An African heron (... a bittern? .... or a squacco?) flew on board "Nereida" off the west coast of Africa on the way south in October....    And the poor puffer fish put itself on my hook when I saw lots of tuna jumping around "Nereida" much further south and felt sure I'd hook one...!
...............................................................................................................................................................
Comment added Wed 20Jan: "The bird in the photographs is a juvenile Little Bittern (Ixobrychus minutus) . Know the species well, mainly from Spain, where my friend Viggo Ree ring-marked dozens of individuals in the summer of 1971 (caught in the net at night).  The breeding birds in Europe spend the winter in tropical Africa."
(Many thanks to Per Aa. Mandt who emailed me from Norway with the info.)
................................................................................................................................................................

If you see a bald woman walking around the Royal Cape Y.C. here in Cape Town - it's probably me!!!  I can't believe I'm still here - I've got nowhere so far with resolving my engine installation problems, other than lots of emails back & forth with details of measurements, all taking time & to little point ... and all the time knowing there's an identical engine here in Cape Town just waiting to be fitted in my boat in place of the present one - which makes it all the more frustrating....

Time is passing by... I've lost my weather window for rounding Cape Horn, since even if I leave soon, it'll take probably over three months to reach it (eastabout) - by which time the Southern winter will be starting, days will be getting short and the weather worsening. (I'm looking at grib files of the weather around Cape Horn now - and thinking I should have been approaching it around this time.... grrr!!!)   I'm considering the options for my next passagemaking, on the assumption that I'll be able to leave sometime soon - as usual, I'm trying to be optimistic!   I'm looking at the possibility of getting to the start line of the Single-Handed TransPac Race from San Francisco, starting in June.  Having had to miss the race start last time, having lost my boat on the way north to it, it would be fun to do it this year and would fill in the time up to the end of the year when I could make a second attempt at a nonstop circumnavigation - maybe starting from the Vancouver/Victoria area in British Columbia.  A big question is whether to head to San Francisco from here eastabout or westabout ... and that really depends on weather considerations -  how soon I'll be able to 'escape' from here.

People here at the Royal Cape Y.C. are being extremely kind and friendly - it's a nice, sociable place to be 'stuck' in, although I must admit to a feeling of being 'trapped' in the marina, having rarely got out anywhere else during my time here due to various boat jobs I've been trying to get done (more frustration there!) or waiting around for expected email responses that have often come several days late - so no touring or visiting, just the occasional food shopping with fellow-cruisers! But next Wednesday, I've been promised a crew place in the 'Twilight Series' racing here at the RCYC on 'Thunderchild' - so I'll get out on the water!  And I did get taken out on a 39ft racing catamaran just over a week ago ...  Wow! ... We all got totally, thoroughly drenched in the big seas breaking over the open deck...!!!  Winds were SE25-30 knots ... and we were making 25 knots and touched 28knots - I've never been so fast on a sailing boat....!  Great fun... and a real tonic for me!

The plan was to walk up Table Mountain today (I have yet to manage a visit there) and ride the cable car back down - but that hasn't happened since I'd been warned not to attempt it alone, due to safety issues, and my would-be companions didn't turn up last night as I expected - so that's been put off to another day, hopefully.  But tomorrow, I'm being taken out by new acquaintances to visit part of Cape Town and then make for a beach a short distance to the north of here - the temperature is expected to soar to 35C tomorrow in the present calm sunny conditions, after the strong wind of the last two days.

More friends on boats are leaving Cape Town this coming week, headed for points north... St Helena etc... That's always painful for me, emphasizing how I'm stuck here... But I've just heard from Dutch friends (on 'Jade') that they've arrived in Simonstown from Richards Bay - so we'll meet and catch up on news - I last saw them face-to-face in Hiva Oa in the Marquesas three years ago, having crossed over from Mexico at the same time.

So now I'll head back to "Nereida" where I'm trying still to clean ropes - the downside of being in Cape Town is that the strong wind brings lots of fine, black grit which gets deposited on anything above deck - so it's a constant, almost impossible, battle trying to keep the boat and all lines reasonably clean.

Thanks to those of you who've sent supportive emails,  asking for an update & concerned to know what's happening to "Nereida" & me...

Bye for now.....

I'd been delaying posting an update here in the hope that there would be good news before Christmas, or at latest before the New Year .... but holidays and lethargy have, unfortunately, got in the way of the hoped-for progress - so "Nereida" will be seeing in the New Year without any sign of a working engine, despite the fact that people here in Cape Town were willing to work on the new installation over the holiday period to help me get away sooner .....   Very, very frustrating for me - I should have been well on my way towards Cape Leeuwin by now....  on my way to Tasmania & New Zealand, with Cape Horn to be rounded in late February, towards the end of the Southern summer.

I've uploaded some photos here as part of my 'be positive' attempts at staying sane...

Whilst marooned within sight of Cape Town and the Cape of Good Hope for nearly 3 days, with the wind having become light or non-existent (and my determination to use my sails alone from Lanzarote all the way around meaning no engine power used), I saw lots of sea life ... and a marvellous sunset on the second unexpected night at sea (Tuesday 8th Dec) before my landfall in S. Africa:
 
On the Wednesday, the day started out the same - no wind...!  Overnight, we'd drifted around in a big loop so that, come morning, we were roughly in the same position as at sunset the night before.  But slowly, the wind filled in  & we made 1-2 knots, in 2-4 knots of wind, to begin with, but as I got closer to land, after midday, the wind picked up far more and I was able to make better progress towards Cape Town with Table mountain and the Cape of Good Hope at the entrance to False Bay in clear view all the time......

One job I'd been promising myself to do was carried out last week.   The Hydrovane rudder had become a garden, with gooseneck barnacles galore growing on it - since the Canaries, I think.  I thought they were only growing near the water surface but was amazed to see that they were growing happpily all the way down to the base of the rudder.  So I wasn't too surprised to hear from my Afrikaans neighbour Gerhard that the entire keel was also looking like a forest - he'd kindly volunteered to clean my hull of the few (as I thought!) barnacles near the water-line after he'd dived on his own boat...  Since I'm due to haul out (originally to reposition a through-hull fitting for the watermaker) as soon as the engine issue has been resolved, I stopped him - far easier to clean them off, especially in such numbers, when out of the water than when in!!  I should add that there was no antifouling on the Hydrovane rudder whereas the keel has antifouling - which the gooseneck  barnacles clearly love!!

           
Something else I like about the Hydrovane - it's really easy for me to remove and replace the rudder, unlike on my previous windsteering system where that was well-nigh impossible!

With my mind constantly on the engine problem, trying over and over again to get progress made on that front, other work was put on hold - but the new rod-kicker is in place, sails have been repaired with new, firmer battens in place (even the seemingly unbroken ones were shattered!), the aft cabin bedding & mattresses etc have been cleaned, some small but important instrument and electrical problems have been dealt with  and I'm finally getting around to installing the straightened stanchions - which job keeps getting totally side-tracked with time-consuming polishing and cleaning off the hard layer of salt over all the adjacent metal fittings and lifelines.  I'm even hearing that my gimballed coffee-mug holder for the chart table is well on its way to being completed!! 

