Tuesday 21st February 2012

Sipping a mid-morning, rare cup of much-enjoyed fresh coffee, watching the White-chins circle around as we sail nicely on port tack under clear blue skies (not a cloud in sight!) in NNW4 (11-13 knots). An awesome pair of Great albatross have also been flying very close again (almost certainly New Zealand Wandering from black on the tail end and splashes of white on dark upper wings). Wind has been increasing very slowly (it was 4-6 knots just after midnight) as the High centre moves off to the ENE but is still close.

Having increasing problems with radio connections for weather and emails - so please don't send me any long emails just now!

Just noticed that we're E of 52.5E - and so into a new time zone - GMT+4 - must change my clock!

Pressure was up at 1025 for several hours and has now dropped to 1024. So I've changed course slightly, to due E, looking ahead to the next deep Low coming this way and giving strong conditions by late Thursday into Fri/Sat. I'll change course later to 070T when the wind backs further - If I can get a little further N by Thursday/Friday , I might avoid the worst of the winds and big swell. Might even be able to avoid needing to heave to ..... An ever repeating scenario!

The good news is that ex-TC 'Giovanna' seems to have disappeared completely and her associate ex-TS 'Hilary' is a relatively small depression just E of Mauritius at midnight. So there might still be an area of heavy rain on Friday, as I get to just W of where the remnant might have travelled to, but even that might not happen... who knows?

1120 GMT/3.20pm LT: Just finished fuel transfer from jerrycans into main tank. Spent a time chasing what I thought was a 12V wiring or plug problem - but, having followed through with multimeter, clearly cable/12V plug/switch/pump were all fine electrically. Pump seems to work erratically , almost as though there's a cut-out of some kind... Left it to start a weatherfax download (which never came through) and then heard a high whining noise - the pump had suddenly decided to work of its own accord - good news but frustrating...!! So now have approx 160l of fuel in tank - plenty (@ 40l/week of remaining passage) for genset use overnight when needed - such as when transmit on radio a lot, trying to connect. Daytime, when sun is shining, we're often putting in 8-16A from solar panels plus input from windgen - which can go up to 20A or more, if strong wind.... so genset rarely used then.

1700 GMT/6pm LT What a lovely day this has been! Lovely sailing, lovely sunshine, many different birds around over the day. All very relaxing... I've changed course to 070T, heading towards 40S, 060E. Making good speed closehauled in 13 knots of wind. (See website 'Travels' page for link to chart of my daily positions on passage.) I'll see if I can post this early, when radio propagation is marginally better than later this evening.

24 hr DMG to midday (GMT): Just 99 n.ml. - due to 12 hrs of little wind overnight, when speed dropped to 2-3 knots at times.

Tuesday 21st February 2012

Sipping a mid-morning, rare cup of much-enjoyed fresh coffee, watching the White-chins circle around as we sail nicely on port tack under clear blue skies (not a cloud in sight!) in NNW4 (11-13 knots). An awesome pair of Great albatross have also been flying very close again (almost certainly New Zealand Wandering from black on the tail end and splashes of white on dark upper wings). Wind has been increasing very slowly (it was 4-6 knots just after midnight) as the High centre moves off to the ENE but is still close.

Having increasing problems with radio connections for weather and emails - so please don't send me any long emails just now!

Just noticed that we're E of 52.5E - and so into a new time zone - GMT+4 - must change my clock!

Pressure was up at 1025 for several hours and has now dropped to 1024. So I've changed course slightly, to due E, looking ahead to the next deep Low coming this way and giving strong conditions by late Thursday into Fri/Sat. I'll change course later to 070T when the wind backs further - If I can get a little further N by Thursday/Friday , I might avoid the worst of the winds and big swell. Might even be able to avoid needing to heave to ..... An ever repeating scenario!

The good news is that ex-TC 'Giovanna' seems to have disappeared completely and her associate ex-TS 'Hilary' is a relatively small depression just E of Mauritius at midnight. So there might still be an area of heavy rain on Friday, as I get to just W of where the remnant might have travelled to, but even that might not happen... who knows?

1120 GMT/3.20pm LT: Just finished fuel transfer from jerrycans into main tank. Spent a time chasing what I thought was a 12V wiring or plug problem - but, having followed through with multimeter, clearly cable/12V plug/switch/pump were all fine electrically. Pump seems to work erratically , almost as though there's a cut-out of some kind... Left it to start a weatherfax download (which never came through) and then heard a high whining noise - the pump had suddenly decided to work of its own accord - good news but frustrating...!! So now have approx 160l of fuel in tank - plenty (@ 40l/week of remaining passage) for genset use overnight when needed - such as when transmit on radio a lot, trying to connect. Daytime, when sun is shining, we're often putting in 8-16A from solar panels plus input from windgen - which can go up to 20A or more, if strong wind.... so genset rarely used then.

1700 GMT/6pm LT What a lovely day this has been! Lovely sailing, lovely sunshine, many different birds around over the day. All very relaxing... I've changed course to 070T, heading towards 40S, 060E. Making good speed closehauled in 13 knots of wind. (See website 'Travels' page for link to chart of my daily positions on passage.) I'll see if I can post this early, when radio propagation is marginally better than later this evening.

