Half way to St Helena
22 March 2016 | South Atlantic
Norma and Phil
Jimmy Cornell described his passage from Cape Town to St Helena as being on a "stretch of ocean among the most benign and reliable in the whole world" and "three days after leaving Cape Town, the SE TRades set in, so up went the spinnaker and it stayed there all the way to St Helena."
Alright for some then. A bit different for us, and indeed the other six boats that are currently making this passage: lumpy seas, 3+ metres swell, winds c.25kts for most of the time and cloud cover. WE WANT OUR MONEY BACK.
Anyways, we left Walvis Bay on 18th March at 1000 and motored past the many cargo ships at anchor, the oil platform and the two drill ships. Pelican Point was buzzing with tourist boats crammed with people snapping away at the seals and, yes, pelicans. We gave them a wide berth and looked for the wind. Throughout the afternoon we had 1-5kts NW-SW, but by 1600 a Southerly wind was giving us 6-9kts and we were on a beam reach. At 2000 with the wind building to a steady 10kts and darkness falling we put in our overnight reef in the main.
Throughout Saturday we were on tenterhooks - would England beat France in the Six Nations rugby and win the Grand Slam? Regular checks of the satmail did not put as at our ease [Speak for yourself mate, I was interested in the Ireland result. Ed]. It was not until Monday that we got the good news and everything was as it should be. England Champions, winners of the Triple Crown and the Grand Slam. So that's all good then. Oh yes, Ireland beat Scotland too.
In the meantime, no Jimmy Cornell weather as Saturday evening to Tuesday morning the wind was around F6 and we opted for our "Comfort Rig" - two reefs in the main and but a scrap of poled out genoa. The temperature had started out cold and we were fully kitted for sailing in Scotland and Northern Ireland ... in winter, with woolly everything and boots and oilies. Really? Yes and this was north of the Tropic of Capricorn. That Benguela Current has a lot to answer for.
Despite the lumpy sea we have been getting enough sleep albeit we seem to have needed to track down more rattles and thuds than ever before. There's always something new in sailing. Odd bits of maintenance have been required - burst shackle on the vang, exploding turning block on the windvane steering lines (we had a spare but repaired the block cutting a bolt with the Dremel - not easy when the boat was lurching off waves), worn replacement bush on the towed generator (the guy in Walvis Bay used copper and not bronze...hm), and so it goes.
The upside to the weather has been that we are making good progress with noon to noon runs of 137nm, 157nm, 158nm and 155nm and this morning, Tuesday, we passed the halfway mark. The temperature has been getting higher and we know we are in the Tropics as there were seven dead Flying Fish on deck this morning. So that too is all good then ... except for the Flying Fish that is.
Then there is the Cordon Bleu cooking - she is simply the best [What do you want? Ed].
So it looks like a weekend arrival at St Helena all being well.
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