So if only I had a working engine, with a good exhaust system, I could have been on my way well before now...  which made it that much more painful to see 'Berrimilla' get under way to Sydney last week .....    I was up at 5am to wish them 'Bon voyage'... only to see them come back in later that morning with a sticking tillerpilot... swiftly repaired (yet again!) so they could get back out that same afternoon, to catch the favourable W wind before it died:

Australian singlehander Jim on 'This Boat' (!!), who was, like me, trying for a 'nonstop around' also finally left (on Boxing Day)....  so all the other boats that came into Cape Town for repairs around the beginning of December, as I did (3 of them, if 'Groupama' is included!), have now left me behind.... stranded and rapidly losing my 'weather window' for the Southern Ocean around Cape Horn. 

I'm trying to keep a positive outlook by seeing to all the jobs I can find to do on board (anyone into boating knows that's never a problem!!) - at least "Nereida" can enter the New Year clean, tidy & well-polished!

All best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year 2010 to you all!!

Friday-Tuesday 11th-15th December 09 Bad news... repairs organized.... strong winds in Cape Town....

On Friday came the bad news - seawater (lots) in the engine .... Not the starter motor problem I was expecting - this was far worse... The new engine needs replacing....after only 75hrs of use! Looks as though water entered from the exhaust pipe, with the water trap not large enough to hold amount of water there and anti-siphon arrangement not high enough... Unbelievable.... I'm hoping that the problem can be resolved quickly, with a new engine of same type in stock nearby, so use could be made of a haulout scheduled for Friday, originally just for new through-hull fitting for watermaker to be fitted. But could now prove useful for damaged engine to be removed and replaced with new, although several days needed for the work..... Definitely not the happiest day of my life.... Warranty situation not clearcut as yet....

Sailmaker Mark came by and removed genoa and mainsail for repair. New battens to be fitted (top two were broken in 50+ knot winds on way here), also new reef strops for use in easing tension on reef lines, hopefully avoiding future chafe problems... Also looked at trysail deployment and arranged for new sailbag for when hanked on to its mast track and stowed on deck, ready for use.

Over the weekend, there were really strong winds... 75 knots were recorded at top of Control Tower at entrance to Cape Town Harbour - everything was coated in a thick film of fine black dust from smelter upwind. Hosed boat down but it was quickly coated again - horrible!! Difficult to get anything positive done, so was that much nicer to enjoy going out for a meal in the Waterfront area on Sunday with friends Andy and Alison - here from London visiting her chef brother. Earlier that same day, Rob had kindly given up his free time to reorganize the watermaker pipework and Clark pump / membrane arrangement and also looked at Raymarine instrument issues, to be continued on Friday when the boat is hauled out , enabling a crazy-reading log impeller to be dealt with.

Monday - lots of phonecalls trying to get people to boat. ... Riggers came early to change faulty rod kicker and it turned out that the boom end sent was the same as the one already there that had caused problems, so I decided to stay with the twin line reefing system I'd already organized on way here, with two more jammers for luff lines....

Early evening: Manuel came by to look at gelcoat repair, rust marks and other work.... also I discussed practical sailing issues with him... It's always useful to get other people's opinion, especially when they're so much more experienced than I am!

It was nice to welcome Baden on board a little later - an excellent stainless steel worker, and keen racer with his own boat, I'd met him in Simonstown two years ago where he did some work for me from his workshop beside the False Bay Y. C. He'll straighten the stanchions bent when the mainsail was backed as a front passed through and I've asked him to make a gimballing mug holder for the chart table - I had problems coming here with nowhere safe to put a mug of tea or coffee when working at the chart table!

Early Tuesday - Clive of IMS came by to look at the engine installation to make a report to Yanmar , also to see how the engine could be removed during the Friday haulout, usng a crane by the hoist . After that, the little diesel generator was given its first service and I discussed spares I should have on board.. Tom came by later - he's been sorting out how to fix the end of the emergency forestay in place under tension. I could well have to ask Baden to help with some steelwork in that connection when he comes by with the repaired stanchions on Wednesday - which is the final day of the Summer Regatta here at the Royal Cape Yacht Club - let's hope they have pleasanter winds for their racing then than over the last weekend!!

Thursday 10th December 09 I grab the chance to look over Groupama 3 - also here in Cape Town for repairs!

A lot of phone calls made, with Tom on board early to try to organize repairs to be done and fix times for people to come to the boat as soon as possible.

Later in the day, I met Manuel in whose boatyard, not far from the Royal Cape Y.C., Groupama 3 was berthed while repairs were finished and where they were waiting for their replacement generator to arrive by plane from France. I jumped at the chance to look over the boat when I gathered he was about to return to Groupama with the new generator's arrival imminent. In the absence of Franck Cammas, Fred Le Peutrec is skipper on the return sail to Brest from Cape Town and he very kindly showed me, together with Alex & Pete from 'Berrimilla', over the enormous trimaran - an amazing boat to be on.

I found the mast size incredible (along with the rest of it!) and looking over the interior accommodation, together with communications/weather/video equipment , was fascinating . While I was there, at the end of my guided tour, word came that the new generator had arrived .... everyone gathered around to admire it and Friday was to be spent fitting it in place, ready for a 4 a.m. local time departure on Saturday (4 'rubber ducks' and one tow boat to get her out to sea) to start her sail back to Brest, ready to re-start her world record speed attempt for the Jules Verne Trophy. (Their 'weather/time window' for the attempt lasts until the end of February)

Safe arrival in Cape Town harbour Wednesday 9th December at 1600UTC (6pm local time) - under sail all the way from Lanzarote in the Canaries with no use of motor power anywhere along the way!

But how frustrating those last two days.... I kept thinking I'd be in harbour by evening and then the already light wind would die to nothing ...yet again! I was so close, I could clearly see Table Mountain above Cape Town and over to the Cape of Good Hope at the entrance to False Bay. Late Monday afternoon, I thought I should try out the engine ready for manoeuvring in to my marina berth - & found that the starter motor wouldn't turn.... I tried it several times, but no joy.... Oh well, that meant not only sailing up to the harbour entrance, which I'd always intended, but also sailing within the confines of the harbour up to the marina entrance - a good distance further on.

Again, it was useful to be in email contact by Winlink with my contact Tom on shore who contacted the Royal Cape Y.C. who were able to have a boat waiting by their marina entrance to help me in to my berth once I'd downed my sails & Tom and friend Mike kindly came out on the yacht 'Storm' to escort me to the harbour once I got close on Wednesday afternoon - when finally the wind had picked up nicely after yet another night and morning of near flat calm. I actually had a great sail on the final leg on my journey towards the harbour entrance and, in even stronger winds, & with hurried reefing on my part, into the main harbour itself - where I found lots of racers heading out as I put in a series of fast tacks in the face of a strong headwind in an effort to get through a relatively narrow entrance to the inner harbour.... I just made it and hoped that the shouts from one or two boats passing me headed out were ones of welcome (I had my red ensign flying) rather than loud cursing...!! I did try hard, of course, to keep out of everyone's way - but there were an awful lot of them and I just hoped they'd heard my earlier 'Securite' VHF radio message to Áll ships' warning of my lack of engine power. (Most of the boats heading out were running their engines, even though they had sails up - that's normal within a harbour, as a safety precaution)

So I'd arrived - after 61 days at sea from Lanzarote. It felt good, despite being 9 days later than I'd expected 2 or 3 weeks ago, and it was lovely to have several people I knew (and several I didn't!) come by to welcome me to Cape Town. As I sat in the Yacht Club bar area, enjoying a meal, surrounded by people, I totally relaxed and enjoyed the moment...!!