24 hr DMG to midday (GMT): Just 99 n.ml. - due to 12 hrs of little wind overnight, when speed dropped to 2-3 knots at times.

Monday 20th February 2012

1530GMT/6.30pm LT .... Just gone sunset ... a red glowing ball - which I kept an eye on as I was busy tidying up the lines in the cockpit while a pair of White-chins and a Yellow-nose circled around. Seas nothing like as calm now as I'd hoped (around 3m) - probably due to a nasty, deep Low to the SW, with its Front expected to pass over us on Friday - hopefully without the dramatic backing of the wind that so many cold fronts give.

Wind is now slowly dying, as expected overnight. Pressure is up to 1023 and the wind, presently still SW at 9 knots, will start veering to the NW at some point tonight - one reason that got me tidying up in the cockpit, since then we'll have to gybe onto port tack and it will be nice not to have to deal with a 'tangle of worms' in the dark! I furled in the staysail and released the running backstay, also partly with overnight gybing in mind, and unfurled the rest of the genoa in its place - should help our speed a bit.

Spent a lot of time today trying to get radio connections for weather info & emails. Needed the generator to boost the batteries after a prolonged session without success. Some contacts made but not good enough, although I did post my position report - sending is so often a lot faster than receiving . Finally Sailmail connected, but still with difficulty and several attempts were needed before I finally got the grib weather files I particularly wanted, to see what's forecast for TS Giovanna, the High just N of me and the Low to the SW that's likely to give gale force winds... I'm also downloading weatherfaxes regularly to see the current situation (actually with a 4-5 hrs delay, but that's near enough).

Downloading another fax now - my daily routine seems to revolve around getting weather info via faxes, emails and once- or twice-daily contact with the S.African Maritime Mobile Net (S.A.M.M. Net) on 14316 kHz at 0630Z/1130Z. Graham, ZS2ABK, keeps me updated with weather forecasts for my position from the S.A. Weather Service and, in return, gives them my weather info - useful for them to compare with their forecasts. So I've several sources of info - useful should one go down.

It's feeling definitely cooler now - air and water temperatures have dropped a lot - sea is now 14C (from 24C on Friday), making the boat feel cold, and air is around 21C maximum - so I'm into fleece layers now!

Time for a hot meal - nice to have one all ready waiting... and then a nice crunchy apple!

DMG: 143 n.ml.
Present position: 41 38'S, 052 14'E

Sunday 19th February 2012

A pleasant day, with a mix of heavy grey clouds everywhere and some sunshine in between times, with just the occasional squall to give a bit of excitement as winds suddenly increase and shift under a particularly big cloud.

Now having Sunday afternoon tea while I relax over Spider Solitaire (in much calmer conditions than this time yesterday, although still some big waves) - as I try to get a connection with a shore radio station somewhere for emails & grib weather files. The good news is that I'm regularly getting weatherfaxes from Cape Naval - they've been off-air for well over a year .... the 'new' S.Africa....

An ongoing concern is TS/TD Giovanna coming down this way (didn't dissipate but clearly found some warm sea to feed on) - but should be well ahead of me if she does - with mainly heavy rain + 40 kt winds ahead of the centre, not behind it where I am.... (I hope!)

1540GMT/6.40pm LT (local time where I am) - Sunset ... a low line of pink in the W under the grey clouds that are covering the sky, with some showers nearby. A good flock of White-chinned petrels (15-20 at least) are wheeling about us, together with the pair of Yellow-nosed albatross they often seem to keep company with. The albatross have such long wing-spans by comparison with their body length, unlike the petrels. The birds are often particularly active near the boat around sunset and also soon after sunrise.

I'm downloading a weatherfax while I watch them - it shows exactly where 'Giovanna' is - not so very far away - and I'm keeping an eye out for any possible problem. Forecast day for any 'close encounter' is next Thursday, 23rd Feb but with any luck she'll dissipate .... In the meantime, we're heading ESE but gradually slowing down as the pressure rises and the High comes our way with dying winds - likely to be becalmed in a day's time! But if seas are really calm soon, I'll be able to get the outstanding boat jobs seen to before the good NW winds which will follow behind.

Today's daily weather report (as posted to Winlink and Yotreps):
TIME: 2012/02/19 12:00
LATITUDE: 40-59.93S LONGITUDE: 048-45.59E
COURSE: 110T SPEED: 6.0
WIND_SPEED: 22 WIND_DIR: SW
SWELL_DIR: WSW SWELL_HT: 3.5M SWELL_PER: 6
CLOUDS: 85% BARO: 1016 TREND: 0
AIR_TEMP: 20.0C SEA_TEMP: 20.0C
COMMENT: Hove-to y'day for 12hrs from 11:30am.Seas less now .DMG:99 n.ml.

Saturday 18th February

A day to remember - but not for the best of reasons!

The wind and seas have both been well up - winds consistently 30-35kt overnight and then 35-40 all morning, with seas up accordingly - so yesterday's 4-5m seas became today's 6-7m (or more) with occasional small sections of white breaking crests - impressive from a distance but not good when caught by them - as we were several times. With the strong F8-9 wind, it all became too much (never mid the good speed we were making!) and got to feeling downright dangerous when, instead of maintaining our downwind course with the waves approaching our stern, we kept being taken by an oncoming wave and being turned violently upwind into it, to climb up its face, heeling a lot, sometimes getting knocked sideways by the crest with a bang.

