Attitude; the difference between adventure and ordeal."
Bob Bitchin

June 6, 2008

Left RCYC after paying our slip bill (6 days totaled 840 Rand or $120 including electricity) and motored over to the fuel dock. One of the rudders seemed out of alignment so while we fueled up John made an adjustment.
We left Cape Town Harbor at 1000 hours and went out past Robben Island and set up our course to the North West. The winds are out of the North at 15-18 but we needed to leave and are willing to have a rough 18 hours or so before the wind turns South and we can go on a Spinnaker run. We changed over to UCT (Greenwich Mean Time) which is 2 hours earlier and started our watch of 3 hours on and 6 hours off.
By the time I started my first watch at noon Cape Town was 15 nm behind us, and I can say I was ready to leave: but I did take a picture.
We are motor sailing at 5.5kts in order to take some of the roughness from the swell (8-10 feet) and as it gets dark the temperature is dropping. The side canvas really helps and I notice that the water temperature is gradually climbing as we move north. Annette is making supper as Terry has the current watch.

June 7, 2008

My second watch was 2100-0000 and was fairly uneventful with the exception of 6 big ships moving by us, 2 squalls and three sail trim adjustments. The dark blue of the water is what gives this the name blue water sailing, but it could also refer to the night sky which is a blacker blue with the most stars you will ever see. The boat is bracketed by the stars above and the bioluminescence caused by the hulls disturbing the sea life below. As the microscopic life is disturbed, it lights up and in the swirling wake appears new nebulae. We are past Point Columbine in northern South Africa as I write this after coming off my 0600-0900 watch. We are warming up but have 25-30 knot winds and 15-20 foot seas. We are surfing down waves and moving side to side. I am getting used to the motion of a cat which is a different from a monohull. Soon I will be as one with my boat (maybe we should have named her grasshopper).

June 8, 2008
The good news is we have southerly winds and a favorable current pushing us north; the bad news is the wind is up to 30 knots and the swells are 30 feet. It is still better than a northerly but it gets rough at times. John seems to revel in these conditions but the rest of us are more reserved. I personally would take a calm, flat sail anytime. I want to get home with the boat and this is the best way to do it. We have gone almost 300 miles since leaving at an average speed of 6.1 knots and a max speed of 19.1 knots (with Annette at the helm). Another 2 days of this and we will be in the trade winds which are calmer and more predictable. D: I know you would have been fine in this but am glad you did not do the trip. It is better that you saved your vacation for calm island day runs.



June 9, 2008

We reduced sail and slowed down to 7-8 knots in order for everyone to get a good rest last night. We are currently doing 10-12 knots with a single reef in the main and a full headsail. We are on a starboard tack which is good in case we get run down we legally have the right of way. All of our noon to noon numbers are down because of the break:
181 miles, Max speed 6.8 Knots, average speed 4.9. The barometer is holding steady at 1015.5 and we are coming up on the Tropic of Capricorn, which starts the trade winds and easier warmer sailing. The boat is sailing well and we are putting together a list of mostly minor work to be done. We did have a scare when the Autopilot cut out but John found the problem and fixed it: I cannot imagine hand steering for thousands of miles.

June 10 - 16, 2008

Wind died this morning (I guess we must be getting into the trades). We are running one engine and have plenty of electricity and hot water while we have the water maker running at 6 gallons per hour. Breakfast is Portuguese white bread with peanut butter and jams, French press Dunkin Donuts French Vanilla Coffee (keeping on a theme) and Rice Krispies with long life milk and fresh mango. It is getting warmer and the barometer is up to 1019. Other data: Max speed 6.8, avg. speed 5.2 and 24 hour total 181 miles. 1000nm to go until St. Helena.
We have a water leak and are searching for it. We filled our tanks from the water maker but the bilge pump on the port side started going off regularly. The tank goes down to a certain level which indicates a tank leak. My major concern about the water leak is that the wine cellar is in the port bilge.