Monday/Tuesday 7/8th December 2009 ETA slips further ... and further... Tuesday is Day 60! Landfall imminent!

What a fabulous sunset Monday evening! I just sat in the cockpit for ages and watched the glorious colours slowly change.. sharing the calm scene with three albatrosses.. What a fitting end, I thought, to my journey down the Atlantic - from England to S. Africa...

It had been a pleasant but frustrating day.. Overnight, the wind went very light & backed from ENE to W, as a Low moved E to the S of us. For about two hours after dawn, it got stronger & I poled out the genoa. But by 8 o'clock, we were slopping about in a light SW wind and quite a big swell & by mid-morning, I took the pole away with the wind, still very light, veering to NW. It slowly increased over the afternoon & by evening we were finally making good speed directly towards Cape Town - end of journey in sight, at last, I thought, feeling really good & on a high... During a lovely dawn on Tuesday, I actually had to reduce sail and we were making 7.5 kt boatspeed (the speed log deciding to work at that point - it's just become totally erratic...)ETA - early afternoon at latest...! Along the way, the 2nd reef line parted near the leech cringle, to join the first reef line lurking somewhere in the boom, just to add to the joblist and give me another problem to resolve after it happened.... I had to tie in the reef cringle with a piece of line as the sail flapped in the wind...

No, no, no..... Fate had decided yet again to have the last laugh - the wind died... and died...over the early morning. Birds and seals are lying around, grooming themselves in the calm water under a hot sun.... the seals with their flippers in the air to attract my attention... Earlier, I'd seen delicate Fairy terns, along with gannets and several albatrosses and petrels new to me.. no shortage of wildlife just here. But boatspeed ... forget it! It's 1000UTC, the sun is hot, 'Fred' the Hydrovane is gently steering us at 3.5 knots towards Cape Town in 8 knots of breeze - up a tad from 4-5 knots earlier, and I'm hoping this slow increase in wind keeps on to give an improvement on the present ETA of 2100 UTC - 11 o'clock, local time, tonight. (A vast improvement on 10 pm tomorrow, when we were making under 2 knots for quite a time!)

Yesterday, I had a Christmas present sent to me!! A ship that I'd contacted to confirm if they'd seen me on AIS or radar, the "Cape Jacaranda", had had a short chat with me .. and later I heard Christmas music over the VHF radio(on standby on Ch 16 as usual)and spotted a DSC message with Christmas greetings displayed on my AIS screen!!! I thanked them over the VHF radio & sent greetings back to all the crew - that was really nice of them and I wore a big smile for quite a time afterwards!!!

1100UTC
Speed up to 3.9kt SOG, course to Cape Town looking good, ETA now 1922 UTC - ~9.22pm local time - that's better - let's hope it keeps improving & doesn't die again as could easily happen! I've only 32 miles to go to the harbour entrance and from there it's a short distance to the Royal Cape Y.C. where I'm booked in for my repair stop. Lots of shipping around now. Some bound to or from Cape Town, others on passage around the Capes of Good Hope and Agulhas to or from the Indian Ocean

Noon-to-noon DMG:
Monday: 75M (actual: 86M) Wind was strong up to Sunday afternoon but then gradually died by early morning Distance to Cape Town: 135M - 64mls closer!

Tuesday: 106M. Wind died this morning. Distance to Cape Town: 29M
ETA: Tues 2300LT - maybe!..still a fickle wind.

Cape of Good Hope and Table Mountain both in view as I write this!!

Saturday/Sunday 5/6th December 2009 Rough 'washing machine' conditions...

Email from Steve & Pete on "Berrimilla" (to the north of "Nereida") sent early Saturday:

"Not having fun!"

I emailed back: "You can say that again...!"

..and that pretty well sums up from Friday night until late afternoon Sunday when things finally calmed down...

"Berrimilla" had continued...... " boatbreaking sea, easterly wind 20-30" ... They were clearly getting the same conditions as "Nereida"!!

They were NW of the Cape & so also being caught by the current around the Cape which is strongly north-setting .... but they're now looking for the same W winds forecast for Mon/Tues as I am to get them in to Cape Town. That strong current showed itself much further away than I expected - about 300mls or more to the SW of the Cape..

We've been so unlucky - it's unusual for a H pressure area to be well S of the Cape (giving E-SE winds north of its centre)), rather than further N (giving W winds here), and as for the high pressure area not moving for several days running - unheard of.... ! Those W winds should have been there on our approach to give a nice run into Cape Town from the SW ... not this time...!! The usual SE winds were blowing very strongly close to the Cape and we were caught well offshore by strong E -ESE winds for several days running - which over Saturday made the seas really rough. Moving about safely became very difficult with the boat being picked up by the big seas and flung down on her beam regularly ... I'd reefed right down but even so we were well heeled over, being on a very close reach to keep as good a course as possible. I kept standing in the companionway, gazing out at these big waves ... just to convince myself that we were OK, despite the conditions, and the boat was coping fine - which she was.... But I didn't do much cooking.....!!

Of course, Fate stepped in, as usual, and radio propagation became really awful, meaning that I was unable to be cheered up by my usual enjoyable daily chats with Tom, ZS1TA, in Cape Town, my SA Maritime Mobile Net contact, himself familiar with the problems of sailing these waters & who's been a great help both with getting up-to-date weather info & with contacting the people I'll need for repairs etc when I get in.

By Sunday afternoon, the pressure had dropped a lot and seas and wind were both down .. so it looked as though the low pressure area to our WNW, also static for several days, was finally on the move to the ESE - to bring the wind which would get us out of our 'trap' ....

Having had several days of frustrating long tacks SSE/NNE trying to get closer to Cape Town, it'll be nice to make port... ETA (hopefully!!)early Tuesday .... over a week later than originally expected!

Sat: On starboard tack, noon-to-noon DMG: 85M, actual 110M. To CT:298M - only 18M closer in 24 hrs!
Sun: Still on same starboard tack, noon-to-noon DMG: 109M, actual 113M To CT:199M - 99M closer over past 24hrs!

At 1900 GMT Sunday, as I write this, we're 170 miles away from Cape Town, but the wind has now died down to just 10 knots, ahead of the low... Could be a slow day tomorrow...

Friday 4th December 09 Grey clouds & tacking still against E winds.

What a beautiful night around midnight ...! Clear sky, Southern Cross above the starboard quarter, Orion high up - on his head, as usual!... and "Nereida" heading NE, straight for an almost-full moon along a broad, moonlit path in the ruffled sea... just fabulous! And to add to my contentment, we were more-or-less headed for our destination - for the time being, at least.

Looking at the weather info, I don't want to get too far S again - W winds might arrive N of 36S Sunday & I'd hate to miss riding them into Cape Town! . Might not happen but I don't want to take the chance! In the meantime, I stayed on starboard tack for nearly a day. It was quite favourable, especially when some rainclouds passed over around dawn & the veered wind convinced me not to tack around then - we were making 070T - direct for Cape Town. Oh, if only that could have continued for a couple of days - I'd be there Sunday!

With the rainclouds, the wind & seas had increased, so I put in the 3rd reef & as I did so, I got caught by some seas washing the decks. No problem - change out of my slightly wet gear - about time, anyway..! But when I went to the aft cabin locker to get some dry clothing - I found it to be soaking wet - from the watermaker brine when it spurted all over the cabin... I hadn't thought to check that locker... probably because most of the gear was safely stowed in plastic bags... but the items I wanted were not.. more washing when I make landfall.... Good thing the rest of the clothing was kept dry by the plastic .... I'm having to wear socks now and warm clothing - a sign of the temperature - air 18C compared with around 30C in the Canaries... and a cool sea temperature of 18C - up from the 15.6C of yesterday, about 70M further S. I'm noticing the chill!

