about this. I am going to forward your comment, and all other comments, to him.
05/02/2010, St Helena Island
Arrived safely yesterday at St. Helena.
Wonderful to be here again.
Cheers, Tom
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03/02/2010
I have written about the green flash on other voyages and once again at sun-set all eyes are peeled to the West hoping to see the phenomena. As the last tip of the sun sinks below the horizon refraction of the light takes place and the colours are separated resulting in a brief flash of green to the horizon. With much cloud cover present lately there have not been many opportunities for a sun-set even, although a few days ago with a clearer horizon and quite good reds and oranges we watched with bated breaths in anticipation. The briefest green crown topped the suns arc as it dipped below the horizon. Demonstrating it's elusiveness Mark and I witnessed it whilst Troye, having missed it was wondering what it was all about.
From a few days out of Cape Town we often start seeing flying fish. They dart out of the water and skim across the waves to escape an approaching peril. Rising singly and in small groups of up to 8 or 10 they are fascinating to watch. Yesterday afternoon the sea suddenly boiled and looking like locusts rising from the ground a great hoard of flying fish erupted from the water to skim away from our path. Certainly the most that I have ever seen at once took off and flitted over the waves to safety. There were literally hundreds! Now the question, was it a flock, flight, swarm or school as they traveled through the air?
Mark was reminded of the Peter Sellars "Pink Panther" movie where he was
asked "Does your dog bite?:...." As weight constraints are an issue for flying back, asked Tom "Does your laptop have a USB port?" To which Tom
replied "Yes!!!!" However when the need arose we discovered that the laptop is his communications computer of many voyages is a vintage model running Windows 98 nogal. Needless to say that without the required drivers Marks electronic book could not be charged. The library is now happily collecting electrons.
The steady south east trade winds have been kind to us the last few days
with good daily runs being recorded. Running on the same tack with little
change to our heady our track moved across the chart in a straight line
slightly high on the direct course to St. Helena. After doing our noon position readings we gybed to head for the north east corner of the island. Anticipation is high as we expect to reach our first objective some time tomorrow.
Cheers, The Crew on A4018.
P.S. The sea is still blue!
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01/02/2010, 19 deg 51 min S; 000 deg 06 E
Ten days out and the ship-board routine has really settled in.
Watch-keeping is paramount and governs all other activities. Without the boat on track and sailing efficiently we won't be going any where. Although with the earlier contrary winds I thought that was actually the case.The South East winds have been with us a few days now and we have been going on a much better straight course for St. Helena with improved daily mileages.
The ocean around us has also changed, and much for the better. I wanted to comment before about it. Leaving the in-shore zone of water which darker in colour, here we have the most beautiful clear blue water. What I fondly call "The Big Blue." So clear that you can see right through it.
Also not mentioned before, and chastising me for it is our forth crew member on board. Moby has been my sailing companion for several years now and is quite peeved that I took him for granted and did not introduce him properly.The little bear wearing his sailor suit is now sitting at the "chart table"seeing that we fill the log book in correctly. Perched on the fire blanket he has a good view of the proceedings and has the blanket at the ready should we need it at the galley stove.
Speaking of the galley, food is the other big daily routine. We have taken to having all our meals together and I must say that it is most pleasant for me and I am sure the others too. Frequently crews have their breakfasts as they need it as some are sleeping or going on or off watch. We wait until all three of us are awake, usually at about seven and then eat together, most civilized. Outside on the patio by the pool, my dear! This mornings breakfast was beans on toast, whilst Saturday's lunch was a baked bread and butter pudding. Evening meals have consisted of such fare as chicken and vegetable bake, various pastas and also chops pot-fried with onions and peppers. Doing the in a pot avoids the inevitable splashing of a frying pan. Mark is an excellent chopper of veggies and such things and has been turning out the greatest cole-slaws.
Today we passed from the Trades weather forecast area into the St. Helena area. Another indication of our progress.
I understand that Shaun has started the web-blog up again with the addressat www.sailblogs.com/member/zs1ta
Cheers, Tom
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29/01/2010, 25 deg 46 min S 06 deg 57 min E
One week in, one tack, one gybe, and a whole lot of fuel later .... the South Easterly Trade winds have arrived! Sailing goose-winged Tom has achieved the sea speed record to-date of 8.8 knots ( Scratch that ,Troye just managed a 9.2 whilst typing this note) some excillirating sailing due to the limitations of the main on a run ie the standing rig is in the way.
On the biological front, the Atlantic has shown its bio-diversic hand in the form of two whales (possibly southern rights, from the curve of their back and the small dorsal fin ), two glow-in the dark dolphins, a turtle and an ex- flying fish (found aft of the starboard bow). Aerially consisted of the odd big brown, and big grey jobs. bbj and bgj respectively.
The shooting stars have been just heavenly, set against the back drop of
Mars in the east and Venus about 5 degrees off the port bow. These where only noticed due to the lack-luster performance of the Sun to show a Green Flash.
Barring Troye's two to nothing "opps another washing up item just went off the back , and smacks of someone not wanting to scrub the decks" A4018 is starting to have quite sparkle, now that the grime of Cape Town has finally been removed.
Thanks to Mark for the opening to today's blurb sheet. He had his birthday
yesterday which was duly celebrated with rich fruit cake and custard.
Since leaving we have been frustrated with contrary winds and hot days. The up side was that we were able to get the boat cleaned from the city grime whilst "sailing" more evenly and being able to dig beep into the bucket of elbow grease.