We could not find the water leak, but it stopped never the less. Today we are 450 miles West of Namibia and 800 miles Southeast of St. Helena. We are definitely in the trades and in a wonderful coincidence, we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn at the precise moment we unfurled the spinnaker (D: everyone oohed and aahed at the color and pattern choice you made). The asymmetrical sail is good for a wide range of sail direction and for winds of up to 20 knots (if used in flat seas with wind directly from behind).
We have entered the SOARC (Southern Ocean Amateur Rummy Championship) currently we are in day 2 of the campaign. Annette, in devastating form, has beaten everyone around the mark; I am last after a strong but short lived lead.
Friday the 13th, yesterday I decided to rig Donna's fishing pole and set it out. I was going to reel it in just before the afternoon SOARC started but Terry suggested we leave it out until dark. While the competition went on I heard a noise from the cockpit and thought it was the autopilot (Otto), but the fishing line had run out 900 feet and was still going with about 25 feet left I tightened the drag and spent 20 minutes dragging in a tired � drowned 3 foot Dorado. Got him right up to the transom and then lost him because we need a gaff hook. The color was a beautiful yellow and green, and I was happy he got away. I have heard that the Dorado mate for life and there are stories of boats trolling 2 lines and catching two fish at one time. I wonder if one gets caught if their mate decides to go with them. It is a good tasting fish though.
Annette taught me how to bake bread today; I can't wait to see how it turns out. Only went 132 miles in 24 hours yesterday and then the wind died. Our max speed was 13.1 kts and we averaged 5.1 kts before taking the spinnaker down. The "glass" is at 1010 millibars.
It is Saturday and there has been no wind since Thursday. It is frustrating that we cannot seem to sail in moderate conditions but only get too much or too little wind. We have decided to decrease our speed under power in order to conserve diesel. Due to the favorable current of 1 knot, we are only losing a knot of speed to save a liter per hour of diesel. We still have just less than 600 nm to go in order to reach St. Helena. My first attempt at bread was ok; I give it a grade of 80. I need to knead it more. It also came out a little well done (but the crust was great) as we were busy with other projects. I had my first on watch hallucination in years last night. This is something that is frequently reported during long passages and I thought I saw my dog, Grady, walking up forward with no lifejacket or harness; something he is never allowed to do. I did realize that
it could not be him and after blinking my eyes a few times he went away (although I enjoyed the visit).
Not only is the motion of the catamaran different, but the sounds are as well. In my last boat the water rushing along the hull sounded like; water rushing along the hull.
At 0300 this morning after getting off watch I went to bed and could hear background type of conversation, including laughing and chuckling. It sounded exactly as if I were at a cocktail party (no we do not drink alcohol while making a passage). I attribute these sounds to the hydrodynamics of two hulls. We are enjoying warm days and cool nights in these doldrum like conditions, and we are getting some maintenance done.
Sunday the 15th and we are still waiting for wind. Both engines are coming due for oil change and we had our first head maintenance issue since we left. It seems that the electric heads are finicky with toilet paper and it gets packed into the discharge hose. It was the guest head so Terry and John broke up the clog and we have learned to flush longer to hopefully prevent that problem.
The ham radio is still dodgy, and occasionally I get a message in or out; but not yet to Donna. I would be enjoying myself much more if she were here or if I could at least talk to her. These are her type of conditions; not only weather wise, but everything surrounds meal time and Annette has come through, sometimes using what Donna made and also her own recipes. We had wonderful pancakes this morning that were very thin and crepe like.
The boat is comfortable and there is plenty of room with 4 on board.
24 hour numbers: 120 Nautical miles (1 engine at reduced speed, no wind) average speed 5.2 kts. Barometer 1013 and steady.
June 16,2008
Finally we have trade winds and spinnaker weather. We are sailing at 8 knots with winds behind us and only had to gybe (turn the stern through the wind) once after a major wind shift. We had squall after squall all night and most of the day (free water to clean the boat) and are now able to drink reverse osmosis water from the tap. We keep a back up of 50 liters of RO water in case we run out and the water maker dies. We have used quite a bit of diesel but are closing on St. Helena and expect to get there on Friday. The barometer has dropped to 1012 and we did a 24 hour run of 124 miles with a Max speed of 11.2 knots. SOARC card games continue and Annette is beating us up. Warm days and pleasant evenings, with just a little more wind (but not too much) it would be a great trip.
June 18, 2008
St. Helena. We entered Jamestown harbor at 1400 hours after calling St. Helena Port Authority for permission to anchor. We have to set the hook in 60 feet (approx. 20 meters) of clear water off of the jetty. Bad news from Customs: we cannot clear in until tomorrow because of construction on the jetty and can only land at specific certain times. We go ashore at 0645 the next morning and make arrangements for laundry at Ann's place. She carries a tab for us until the bank opens. This is an incredible quaint and charming town. The syntax is that of a 17th or 18th century English seafaring town. They refer to us as "me hearty" and use other period colloquialisms. Everyone is nice, friendly and we just love this place. Clearing in is difficult due to the construction and we have to walk all over town to check in with the Police, the harbor master (12 pound per person landing fee) Customs (27 pound boat fee) and Immigrations. The St. Helena pound is worth $2.00 U.S Dollars.
Tomorrow we will go on a tour to see Napoleons House. It is good we got here now as there is an airport planned for the island and the people predict the end of isolationism will change the flavour here forever. I will update from Fortaleza, Brazil.

Cheers!
Wayne