Mostly a grey day today with few birds and the sun struggling to make itself seen.

DMG noon-to-noon: 97M (126M by log)
316M to Cape Town... 93M closer, making an ETA of Monday evening... but I'm hoping for sooner...

Wednesday 2nd December 09 Day 54 Nereida stops heading for the South Pole!

I'm feeling so much better having changed course around 3pm to head NE towards Cape Town instead of S of SSE towards the S. Pole! I was close to 38S (way further S than I'd expected to have to go)and thought it was worth tacking around to see what course we'd make.... When I saw a COG of 040T as the result - fantastic! Even with 30 degrees lost to current and leeway (that's a lot!), that was good enough for getting further East - as I need to, if I'm to keep the SE winds leading to Cape Town. Clearly there's a strong N-setting current effect - it's increasing our speed at the expense of losing our more Easterly heading - but for a while, until we need to tack south again maybe, we can gain some Easting.... and I can begin to feel far less frustrated because we're heading in roughly the right direction!!!

One piece of good news I forgot to mention was the straightforward changeover of a gas cylinder after I'd started to make coffee Monday morning, soon after tacking around, & ran out of gas.... I'd not been looking forward to having to do it but was very lucky in that the sea was relatively calm so it was no big problem dealing with the changeover in the aft gas locker - I enjoyed the fresh coffee with my breakfast!

Today was lovely & sunny until mid-afternoon - but no birds! Then, after I'd tacked around & later got under some grey clouds, several birds were there - a pair of little storm petrels flitting about close to the water, several much bigger spectacled petrels and a Yellow-Nosed albatross - even larger! They often come really close as they soar on the updraughts - such a delight to watch! Later I saw a quite new bird - like the 'spectacled' petrels in size and behaviour with white body, white undersides to wing with dark line but with distinctive white markings on upper surface of its dark wings and a black head with white under chin - I'm naming it the 'Pied Petrel'!!

This evening, COG is tending to 027T rather too often - so I may not be able to stay on this starboard tack for long, although the wind does swing about quite a lot. I'll check later in the night to see how we're doing - but it would be nice to get further East...

Thursday 3rd December 09 Having to tack to get East....

Very pleasant sailing under bright, if overcast, sky. Few birds seen up to mid-afternoon.

Course was 020T this morning at 0400UTC, so tacked around in ESE wind of 16kt... then made 140-145T at just under 5 knots, so a slightly better course for getting East... but it's going to be slow getting to Cape Town (direct course would be 062T from here) - nothing I can do about that except keep tacking to stay close to 37S for the time being and hope things will get better... We'll get there some day..... just don't know when....!! Wind seems to be determinedly from the East just now... What a pain!!

Noon-to-noon DMG:
Wed: 113M (by log: 128M) Distance from Cape Town: 460M
Thurs: 54M (by log: 105M - result of tacking at 0400) To Cape Town: 409M

29Nov-1Dec09 Days 51-53 A magnificent Wandering Albatross visits 'Nereida" as she struggles to make landfall against contrary winds....!

This magnificent, enormous albatross came close, looked me in the eyes, circled a few times and flew on its way! Quite different from the regular pair of yellow-nosed Atlantic albatrosses that have been keeping me company, on & off for several days, along with some other birds . It was mainly white with wings mainly dark above but with a white 'splash' above its 'elbows'. An awesome sight, with its big body, powerful wings and cruel-looking, dark, long, hooked beak.

Sunday 29th November
Grey & cold - 16C sea temperature! I began to get very concerned by the prospect of tacking north and south forever and never getting close to Cape Town...! We were slowing right down by evening, in a High of 1028 and the wind in the wrong direction, forcing me to go NE! But better to go NE, I thought, than SW!! Wind was S at dawn, SSE at midday & SE by evening & overnight.... so our COG was E-ESE at dawn, but NE by late evening. Trying to keep going East, I decided I'd tack around as soon as it was sensible without letting myself get too far N ..

That morning, I treated myself to my last fresh grapefruit with my breakfast(I find they often keep really well for a long time!)and made a nice Sunday lunch in an effort to cheer myself up! Menu: chicken in white sauce (tinned - but tasted fine!) with potatoes (fresh boiled!) and petits pois (tinned), followed by dried but moist prunes and apricots & a fresh apple.

Monday 30th November
Cold & grey again. Before dawn,at 0400UTC, wind was ESE 9kt, in direction of Cape Town, and we were making due N, so I decided it was definitely time to tack around - after which we made 167T, becoming 180T as the wind shifted! Not good news!! COG was 175T at noon with the true wind up a little from 9kt to 11kt, later to 13kt, at which point I put in the 2nd reef because we were heeling a lot, banging into the swell. Around 1700, we were still only making 170T or worse - at which point the big Wandering Albatross came by - maybe it knew I needed something to cheer me up?? And maybe it came by to bring better luck than the backing E wind I'd had for most of the day...
It had just not been possible to go E or ESE - and with at least 2-3 days more of contrary winds being forecast, I was feeling so very frustrated... By now, I was quite looking forward to Cape Town but my ETA had slipped badly from the original 2nd Dec to who knows when...!!
My comment in the noon weather/position report was:

"Inverted 'V'- ENE-NE-NNE-N & now S!! DMG: 48M, by log120M "

At that point, our heading was 190T - not exactly useful, except was getting us S - which was better than going N since there's a strong N-going current (Benguela) around the Cape area.... so boats need to be well S & approach from the SW...

Part of my intense frustration was in not knowing which way to head for the best.... I even considered heaving-to to avoid going NW - but felt that the prevailing current would probably not help...

Tuesday 1st December

At dawn: Wind ENE 10kt, COG 150T , ...tacked around so as not to get too far S, so missing a possible N wind forecast for later which would help us to get more E. That N wind didn't come & the wind stayed NE to ENE all day & evening. On seeing the wind shift to NE from ENE at nmidday, I tacked back again, to head SSE, rather than NNW!! Our COG has been roughly SE since then, with the wind steady at ~10kt.

My midday comment? ... 'Loop:' S-SSE-S-SSE--N-NNW-& now SE!!

The weather grib files were looking more hopeful - if I could get a bit further S, maybe I could pick up SE winds to take me into Cape Town.. I was feeling a lot better, thinking there was more hope I would get to CT in the forseeable future!!! By 1500, we were actually further E than earlier in the day! And our speed has been good throughout - no problem with wind strength, just wind direction....

It's blowing a SE 'hoolie' in the Cape area just now - and forecast to stay that way for the next few days... just to show how important it is to stay well S on the approach, given the strong N-setting current as well.....

DMG: noon-to-noon positions - Note: This doesn't give distance nearer to Cape Town!!
29th Nov: 110M, by log:131M (A very wiggly track due to wind shifts!) Distance from CT: 545M
30th Nov: 48M, by log120M ! (A big inverted 'V') Distance from CT: 496M
1st Dec: 59M by log 125M! (A big N-S loop!) Distance from CT: 494M

I'm being forced to stop in Cape Town for repairs - with rod-kicker gone and the first reef line disappeared inside the boom somewhere out of sight - just to add to all other many other things that could do with fixing - it's the sensible, safe decision to come to... A great shame, & I'm not exactly happy about it, but there we are... "Plans are made to be broken" ...One thing sailing (and cruising, in particular) teaches you - is to become flexible but always to be safe.... I'll continue across the Indian Ocean just as soon as all repairs are completed.