I'd been debating whether to heave to or deploy the Jordan series drogue we carried ready - but after one particularly worrying incident that made me decide to act, I decided the quickest was to deploy the drogue which was all ready to go in its bag on the stern. We were heeling a lot from time to time and I had trouble getting the chain out of its bag - the lovely new 'galvanised' chain I'd bought in Ushuaia had turned totally rusty - but I got it out finally and sent it out, the rest of the drogue following, to stream off the bridle attached to the two strong points at the quarters. We settled down nicely and I watched the line streaming well in the big waves approaching, giving and taking up gently to keep our stern into the waves. No more rounding up into the waves, just a gentle lifting over them as they passed under us. I began to relax....

After seeing to a few small jobs, I decided it was time for a late breakfast,... I was just getting started when I heard a bang from the stern.... Once on deck, I found the drogue had disappeared... a remnant of one bridle line was to be seen, along with most of the floating (polypropylene) retrieval line attached to a stern cleat. The spectra line had obviously seen too much sunlight and must have degraded as a result... I cursed my stupidity in not replacing the two bridle lines when I'd had the chance (the thought had crossed my mind several times but each time I'd been busy with other things) .. too late now - what to do?

We were basically lying ahull in the seas and not doing too badly in fact,while the seas were being kind, but I needed to get us pointing up more into the wind and seas to be safer. Having downed the mains'l to lie to the series drogue, I now had the problem of raising the sail in the strong conditions.. not so easy, and definitely not helped by the sail, and also the halyard, getting caught behind the mast steps (I'd forgotten to tighten the string tied between them to prevent that happening) ...Up with the halyard and then down with it, trying to time things with the swell... as fast as I released one, the other got caught quite badly. I even climbed a short distance up the mast to release the sail at one point.... an interesting experience in the big swell! In the end, having retrieved two dangling lines from the water first, I started the motor to point us more upwind - that made matters so much easier, with everything coming free, & the sail was soon raised. Then it was a matter of easing the sheet and slowly bringing it in, having first fixed the wheel halfway to windward. We lay nicely hove-to in the end and I was finally able to get below to change out of my wet things - I was sopping wet from hair (forgot my hat!) to shoes (they'd got well filled as we heeled when sorting out the drogue). I had a lovely nap for an hour before finally getting some very late food.

When I spoke to Graham, ZS2ABK, on the S.A.M.M. Net a short while later, he commented that the Giovanna TS had been downgraded further and looked as though both it and the other one, were unlikely to pose me a problem next week - good news!

Pressure has been rising fast over the last few hours and I've been watching the wind die down to around 20 knots also... As soon as the seas had calmed down to something reasonable, I got us sailing again. We're now heading ESE while we can, before that High fills in completely over us and our speed drops right down - maybe for two days or more.... Sky has cleared, bright stars everywhere ... Nice to be sailing pleasantly once more!

DMG: 140 n.ml. (we were averaging 7knots for quite a time, before heaving to!)
Present position: 41S, 047E

Friday 17th February 2012

The day started quite pleasantly, with around 20 knots of NW wind, the sun a red globe under grey clouds on the horizon and clear sky overhead. But at midday, after several squalls earlier, due to passing clouds nearby, a good 40 knot 'blow' came through with heavy rain under a massive grey cloud... In between squalls, the sun got out and it was quite pleasant.... birds were all around - the usual group, including the enormous solitary Royal albatross, with white splashes on its dark upper wings and white body and head.

The cold front passed by this afternoon almost exactly at 4 o'clock- dropped in for tea, as you might say! It was heralded by 32kt winds and rain and followed by drizzle but the sudden windshift from WNW to WSW was almost painless. We deliberately had very little canvas out, making fair speed despite that, and I gybed us onto starboard tack quite easily. I also decided to change course quite a lot, in view of the forecast winds being less than was thought a day or so ago - so, hopefully, that means the swell will also be down on that predicted - 6-10m ... The waves are quite well apart (8-10sec), which makes life easier, but we are still in rough seas just now, so holding on tightly is essential when not in my bunk. (It's actually blowing 36 knots as I write this, so I'm not convinced about the lesser wind predictions!) High pressure is still forecast for this area next week, so I'll be heading ESE from now, when conditions permit, hoping to avoid being headed or becalmed...

A new concern appeared today... It seems that the cyclone 'Giovanna', which has been downgraded to a Tropical Storm, after wreaking havoc in the N of Madagascar, is still going strong - and likely to head our way by next week, as is a second one. Both expected to head SE, crossing ahead of our path but not that far away... Hopefully, they'll dissipate rather than keeping going or strengthening. A worrying factor is the sea temperature here - it's up to 24C just now - way warmer than I'd expect - and cyclones feed on warm water...

Not much by way of progress on boatjobs in these rough conditions, although I did try out all three small pumps last night - and every one of them worked! No fuel transfer is possible just now, but it's not urgent either. I ran the genset for under an hour yesterday and for half an hour just now. The wind generator is putting in lots of electrons, most of the time, as are the solar panels during the day.