With the south east winds have come a lot of clouds and we are all feeling the cooler temperatures today. The rain squalls on the 6 to 9 watch brought a refreshing feeling and with a chamois put the sparkle back on the windows.
For those new to our sailing circle I carry a long range SSB radio which allows getting weather information and also being able to get these messages out via an amateur radio system. By it's nature we can not do long messages or take extensive mails, but will do our best to keep all informed.
A daily position report gets sent out with the noon utc position and a short text quote of the day ( 80 characters ). This can be viewed at www.shiptrak.org Enter callsign ZS1TA in the top left box and the click on view last 30 days in the drop down box. Wait for the google map to load with the plots, (or you can click on the latest position link on the right of this page. Shaun).
I see that Shaun is adding to the blog site again, so Thank you Shaun.
So much for today, see you all next time.
Cheers, Tom
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27/01/2010
Winds have died out here and progress painfully slow.
Ran APRS beacon yesterday and was picked up by some igates.
Maybe you want to see if can find on internet, search aprs findu.
Cheers,
Tom
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27/01/2010
Hi Everyone,
The frenetic activity and preparations did not seem to want to end but then
the moment arrived and we were at the Port authorities clearing out. With
Emigration and Customs formalities completed we took "MOORINGS A4018" to the fuel bunker to load up our tanks and additional plastic barrels with
hopefully sufficient fuel to take us to the Mediterranean.
It is strange for me as I have always sailed a named vessel, and these names bear an association with the owners or crews and are a significant part of any vessel at sea. Here however we have a sailing catamaran destined for the charter market and although only having a number will no doubt provide a great deal of pleasure to many.
The time since leaving we have been getting accustomed to her sailing needs and are fast learning the tweaks to keep going efficiently. The winds have not been too kind in that they have not really come along to play with on our adventure to Gocek. The Westerly that came up just after leaving took us along for the first night with ease although a little north of our intended route. It was felt that it was OK as the anticipated south easterly winds would bring us back on track. This however has not happened and what little wind there has been has come from the north.
This morning we motored again for several hours. This gained some miles in
the calm and also charged the batteries. Significantly we have had to concentrate on a lot of boat cleaning. This is a major part of each days effort as the boat was in the harbour for the holiday period and got covered in all sorts of grime. Washing and hosing on the mooring several times just did not seem to get rid of it all. Now at least out here we are able to make progress as the dirt is not replaced as we clean away. To think that we also breath all that grime and pollution whilst in the city. Scary thought but a reality!
Now about 350 miles from Cape Town at position 30 deg 10 min S, 13 deg 07min E.
We are enjoying the Sunday afternoon with a little cool jazz.
Cheers, Tom
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05/03/2009, Cape Town
Position on 5 March 2009 at 1500 UTC: 33 deg 45.1 S, 018 deg 08.2 E.
Die Suid-Oos het ons toe redelik goed karnuffel - met 3 reefs in die main en reef op jib het ons vir 36 uur teen hom gestoei. Die gevolg was dat hy ons meer as 100 see myl (180 km) noord van ons beplande posisie gestoot het tot regoor Saldanha baai. Vanoggend vroeg het hy sy greep verswak en op plat see seil ons nou teen die wind Suid na Kaapstad. Ons is tans 3 uur vanaf Kaapstad.
Gedurende die vorige nag het 'n brander met 'n paar ton water ons reg op die kant getref - die gevolg was dat die baie sterk klein porthole venster van Andre se cabin in sy toe-poesisie,die metal ramwerk gebuig het en water ingestroom het. Nood reparasies (die opsny van n bad kamermatjie) kon die meeste water vir die res van die nag buite gehou word. Vanoggend het ons die water uitgepomp wat deur die nag ingekom het.
Wat betref die Matroos soek 'n vrou-kompetisie, het die be-oordelaars na vele oorweging van die 100de inskrywings om 'n wenner aan te wys. Die be-oordelaars se beslissing is finaal en geen korrespondensie sal toegelaat word nie. Die wenner is: Die aanvallige Amanda werksaam by SANLAM. Amanda, Andre sal jou binnekort kontak en reel vir n aand uit waar hy met strikdassie geklee sal wees en jy jou heel mooiste klere sal aanhe. Baie geluk en hou die organiseerders op hoogte van verwikkelinge.
Groete en liefde aan almal wat ons vaart gevolg het.
Pierre.
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Bom dia!
After two heavy days with rough seas and strong winds I awoke this morning to a perfect day. The sun was rising in a cloudless sky and the swell much flatter. The south easter is still blowing so we are motoring into the harbour. We will round Robben Island and then head south to the yacht club. There is a bit of a haze, but we can already see Table Mountain and the Twelve Apostles. Probably another three hours before landfall. I have mixed emotions at the moment, split between very happy being back in the Cape and also sad to be ending this wonderful journey.This will probably be this last "daily email" so I will chat to you soon!
Tchau.
Andre.
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The joy of a day time landfall improved by the welcome beckoning of our beloved Table Mountain. Thanks guys for a wonderful voyage and the contributions to a life of happy memories.
Cheers.
Tom.
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Just spoke to Tom on the cell phone. I can confirm they are back on Terra Firma. They will be having a wee dram followed by the final Crew Dinner before heading home.
Welcome Back Lads.
Shaun
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