Selden and Najad are being very supportive and acting urgently to help get replacements sent as fast as possible. There is a boatyard at the Royal Cape Y.C. and I'm very lucky that Tom, ZS1TA, with whom I've been in contact up to 3 times daily recently on the S. African Maritime Mobile Net, is himself a sailor and has already been extremely helpful organizing possible workers for me in advance of my arrival. He's done a lot of ocean racing himself and is a member of RCYC so he understands my problems. He has also been very helpful to me in discussing weather issues as I've been approaching the coast - he knows the S. Atlantic weather systems well, having crossed between S. Africa and Brazil several times.

(The S. African Maritime Mobile Net operates on the 'ham' frequencies on the SSB (HF) radio & is a safety 'Net' - they are in touch with the S. African Coast Guard and weather service and give boaters approaching SA the latest weather info and help them make a safe approach, especially important across the Agulhas Current off the E. coast. Very kind of them to give up their time in that way!)

As soon as I get in, I also have to send off my Iridium phone to the UK supplier to test and replace what's faulty. The phone has been misbehaving for ages: not taking incoming calls/dying/going blank/not responding to key presses/re-booting all the time ...totally unreliable - what a major time-waster it's proved to be! But when I can't connect using the SSB radio, for weather info and emails, it's the only alternative - and was supposed to be a reliable one. It will be good to get that fixed.

Thursday 26th November 09

What a wonderful day's sailing! I was on a high!! Blue skies, beam reaching in good wind, calm sea.... even a squid that landed on deck to be fried with virgin olive oil for a Thanksgiving hors d'oeuvre that lunch-time... calamari a la naturel!! Also celebrated passing over the Greenwich Meridian around 11am... We're now in the East, not the West!

Looking at the weather grib files, I'm expecting to be headed by SE winds on Sun/Mon - so I'm heading a bit more S now..trying to get a better angle for approach to Cape Town - which has to be from SW due to the strong N-flowing Benguela current, the prevailing SE wind + SW swell.

Friday 27th November 09

Cold, wet, drizzly & miserable under grey skies in slight fog.... total change-around from yesterday's blue sky, sunshine and fast sailing..!
There's a chill in the air with the sea temperature at just 16C..and I'm having to wear warm clothes....
The wind switched suddenly from NNW to SW in no time at all around 1pm so then I had to gybe which is always a bit complicated... but at least it wasn't with 30-50 knots of wind!!!...
At least the albatrosses and petrels were back ... I must get a seabird book!!
Mid-afternoon, I suddenly noticed the upper starboard lifeline was dangling - it had come undone at the bow - so I had to deal with it urgently...

Saturday 28th November 09 - DAY FIFTY TODAY!!!!!

Gusty conditions under grey clouds, although it was sunny to start with.
Later, it turned completely cloudy and it's now very bumpy with the increased swell. Difficult to make our course, with the wind backing gradually from SSW to SSE over the day. It's likely to back more overnight, which will force us well north of our preferred course.
Problem may well become not to be set too far N for a SW approach to Cape Town.... Will just stay as close-hauled as possible and see where wind takes me...

DMG noon-to-noon:
Thursday: 115M (By Log: 126M)- No wind until 6pm on Wed - but excellent speed from then on - 7.6-7.8 knots of boatspeed often!!
Friday: 149M (By log: 160M!) - Reflecting some excellent sailing in around 20knots of N-NNW wind, gusting to 25kt in early morning
Saturday: 120M (By log: 140M -) - Wind shifted to SW from NNW 1pm Friday - so heading into wind but well-reefed down and banging in to swell a bit.

Tuesday 24th November 09
Big news of the day - albatrosses - three of them! Not just the one albatross I'd seen circling the boat yesterday - but a pair of
them arrived today. Impressive, big, cruel-looking beak they have, as well as those graceful long wings - soaring effortlessly over the sea and around 'Nereida' - clearly inquisitive, circling very close quite often as I watched them for ages from the companionway. They also frequently settle on the sea for a rest.

I'm not sure if they were all the same kind, since I thought one of the pair clearly had a uniformly-dark beak but the single one clearly has a yellow upper part to its otherwise dark beak. It's difficult to get a decent look at them, they move so fast through the air - taking photos of them is almost impossible .... correction: no problem taking the photo - it's having the bird in the frame ANYwhere at all when you click the shutter that's the problem!! Lots of fuzzy photos of the sea with specks in the distance....!!

There's quite a large group of 'spectacled' petrels always gliding around nearby now. I saw one pair of similar shape & size but a pure white underbody except for dark breast (straightish dividing line between dark breast and white lower parts - rather like on an oyster catcher...) Otherwise dark everywhere - but undersides of wings possibly paler, with darker line down centre.

I got quite excited yesterday just before sunset when I spotted a tiny bird 'dancing' on the sea surface, seeming to touch it
frequently - a storm petrel of some kind. All dark wings & body, except for a distinctive large white rump. It had more 'sparrow-shaped' wings than the gliding wings of the larger seabirds around.. And just now when I looked around, a mid-grey bird flew by, a bit smaller than the spectacled petrels, flapping its wings constantly, rather than soaring mostly, white underside but grey head, chest and tail...

.....So there I was, happily starting a soft-boiled egg I'd been looking forward to for several days now - when we suddenly started heeling over yet again & I had to rush up into the cockpit to sort things out....... wind veered & went up from about 10 knots to 16-18 knots, boat speed up from a sedate 5 knots to 7.5.... Nothing too worrying - except I was very glad I hadn't shaken out the 3rd reef, as I had been thinking I should have, a short while before. A gusty morning, often for no obvious reason since not always due to a large cloud being nearby - safer to stay with 3rd reef and play with the full genoa and staysail for fine tuning!

Weather forecast is for a gale for this sea area (Tristan - named after island of Tristan da Cunha, just over 500 mls away now). Although it's unlikely that I'd get such strong winds, you never know... but all I see is the pressure rising, not dropping. A gust came through in the evening, so I furled away the genoa in readiness for the expected rising winds and tied in the 3rd reef around the boom to avoid chafe on the reefing line in strong winds..... but the wind died away... by 11pm, to 3-5 knots.... we're going nowhere at all!! Time for bed...

Wednesday 25 November 09 Day 47
4am... overcast sky ...still no wind! So much for the Gale Warning!! Went nowhere overnight... Made 1 ml in 5 hrs!!
Difficult to keep the boat staying headed in the right direction with quite a big long swell still which rocks us about every so often. This is likely to continue all day with high pressure up at 1025 since 11pm

Wind finally went N around 0600 but didn't fill in until nearer 8am - when it was NNE-NE 3 (8-9 kt) - but at least we were moving again, even if only at 4.5kt. .. but that didn't last long - by midday, we were making 1.5kn in 4kn of wind... barely enough to keep moving! And there's another Gale Warning for Tristan - last one ended up with zero wind here, so I wonder what this one will bring... (Later: We're only just in 'Tristan' sea area - almost in 'Cape West' - so no wonder the Tristan Gale Warnings aren't relevant!!)