Time for some hot food, I think. It gets quite cool of an evening!

DMG today: 117 n.ml.

Last night was beautifully clear and starry again with the expected band of cloud not coming over - 'Milky Way' strewn across the sky, Orion doing his usual headstand & two very bright stars above the W horizon at sunset - must surely be planets? ... Venus..? and Saturn..? Seem yellow, rather than orange or white. Venus is usually so very white. Info welcomed if anyone wants to email me!

Have been thinking and preparing a lot for expected bad weather coming up - Friday night into Saturday, strong winds, backing to SW-WSW at 30-35, gusting 40kt, as an 'active' cold front on a deep depression passes us during Friday. Bad swell coming along to add in to the same strong winds over Saturday... Decided to take down the pole and change course more to the NE for a time, to try to avoid the worst of the swell. Problem then is the following High, which I don't want to get caught in, by ending up too far N - so will have to dive S a.s.a.p., once worst of winds/swell have passed by. Somehow think we'll get caught by light winds of the High whatever I do...

Thoughts of big seas and strong winds definitely concentrate the mind on clearing up - in the galley, especially. I cooked the last aubergine and courgettes, along with fresh onion, garlic and potatoes - even found a tin of red peppers to add in to tinned tomatoes to make more ratatouille, ready for another 'stew' with ham added, thinking ahead to Fri night & Sat... With more additions, should last several days.

Oops...! Sensed the boat beginning to heel more... into foulies, hat, headlamp, ... up on deck, in the dark night... A big cloud passing over and giving very-much increasing wind... Furl in some genoa.. get wetted by spray and fine rain... As things calm down, a short while later, I see plenty of stars around - but not overhead nor ahead...a dark mass there! Speed is down rather, with reduced canvas, but - it's night, so I'll leave the genoa as is, for the time being... We're still making around 5 kt, that's fine.

Been busy today catching up with emails, making up a new logbook and experimenting with frequencies/times for radio email contact - or the lack of it! WL2K contact is difficult here, with no on-air S.African stations and I failed to make any connection after sunset tonight. Good to have Sailmail as well - their African station is fairly reliable,with a good range of available frequencies, so I'm getting daily weather grib files to add in to the occasional weatherfaxes from Cape Naval S.A. Weather Service and weather info from my daily contact with S.A.M.M. Net.

Time to eat and get a nap... 2025 GMT is 11.25 p.m. local time - we've moved over into the next Time Zone! All very confusing for the body clock!

DMG today: 133 n.ml. (always to 1200 GMT)

Tuesday 14th February

Overnight was beautifully clear and starry with the Southern Cross high above..so dawn was lovely also, and I tried radio contact, having had good success wih WL2K at sunset y'day.. but no joy at all. The depth display is still playing up on so that's still on the joblist, along with a stanchion base furling line lead which I found bits of on deck soon after dawn.

Wind died down completely by noon - to 6knots, so our speed dropped also - for a time we were only making around 2knots. But the pleasant, calmer conditions gave me a chance to get on with jobs... tied down the gas bottle more securely; re-ran the third reef line through the sail cringle and marked the end clearly - a useful job to have done; updated my new radio logbook with useful info from the old one.

Our daily run to midday was quite reasonable, at 137 n.ml.

I decided to fill the main tank from the jerrycans while the weather was good - all started out fine, with my pride and joy of a strong new portable fuel pump and hoses working well - but not for long.... Suddenly, it stopped working... Drat!!

Out with the multimeter to check on connections ... I found the 12V cigar plug was really hot and assumed the fuse inside had blown -but couldn't get inside to change it - the plug is very old anyway, so I decided to change it. Out with the stripper & crimpers & shrink connectors... search for a replacement plug... eventually cut one off something else ... Pump still not working... grrr! Find my other pumps to test them - none of them working either...how come?... Test all possible items for continuity or 12v supply with multimeter... By now feeling very frustrated.. Checked 12V outlets for power - most OK, but not all... Started organising possible power supply to pumps using alligator clips (to buss bar) in place of cigar plug. Got out manual siphon-pump...(!) Decided to leave it all, get some food and sleep and have another go tomorrow - maybe things will be better!

By then, it had turned dull and cold, the wind had veered more to the north and increased & pressure had dropped - another cold front was approaching... but at least boat speed was up. The genoa pole had to come down, after sailing by the lee for a time, and we finally gybed onto port tack in a N-NNE wind and unfurled the stays'l for a beam reach.

Overnight, a SHIP came close by - Chinese, I presumed, from its name: '83 Chung Yong'... heading SE for 'fishing grounds' . Unusual to see other ships within 200 mls!