Sunset (around 1900UTC): Fairly calm sea, since so little wind most of the day, and wind had risen to just 10-11 knots - but might yet increase to 20knots overnight, since quite strong Northerlies are expected soon over quite a big area... but, hopefully, no gales! Still have my 'resident pair of 'spectacled petrels and the solitary albatross ... had lots of petrels all morning but most gone now. Did plenty of bird watching in the calm conditions today - watching them soaring and wheeling about, often very close to the boat...very special...

DMG to noon:
Tuesday: 133M (by log: 151M)
Wednesday: 62M (by log: 56M) 1M overnight, drifting from 11pm to 4am ...!!
And likely to be another bad DMG tomorrow, with us 'slopping about' in no wind again, in the afternoon...

Saturday 21st November 09
Wind slowly increased from nothing at all at sunset Friday to N 18 kn most of the day - so fast sailing on a beam reach - very nice, although an increasing SW swell so rather bumpy at times.

Saw a mass of cloud of approaching on W horizon not long before sunset... Thought it was a forecast Cold Front arriving ... So slowed the boat right down - from 7.6-7.8 to just 4.2 boatspeed... genoa furled, 3rd (deep ) reef in mains'l with stays'l... and got Jordan series drogue all ready just to chuck over the stern ... General idea was that all that effort should guarantee nothing will happen.......! Which was exactly right - because the cloud turned out to be nothing dramatic at all - just a lot of fluffy light cumulus! So eventually, to increase our speed, I unfurled some genoa - much better!!
I had to keep an eye on our heading because the wind, as usual when a Low is approaching S of here, is slowly backing all the time.. E-NE-N-etc, so our course changes with it, being under wind-steering. So I frequently have to adjust 'Fred' (the Hydrovane acquired a name some time ago!)to keep us heading in the right direction.

Still have a pair of 'spectacled petrels' soaring around the boat and some kind of 'masked booby' (a big white bird with handsome black markings - clearly gannet family)came by earlier. We're pretty close to the small island of Tristan de Cunha - less than 400 mls to the S! I gather that's where the spectacled petrels breed - they're rare because they're endemic to Tristan so we're privileged to have their company(Info courtesy of my 'sailing companions' on 'Berrimilla' - just over 200 miles to the north)Seems the name I made up wasn't far short of being correct - but they're petrels, not shearwaters...

More problems... First reef line has broken at leech cringle (chafed)- so I had to drop the mains'l and tie the first reef in with a line around the boom.(I put in 2nd reef while I was at it, since wind was expected to keep building overnight and Sunday). Was thinking of heaving-to but managed it 'on-the-trot' with the boom more or less centred.

I then thought it was a good time to un-wire the topping lift shackle at the end of the boom so I could keep the topping lift at the mast(It's my trysail halyard, so better there anyway)..But I'd done an excellent job wiring it...it was really difficult to get off - especially with the swell!! Managed eventually and new topping lift home is at the mast, close to where I'd hanked on the trysail yesterday to be ready for use...

Sunday 22nd November 09

Had an excellent fast overnight sail - and on into today. The wind is continuing to build very slowly, as it backs to the north and then into the northwest, and the seas are getting a bit difficult at times - but we're sailing well with a small amount of genoa to boost our speed added to the stays'l and triple-reefed main from overnight.

It seems the expected cold front has speeded up and may get to our position by this evening or overnight, rather than later on Monday. Hopefully, it won't be as dramatic as last Tuesday since I'm at the tail end of the Front, rather than slap-bang in the middle. In the meantime, I'm preparing for a repeat - but hope to be better able to deal with it this time . At least now I'll be expecting the 'switching' of the wind direction: a sudden backing from N/NW to S/SW - as is normal when these fronts pass by. Of course, that relates to here in the S hemisphere - everything is round the other way, weatherwise, in the North!

Winds are expected to continue building from their present, early-afternoon 22knots to as much as 30-35 kn tonight, with higher gusts, possibly - so I could be due for another interesting night... with rain, again, of course! I think I'll have my evening meal early today...

Monday 23rd November 09

Posted report yesterday for Sat/Sun, but for some reason it failed - so I'm trying again, with addition of today.

Last night the cold front came through soon after midnight - with no very strong wind (about 13 knots), just the sudden 'switching' of wind as it backed to SSW from NW... Of course, expecting the worst, (grib weather files were showing a front & associated rain (squalls?) passing me overnight)& with wind and seas building gradually, I'd decided to down the main completely before it got dark(partly just to see how that went, never having done it alone at sea in wind before..)and furl in the genoa, so the only sail we had up by 5pm was the (small) staysail. It was then that I discovered that the threatened failure of the gas-filled rod-kicker had occurred, due to losing oil from the seals gradually since soon after leaving the Canaries. The failure was made very obvious once the sail had been lowered & so no longer helping to support the boom. But, unfortunately, just yesterday, I'd taken the topping lift away to put near the trysail at the mast.... so it was no longer on the boom end helping to support it.... I'd been wondering what a certain noise had been over the afternoon - now I knew.... because the rod-kicker had failed, & was no longer supporting the boom, and neither was the topping lift, the boom was moving about in the swell in an unusual way.

The wind was around 22knots by then (and pressure was dropping)but we seemed to end up way under-powered in a big swell which kept knocking us off course - and then 'Fred' would have a problem getting us back on course because of the lack of sail area in the right place (i.e. no mainsail to help balance) . I switched on the autopilot occasionally to help out... At least I knew that I shouldn't end up in difficulties should a strong, veered wind come through - backing the stays'l presented only a minor problem, unlike backing the main.

So I later got into my bunk and had a good sleep!! ... to be woken up just before 1am with the wind shift having just occurred and the stays'l backed.... we were effectively hove-to, so not going anywhere. I brought the stays'l over to port & unfurled some genoa to help our speed in the lighter wind ( 13 knots and going down) - no big drama this time around!! But speed was badly compromised by the lack of mainsail - that would have to wait until daylight, I decided.... I'm not racing just now!!

By 6am, the sun was just up and I set to... Not as straightforward as it should have been - the topping lift had to be brought back to its place on the boom aft end, so it could support the boom, & the lazyjacks had to be released on the leeward side of the sail to avoid battens getting caught, but eventually it was done - and our speed increased with it. It's been very gusty and at one point, with full genoa, staysail and single-reefed main, we were doing 8.6-8.7 knots consistently through the water!! I decided maybe I'd better reef again - so life calmed down a little and I was able to have breakfast in peace!

As I was writing this, soon after midday, we suddenly heeled over as a big gust came through - from 12 knots, it was suddenly up to 20-25 knots .... and I had full genoa out.... We ran off downwind to lower the apparent wind while I frantically winched in the genoa completely... oh, what fun!! With the wind seeming to stay well up, I put in the 3rd reef ... so now the wind has dropped and we're going nowhere... Time to shake out that reef again....! It had been such a lovely sunny day a short while before that I'd relaxed and thought that was it... front passed by, problems over for one or two days... but this was a delayed area of convection behind that same front. Wind speed now? 9knots....! 20mins later: 18knots... "Variable conditions"!!

DMG noon-to-noon:
Saturday: 82M (By Log: 95M)- Wind died during Friday afternoon and didn't return until just before dawn
Sunday: 142M (By log: 143M!) - Reflecting some excellent sailing, despite the swell & even though I slowed us down for several hours during the evening and was careful overnight!
Monday: 105M (By log: 99M -) - Difference due to slight fair current from evening until early morning. Low because slowed right down overnight with front expected to pass over.

Wednesday/Thursday/ to Friday afternoon 18/19/20th November 09 Days 40-42 From 50+ knots to nothing...!

I was certainly shaking for a bit -
Having had several 30+ squalls followed by a 40+ squall early Tuesday afternoon- and then the unexpected squall of well over 50 knots (- dial just went crazy - gave up after went over 50!)that came through around 1845 when I thought things were calming down, I thought the excitement was over...... but not so...!

Just after midnight, a 30+ squall came through(pressure went up from Tuesday's 1010/11 to 1014mb) - and the wind switched in no time from NW to S, then ended up from WSW. Big seas...heavy rain....We just ran before the wind as it backed and then veered... good to have the sea-room and no other vessels around. Felt a lot better when we were running.... but seas really got up & it was difficult to keep them on the quarter since there were two different seas (NW & NNE - one on quarter meant t'other on beam), and we were well heeled over several times...The sudden change of wind direction had backed the mains'l which was on a preventer - so a stanchion got bent a bit. Had to gybe the sails & try to deal with a problem with battens of reefed mains'l caught in lazyjacks while at it . Fortunately, the wind dropped not long after, to just 10kn... Just to add to the excitement, the Hydrovane steering line 'heat-welded butt joint' came adrift.!! (I'd always meant to add some stitching....) There was also a major water leakage from the sliding hatch area above the chart table from all the rain.... not such good news!! Covered things with a towel to protect the electronics.... We weren't exactly a 'happy bunny' just then!! But boat did OK - heeled like mad at times.. ears got a wetting... but stayed mostly upright... she's a sturdy boat. Later, I noticed the top two battens were broken at the cars.

Wednesday turned into a fairly pleasant day - sunny with biggish seas - they always take a time to lie down. Wind was SW 20kn over most of the day so it made for a good day's sail but we paid for that on Thursday and on into the night.... Went nowhere, except in a big loop at mostly zero boat speed all day from noon on.... Wind only 4-5knots, mostly from E or SE, with 6kn for 1/2 hr from S... actually got sailing E for short while!!... But a strong foul current of up to 2 knots, often... Benguela starting up, I presume...

By Friday at 0630, we were at the same spot nearly as at the same time the day before, heading in the same direction: 110T...! And now, at 1400 Friday, after having had a good sail all morning, the wind (which has now backed to NNE) has just died to 6 knots, the sky has cleared ... and we could well be slopping about again soon.. ( Later: Yes - we're about to start wallowing...! Boat speed: 3.9kn, SOG: 3.6kn) The next low pressure system, with its associated cold front, are expected to pass by during Sat/Sun - probably intense again..... time will tell... Could be another 'hit' coming up ...!!

Unfortunately, it's not possible to get any weather fax by radio because Cape Naval have stopped transmissions - for 'repairs', I've been told, which may become permanent... A great pity since it's nice to have accurate weather information, rather than just rely on 'grib' files - which are far better than nothing but often not that accurate.

DMG to noon-to-noon:
Wednesday: 97M (128M by log)
Thursday: 105M (132M by log)
Friday: 13.5M!! (33M by log)

Sunday evening, around 9.30pm, I saw on AIS that we had a ship on a definite collision course with us.... I called over and over, at intervals, on VHF and even sent DSC calls to their bridge - no response .. I got really worried when they were within a few miles and I could see their lights and but still got no response... Finally, they obligingly turned to port to pass astern of me, once we could hear each other properly. Well before then, I'd turned on my deck light (it lights up my sails beautifully)in an effort to attract their attention - just in case someone was looking out, ... only too often, not so! Afterwards they came back to me to chat a little... clearly intrigued by the thought of a woman out here sailing by herself...!

By the time the incident was all over, it was well past 11pm - and I'd missed the 'window' to speak to the Maritime Mobile Net in the USA on 14300 kHz - as I'd done the night before. Amazing to get such clear reception between two people so far apart - Net Control in Minnesota was clear as a bell! It was fun to try it and fun to chat and make contact. They have a rota of radio 'hams' who keep the Net going all day & are there in case anyone needs help of some kind.

That same night, Groupama 3 passed about 150 mls S of me! Going at nearly 30kn - just a little bit faster than me! So sad to hear of the breakage they just suffered, putting an end to their Jules Verne attempt - they're limping towards Cape Town as I write this... hoping to try again maybe next year, after repairs...

Well, it's rather bumpy out here... and has been since Monday mid-morning when the wind started rising with an incoming Low. That evening we were making good speed in NE 20knots -- boatspeed: 7.5kn, SOG 6.3kn - (pity about the foul current!!)Plan was to ease the sheets to keep us heading roughly East as the wind slowly backed as the centre of the Low passed S of our position.... I was hoping that the 40-45kn forecast for Tues noon wouldn't happen.... but it did!! Right on cue!!

I'd two (deep) reefs in mains'l and full stays'l, (genoa furled away)until early evening when wind started building more - to ~24kn apparent, so took in 3rd reef, eased sheets and headed more downwind.

At 5am, I'd just managed to retrieve and lash down the emergency forestay, which had come loose and was banging around noisily, when a squall came through: wind rose quickly from 19 to 28-31, dying back a bit later, & staying down at 24kn from 0600-1100, when another squall came through, although waves stayed high. Midday actually saw the sun trying to struggle through a thin layer of cloud ... I thought that was it! But at 1300, it started gusting to 32k,... by 1410, up to 38-42+kn, then by 1425, down to 34kn. Pressure dropped a touch over this time: by just 1mb to 1010, having stayed virtually constant all day. By 1500... all seemed to be over, just big waves and 24kn , ... Had 3rd reef in mains'l + stays'l and followed wind around as it backed -which happened very much more slowly overnight than I expected - it went to NNW and stayed there until the 'big blow' when it backed to NW. Now just left-over swell ... waiting for it to die down now...

Might get some more wind later, but hopefully, not so strong..! Until Wed when the High will drop over me, bringing very little!

LATER: So much for that hope....Got hit again....even more!! A really strong squall came in with heavy rain and winds well over 50kn - the display went crazy...!! Wow - did I get worried! I'd only just furled in a bit of staysail with the line having come loose.. and BANG!! The spume was being blown like horizontal mist over the sea surface... the waves got even bigger - but we did OK.. I'd retreated VERY shakily down below, pleased with the good job being done by the specially-made perspex storm hatch over the companionway. I'd adjusted our course to try to make sure the waves were still on the quarter - we'd rounded up initially in the strong wind... TG the really strong stuff must have only lasted for about 15-20 minutes - although, of course, it seemed never-ending, especially when we were on our ears momentarily in the water!! Now we're down to 22kn... but the seas are still up - every now and then we're hit by a big one & rock violently - a good test of how well things are stowed!!... I wonder how long this system will take to pass through...?? Seems the first 'hit' was a Front, ahead of the second 'hit' due to the Low itself passing by.

And I thought all I was going to talk about was my little following of 7-8 dark brown seabirds....!! Seems they might be 'White-Chinned Petrels' , not shearwaters at all. They have a definite white 'chin strap' from behind the eye (which is ringed by white) to down by their mid-grey beak - very handsome!. Under parts are all dark brown and some birds (females/immature?) are all brown They all have the same black tips to the upper wing surface. They may have gone now - midday, I saw just two.