Wednesday 15th February

4 a.m. First light in the E, clear sky, ...nearing dawn. Wind had backed to just S of W but was still up, pressure down a lot more.... Gybed the main but left the genoa goosewinged, since it seemed happy like that, and furled in stays'l.
7 a.m. Bright clear sky with thin band of cloud low in the SW. Rising wind - time to pole out genoa again... Cloud came over fast, with heavy rain, as I organised pole... but boat speed much better afterwards, in good wind rising to 20-25kt .... and the rain didn't last too long, with clearing skies following, as pressure began to rise behind the cold front.
Midday ... Action stations!! Frantic winching to furl the genoa hurriedly - clouds ... wind over 30knots... and seas well up, tossing us around.... !! We made good speed! Half an hour later, it was a bit calmer, but wind was still around 26-28kt, sometimes dropping, with clear sky overhead, but another band of cloud lurking in the distance...
The pattern continued well into the afternoon - mix of warm blue skies and of grey clouds all over - but strong wind and big seas whatever the sky... but eventually, not long before sunset, the sky cleared and the wind died to around 15 kt - but there's a band of low cloud-cover on the SW horizon, so I might not see the stars tonight...

DMG over noon-to-noon today was 106 n.ml. - down, not surprisingly, on y'day.

It's been too rough for jobs I'd hoped to do today - manana, maybe!

Monday 13th February 2012 - A good day!!

With winds down to around 20kt, instead of regularly well over 30kt, and despite seas not being much less than before, at 5-6m, but feeling gentler, I had a chance to work on the genset which has been starting up OK but not putting out any power.

Following instructions I got over yesterday's morning Ham Net (S.African Maritime Mobile Net), as I thought,....I carefully took out &replaced all the wrong terminals (- on the genset connector block, not at the separate VCS unit!!) and also managed a short circuit when a live spade terminal touched the metal of the block... but I then looked for & found the 15A blade fuse that had blown and replaced it (I've plenty of spare fuses!).... At least we were back to square one and I hadn't ruined things!.... Still no power output, so I checked out fuel pump relay - looked fine... and then I looked at the actuator spindle of the genset - which turned out to be the faulty item. It was stiff and stuck in its extreme position - I had to use pliers to start it turning and then eased it some more to be sure it was OK .. .. so the genset is now WORKING!!!! Yippee!! (Takes so much less fuel than the main engine to charge the batteries...)

I celebrated with a big glass of Wilde guava juice (courtesy Pick and Pay in Cape Town - thanks, Mark ) and a chocolate, while I perched in the companionway in the warm sunshine, enjoying the birds and watching the big seas coming our way.

Was on radio to SAMM Net again soon after - reception was really noisy & I couldn't hear properly, so I tried switching off the plotter - which also turns off the instruments but not the autopilot & GPS - the noise virtually disappeared, which was great (since we were still able to keep going on AP in 'Auto' mode). I switched everything back on again later to find no Depth display.... grrr! But a short while later, I found it had come on again ... seems like maybe a bad connection? ... something to put on the joblist for tomorrow.

Another success today was making contact on 20m with a Winlink station (Eisenstadt in Germany) just after sunset - as suggested by Lor, W3QA, when I commented on the lack of Winlink stations on air just now in Africa - or anywhere near where we are... "... at sunset or sunrise +/- a half hour you might be able to connect with one of the European stations along the 'grayline' (solar terminator) at the right frequency..." It worked!

It's been a very pleasant day, even without the genset success, with mainly sunny skies and wind at mostly 15-20 kt, giving good boatspeed with full, poled-out genoa. There's been a variety of birds from mid-morning on to sunset, including a few prions and a Royal and a Yellow-nosed albatross and the usual large, dark petrels (White-chinned). 3 small, Black-bellied Storm Petrels have been fluttering nearby, long thin black legs often in the water as they foraged for food. (Mainly dark with white rump on top, white belly & white centre to underwings.) And there have been a couple of Soft-plumaged Petrels swooping around as well - my birdbook is constantly to hand these days!

DMG to noon was 140 n.ml. - better than I expected and conditions should continue to be reasonable for another day or more.

Monday 1840 GMT position (see 'Travels' page for map) is 40d07'S, 034d07'E

Sunday 12th February 2012

We've been broad-reaching or running, with small poled-out genoa and reefed mains'l, before mainly WSW winds of around 30kt throughout the day, wind occasionally dropping to mid-20s, with consistent, impressively big seas of 5-6m tossing us about regularly. Hold on there...!! (As I write, near 10pm LT, wind is back up to 36kt - possibly under a raincloud...) The sun has often been out between broken cloud, with some occasional rainclouds washing us down in pleasant temperature of 24C for both air and sea.

Speed over the ground (SOG) has often been around 9 knots - clearly a favourable current has been helping us along, since boatspeed has been generally 7-8 knots.

Sighting a Royal Albatross is always memorable - one was soaring nearby around sunset, as were several white-chinned petrels - who were heard to twitter excitedly to each other in a sociable group resting on the water earlier in the day. A white-rumped, dark storm petrel swooped low over the disturbed water astern of us.

My evening reading has been studying the Fischer-Panda generator manual to check on the position of the VCS (Voltage Control System) unit, whose contacts are to be removed, cleaned and replaced, and finding where the actuator spindle was that I'm supposed to ensure is turning freely - as and when the seas calm down enough to make removal of the genset cover to access the said items feasible. Late Monday or Tuesday, maybe? Wind and sun have today kept voltage up well during the day, but I'm constantly checking the reading and getting concerned when it drops - especially overnight. (Around midday, solar power has often been putting in over 16A and the windgen easily gets to 20A, but will suddenly cut out for a time when it overheats in the strong wind - and then we discharge just over 2A)

The latest Low pressure system has now clearly passed by - air pressure has risen from 999 over most of the dasy, to 1003 hPa. Outlook is for seas and wind to calm down a little over the next two or so days, so I'm hoping I'll be able look at the generator. Maybe it simply has a dirty contact which is causing the problem?