Let's see if I can send this - hopefully by SSB/HF radio, because the Iridium phone is playing up badly - and that's definitely NOT something I can fix!!

DMG noon to noon:

Mon: 129M (147M by log)- bit of a curved track over the period!
Tues: 132M (145M by log)- not exactly a straight line..!

Sunday 15th November 2009 Day 37 Excellent sailing today.. with birds for company still!

Lovely sun & blue skies this morning... but now we're sailing beneath a grey, overcast sky . But my shearwater companions are still with me! They seem to have adopted 'Nereida' and every time I look out, there they are, circling and swooping around, mainly astern of us... so very nice to see! I think the male has a definite pale yellow curved line well below the eye - which is surrounded by a distinctive pale yellow area - hence 'spectacled' shearwater...! I threw a rotten potato overboard and one instantly swooped down and landed in the water to investigate. (I has a nice omelette tonight with potatoes, onion and asparagus... mm! I still have plenty of fresh onions, potatoes & eggs in store.)

Have had a very good sailing day today - at over 7knots regularly this afternoon in 17 knots apparent - with one reef in mains'l , full genoa and full stays'l. Started being forced overnight and this morning more and more to NE and points north... so tacked over onto port tack at about the right time mid-morning, with wind continuing to back, and was able to make due S initially, but soon SSE ... presently (2000GMT ) heading between SE and ESE. Will stay on this tack and follow wind around (that's the beauty of wind-steering - I don't have to do a thing - it does it for me!) until heading E and then ease the sheets gradually to keep going E, ending up with the wind from abaft the beam (I love that phrase!!)as the Low passes by.. that's the plan, anyway..!!

DMG to noon today: 83M .... but 115 M by log

Big difference because we'd been heading E-ENE-NE since noon yesterday, slowed down by the good-sized seas that built up in the afternoon, and then tacked around this morning to head S for 2-3 hours at good speed - a big inverted kind of 'V'!

Saturday 14th November 09 Day 36 That split pin......

Had several emails about the split pin problem at the gooseneck fitting between mast and boom .....Thanks for your concern, it's very much appreciated!

I'm pleased to report that I'm hoping all is now well...The clevis pin rotated a bit overnight, so I was actually able to get to & open the ends of the split pin far more this morning - well turned back on themselves, in fact, so it's much more secure than it was... I'll keep an eye on it and use an alternative if it gives any more grief(wire through clevis pin & around boom, maybe)

Sky has cleared tonight (Southern Cross clear to view) and wind has died down to 8 knots from SSE - so at 3 knots SOG we're not exactly breaking any speed records, yet again!! At least that means the sea has stayed smoother than this afternoon. I just hope the wind doesn't die totally...

(By the way, can someone send me info on where Groupama 3 have got to??)

Bye for now...

Jeanne
"Nereida"
28S, 021W

Saturday 14th November 09 Day 36 Graceful ocean birds around Nereida

This morning I caught sight of a lone bird swooping and gliding around 'Nereida' - it hardly ever seemed to flap its wings, using the updraught from the waves to keep it airborne, sometimes dipping its wing-tips in the water... so graceful! And this evening around sunset, a group of 'spectacled' shearwaters swooped around us for a long time - I stood in the companionway watching them well after the sun went down, as the light faded. Dark brown birds all over, with black wing tips .. I was puzzled by their head which clearly had a light-coloured bill - but when one came close enough - it had a circle of a light colour around its eyes - just like spectacles - so that's what I've named them!! (Maybe someone can identify them for me?)

The seas have calmed down quite a bit from this afternoon when we were banging about regularly with swell from several different directions making the sea really 'lumpy'. I got so worried about what was coming last night, and sure enough, I had to get in and out of my 'foulies' several times to trim the sails with the big wind shifts that accompanied the heavy rain, but in the end, the rain squalls stopped well before 11 o'clock and the wind died down completely to 5 knots, ending up from ESE - our hoped-for course! Rather than continue heading almost north, with the alternative being WSW!, by 11 o'clock, I'd decided we'd be better off 'hove-to' - so that's what I did - peace and relaxation followed... and several hours good sleep! We drifted with the wind and current a little, but not far.

By 4am, I realized the wind had veered to SSW, so we got going again, gently ambling along, roughly E-ESE, as I wanted, and by 0745, the sun was up and it was a lovely drying morning for all my wet gear of the evening before... Later, the wind backed a little to SSE and has stayed there all day, gusting under several
clouds earlier on, but then getting up to a consistent 18 knots until the early evening - we were well-reefed down and made good speed for a time until the seas built up
We're heading NE now - not quite towards S. Africa, but nearly so!! The wind seems to be slowly backing more, so it's possible that soon we'll have to gybe to keep a good course. Our rhumbline course is 110T from here to S of the Cape of Good Hope, but keeping an eye on the likely weather ahead, I prefer to go NE just now, heading S in a few days time, maybe. "The wind is king"!!

Not surprisingly, having had several hours overnight of zero boat speed while 'hove-to' and then light winds after that, our DMG until noon today is the the lowest ever:

DMG: 46M!! (By log: 65M - partly reflecting the big 'loop' we made before and after heaving-to & partly due to the foul current most of the day. For quite a time, mid-morning - boat speed over 7 knots, SOG around 5 knots!)

ing
until it
was

Friday 13th November, 2009 - Day 35 Saw a lovely albatross this morning!!

- It circled around a few times - and then made off as I was going to get my camera for a photoshoot!!

I was clearly in the shipping lane up from the Cape of Good Hope last night - talked to two ships coming close.. one only briefly, to confirm they'd seen me (had me on radar, they assured me)and the other, after a really bad radio connection initially, kept coming back to me for a chat, after confirming they were keeping clear of me. A Croatian, who was thrilled to think I knew Dubrovnik and Split, who even sent me a message via DSC saying "Good luck, :)" !!

I'm sitting here this evening in my 'foulies', at the ready... expecting a major Low to pass through sometime before the morning... keeping an eye on barometer!! I hate the suspense!! Don't expect to get much rest tonight... Raining now but very little wind - 'calm before the storm...'?? Had one big 'blow' come through this morning - all action, reefing down in a hurry!! And then the wind died completely... I had to gybe and we drifted around in a complete circle before the wind filled in from the NE (it had been coming from the SW!)(Later tonight:That has just happened again ..twice!!! Wind 'switched' direction completely.. I'm wet and the boat is well-washed down!) And there'll be lots more of this... I don't expect to be in Cape area until end of month... 2200mls and 2-3 wks away... with deep depressions coming through regularly! (Rumbling of thunder in the distance, I'm hearing now...)

I'm still having a major problem with the gooseneck... After I thought I'd fixed it from coming apart yesterday (JUST spotted in time!)I checked on it today while I was reefing - & found it was about to repeat itself... The split pin I'd put back to hold the clevis pin in place through the fitting was out of position and about to drop out again!! The whole arrangement is clearly just not sturdy enough... really flimsy, in fact. Means I'm seriously having to consider whether to pull in to Cape Town to get it fixed properly before continuing on.... Can't risk boom coming away from mast anywhere, let alone the Southern Ocean, thousands of miles from nearest land! What a pain!!

Must get some dinner organized before the light goes - might be chili con carne tonight... tin of chili beans, tin of nicely-cooked mince, extra tomato and spice - and there you go - VERY quick...and tasty!!

DMG to noon today: 105M (2120 M to Cape of Good Hope)