Time for some sleep before downloading a weatherfax just after midnight...

'Bye for now.... from the lumpy, wind-tossed Southern Ocean at 40S, 32E.

Saturday 11th February 2012

As expected, the wind picked up over midnight to above 30kt, so I got rid of the genoa, leaving just stays'l and fully-reefed mains'l ... plenty for the strong, rainy conditions - pressure dropped to 996 hPa
2am: Clear sky after rain.. felt calmer in around 20kt... Found that the newly-installed regulator seemed not to be allowing the windgen to work after it cut out in high wind... so eventually, I bypassed it to get input from the windgen - now doing fine... except when winds get into mid-30s and above when it cuts out temporarily
3.30am: Wind backed from NNW to W 22kt ... back onto starboard tack, beam reaching, stays'l replaced by genoa.
8am: Pressure still dropping... sailing SE in rain, windgen keeping batts charged...just! Had much-needed good sleep for couple of hours...
10.15am Dolphins paid a visit while I was busy organising the lines for poling out genoa...which took ages ... & then not needed since by midday, with pressure down to 991 (Low centre just 200 ml away to S), the wind backed from WNW to WSW and was building again...so the genoa was taken over, off the pole, for a beam reach.
1.30pm Gave posn and weather info to SAMM Net - who passed on message from Mike Elliott re genset... "Remove, clean and replace all electrical connections at genset" Easier said than done in present swell conditions...!! (Wind up to 30kt again) .... It will have to wait!
6pm WSW8 ..winds up more ..Low moved East & pressure rising now ...(994) " low battery" alarm - engine on in neutral to charge... slept well again for 2-3 hrs.. Big swell - 6m or so... but sunny...Changed course to due E, to run before seas and wind...
6.30pm 'CQ Contest' on 7120 kHz over the weekend ... Made contact with transmitter located 200 km from Cape Town.. chatted to ZS1RAP...on highest peak in Western Cape province.
STORMY STILL... since when it got dark at 7.50pm...SW7-8...CLEAR SKY soon after dark but big seas & wind still and boat continuing to be tossed about..
Later, in rainsquall near midnight, gusted up to 40kt again... pressure up to 1000 hPa now.
Turned on windgen -coping OK & putting in plenty of electrons...
Had problem all day making radio contact for email and weather info - finally used satphone for weather file... Heading East looks good just now and we'll continue to stay around 40S but no further S for next few days - gets worse if head further S but lighter winds if head too far north of 40S. The Raymarine autopilot, with its upgraded course computer, has been coping reliably and well with the bad conditions over the last few days.
Enjoyed my ratatouille stew this evening, with addition of more potatoes and baby sweetcorn... Must get some sleep..... zzzzz.... My bunk is a good, safe, warm, cosy place to be right now (it's late .... 3:20am)!

Friday 10th Feb 2012

I sat up for quite a long time last night, watching how we were doing in the strong winds, heavy rain and increasing swell behind the strong cold front that had arrived so very suddenly. We were speeding along at around 7knots, on a comfortable broad reach, heading ENE instead of ESE - but so what? - at least it was East-ish! The swell was spaced apart well enough not to cause any problem - so I finally went below and actually had a good sleep until dawn at 0410 GMT (6.10am LT) when I was alerted by a 'low battery' alarm - bad news when the genset is playing up!

I hurriedly started the engine to charge the batteries which were far too low and, after charging for quite a time, realized that the wind generator wasn't turning as it should have been in the 27-30 knots of wind - it should have been spinning like mad, but was only turning very slowly. I went down to check the fuse. As I removed it, the generator started up and kept on spinning nicely when I replaced the fuse firmly... It was now putting lots of power into the batteries and with the clearing sunny skies giving solar power as well, we were putting in almost 20 A with everything in sight working - instruments, autopilot, radio, fridge and inverter - excellent! Cheered me up a lot, since I was beginning to get worried about our fuel situation if the engine had to be run very frequently just to keep up with our power consumption. (I haven't yet got any further in seeing why the genset is playing up)

Seas had become a good size by morning - easily 4-6 m - but were not breaking and, being on our quarter, were still posing no threat, just making life on board a bit of a balancing act at times...

The wind slowly veered from SW to W over the day, becoming highly variable under a cloudy sky - often very light in between clouds under which it gusted up considerably, giving us good speed for short time. Pressure dropped slowly all day - from the 1004 hPa of last night to 999 hPa tonight - and, at sunset, the wind backed the sails in shifting from SSW to NE and I had to gybe onto port tack. The sky was clear overhead but there was a dark grey mass of cloud astern. I think the wind shift was due to us being right by the centre of a second Low which is passing over now - pressure now is 997hPa and the wind is NNE 19kt & expected to increase, so I'll proably be furling in the genoa very soon or overnight. We're presently having a lovely sail, gently bouncing along SE - on port tack, so I've had to change to my starboard bunk!

It was good to see several Yellow-nosed albatross, as well as a Black-browed (which was seen yesterday), keeping company with us and several white-chinned petrels all day long, often landing in the water nearby when we weren't moving much in light winds.

Thurs 09 Feb 2012

Early morning brief heavy rain and overcast skies cleared away to give bright sunny morning, but for the rest of the day we've been among clouds and showers - but the air is warm and feels good to be out here! Bad news is that the wind slowly died, often to 6 kts, and became very variable with the clouds overhead, keeping me busy trimming the sails, and our speed often dropped right down. So that, together with the still-present Agulhas Current, means we've not gone very far today... Until tonight, that is, (10pm) when the wind has now picked up to around 20-22 knots, ahead of the Low coming this way.

I'm making contact each day with the S.African Maritime Mobile Net (S.A.M.M. Net), presently on 7120kHz at 0635Z &/or 1130Z (later, as I get further away, on 14316 kHz), giving my position and current weather conditions. I also download weather grib files daily - very useful info, which is usually pretty accurate - and getting weatherfaxes from Cape Naval - good that it's up and running again!

With nasty conditions forecast (v.big swell and strong winds due to the deep Low that will be passing by), I decided that today, being relatively calm, was the time to cook the ratatouille I'd not had time to prepare before leaving. It'll be nice to have that when things get rough, as they're expected to, by tomorrow. (Later: I added in some tinned ham - mmm ... tasty!!)

When I'd finished cooking, I checked the battery volltage (as I do constantly!) and saw that, with the overcast conditions and light wind, the solar and wind power input wasn't coping and the batteries were down too low - so I started the little diesel generator. It started up fine - but seemed to fail to develop any power and certainly was putting nothing into the batteries .... ***##@@$#&*. I had to charge using the main engine in neutral while I tried to see if there was anything simple I could do to rectify the situation - out with the manual and the multimeter ... With darkness falling, and the need to concentrate on sailing and preparing for the expected bad weather, I postponed taking off the genset cover to look for a blown fuse or loose wire, having not found anything obviously wrong elsewhere ... There should be a simple 10A blade fuse somewhere in the genset-to-battery and -to-inverter circuits, but I couldn't see one.... maybe soon, in calm conditions. Oh well, we might have to top up with the main engine all the way to Tasmania... No big deal, although I don't like running the engine too often when not under load.

Wind's getting up some more - I'd better go furl in some genoa - always fun in the dark...! At least it's not raining.. and the moon is shining from behind the clouds occasionally...

Midnight: TG I went up on deck when I did... and also decided that tying in the third reef might be a wise precaution as well as reducing the (full!) genoa by a lot...! The wind veered and was almost dead astern so I gybed the mains'l onto port tack and unfurled some stays'l, sheeting it to port... Was just dealing with the running backstay when the main tried to gybe (it was on a preventer, as usual) in a sudden increase of backed wind, accompanied soon after by heavy rain.

I hurriedly furled the genoa away completely and reduced the stays'l further, as we heeled several times in strong gusts ... excitement I could do without! We were headed almost downwind and making 6-8 knots in apparent winds of over 30kt - so clearly the wind was nearly 40knots at times - but the boat was coping well, as I sat for quite a time in the shelter of the (new) plastic screen under the awning. It's good to have clear sea-room at times like this - no problem with running off downwind when there are no ships and no obstructions around... Not sure if I can get any sleep though... Feel bound to keep an eye on the wind and sea-state, in case things deteriorate further....

Wednesday 08 Feb 2012

Not a lot to report today - Skies have been mainly sunny, with wind from SW and quite a big, short-spaced swell, also from SW, as we skirted around the Agulhas Bank ... An oppposing wind over the SW-flowing Agulhas Current can cause very nasty seas on the shallow Bank - which is why I'm not taking the more direct SE route but staying in the deep water off the continental shelf it lies on. But the Agulhas Current itself cannot be avoided totally and has been reducing our speed by well over a knot, often up to 2 knots, all day.

I've been catching up on sleep a lot, having frequent naps to make up for missed sleep due to the foggy conditions when I started overnight yesterday but I'm slowly getting myself and the boat back into 'sailing mode' - it's been many months since I made landfall from the Falklands in Cape Town last May.

The moon has got out from behind broken cloud and is lighting up the sea brightly - showing the swell that has been frequently knocking us about, often quite badly. We're heading East just now - simply to avoid the worst of the swell forecast to get much worse tomorrow and Friday when a deep Low passes by. When I get a weather update, I'll be able to judge how soon I can safely turn more S... There's high pressure not too far ahead, further S than usual at about 40S, so I need to be much further S than I am at present if I'm not to run out of wind or even be headed..

I'm posting my position daily, or to be more precise, Lor W3QA of the Winlink Development Team, is kindly posting it for me to the Winlink site (the link to the map showing my daily positions is on my website 'Travels' page) since I'm presently unable to make a Winlink radio connection, with both S.African stations being 'off-air' just now. My position as I write this is approx. 37S, 021E .

10.30pm local time - time for another nap! In two hours time, Cape Naval is possibly transmitting a weatherfax so I'll be up again, ready to receive that - IF it happens. It has been off-air for the last two years but someone recently told me it was back up again - we'll see... I've seen no sign of any shipping for most of the day, having now sailed well S of the E-W shipping lanes around South Africa but my AIS, in alarm mode, is keeping a 'listening watch' for ships within 25 miles or so..

Bye for now....

A heavy, wet, overnight fog in Table Bay made for a damp, eye-straining departure in the dark, early hours of Tuesday morning. I`d been so convinced that the equipment replacement I needed to ensure an uneventful crossing to Tasmania and onward was not set to happen that I was caught unpepared for the Monday departure I`d originally wanted - so as to get away S, despite possible nasty swells on Friday, to avoid having to wait maybe nearly a fortnight for the next `weather window.

After a few midday runs around the inner harbour to calibrate the new equipment, followed by a couple of big farewell hugs from Robert, who has been so very helpful with sorting out the electronics on board since my arrival in S.Africa in May, liaising with a supportive Raymarine in England, I left to get the departure formalities dealt with. Brian kindly took me around in the Royal Cape Y.C. `buggie`(small truck!) to speed things along - first over to the Harbour Authority`s Port Control Tower, then on to Immigration and finally over to S.A.R.S. in town for Customs clearance and to get the essential Clearance Certificate, ready for my arrival in Australia near the end of March....

But then a hiccup in my plans occurred, when the Customs Officer told me that they needed to inspect the new ropes I`d bought, for which I was claiming a tax refund... I`d brought along some jerrycans for filling with diesel so we agreed that I`d go with Brian to do that on the way back to the Club where they`d meet me - to go on board `Nereida` before returning with me to the Customs office .... All that took a time and I ended up walking quite a distance back to the Club again, with Brian having finished work and no longer able to help. It would have been an enjoyable walk in bright sunshine had I not been urgent to get on with so many outstanding jobs on board if I was to be able to leave that night.... Weather predictions I`d been regularly checking on were consistently indicating that my weekend weather window would not last much longer so it was nice of Eileen to come around at short notice to help me with my final preparations and to say ``Goodbye`` - friends had been planning on seeing me on Tuesday evening, maybe even Wednesday.... but the weather waits for no-one!!

The weekend before had been a very enjoyable one at the Club, with a `Summer Fling Regatta` over three very hot, sunny days of racing. I would have joined the crew on board `Lobelia` but, regretfully, instead worked hard into the late evenings, getting `Nereida` seaworthy - the boat still needed a lot of work to tidy up, stow things securely and sort things out on deck, although I did join in some of the evening socialising - especially on the last day when `Lobelia` were delighted to find they`d won their class against some top-notch competition! An excellent end to my stay at the Royal Cape, seeing their happy faces - `bubbly` all round!

So here we are in the Southern Oean once more, aiming to round the shallow Agulhas Bank as soon as possible - about two days of heading SSE before being able to turn and head East. The fog persisted well into the day, but eventually cleared, away from land, to give bright, mostly clear skies - and I was delighted to find us in regular company with the familiar ocean birds again - several albatross and white-chinned petrels ... even a white-rumped storm petrel passed by. To cap it all, there was a lovely sunset, with a full moon rising simultanously in clear skies in the East.

I'm writing this from Cape Town, having motored around from Simon's Town on Sunday.  I'd hoped to leave S.Africa for Tasmania (Hobart) late on Monday (30th Jan) with a weather window seeming to have appeared for then.  So I was up before dawn and got away in bright sunshine soon after, heading into stronger-than-expected headwinds to get to Cape Pt and away from False Bay (which is nigh on impossible to do when the prevailing strong summer SE wind blows).  The swell was quite large, as expected, and made for lumpy seas and an uncomfortable ride a lot of the way and the wind died soon after rounding the Cape and so I wasn't able to use my headsails as I'd hoped.

Soon after tying up in Cape Town, Judy came by to take me to Gordon & Anne Kling's place (they run a winery there) at Kloof Nek -  in a beautiful setting high above Hout Bay, not far from Constantia.  They and the rest of the 'Lobelia' crew had wanted to have a get-together to say 'goodbye' to me before I left S. Africa - it was a lovely evening and a lovely thought - Thank you all!

Things got a bit hectic before leaving Simon's Town, with a variety of stainless steel and fibreglass work being done right up to the evening of the day before and some re-wiring the day before that - work I'd been trying to get finished for the past few months...! A steel tab on the windscreen frame of the opening window broke off and was also mended by Baden at the last moment - with more work needed now, of course, to install it.  The net outcome was that I wasn't able to sort the boat out properly for passage-making as was needed, although we were more or less OK for the short passage to Cape Town.   So when Monday's weather window disappeared, it was really a blessing in disguise - I've been very busy for the past few days here at the Royal Cape Y.C.and I'm now looking at the next weather window (Sat/Sun?), wondering if I'll make that...  My AIS screen display kept disappearing regularly on my way here - but has failed to do so since .... despite being left on solidly, along with my instruments and autopilot, since my arrival.  I've a back-up system so the plan is to get that working, just in case.

Pick and Pay supermarket have kindly agreed to donate me some nice fruit juices - I run a 'dry boat' on passage (except when I cross the Equator!) and so it's nice to enjoy a drink of juice each day.  Eileen took me a good baker and to a specialist supplier of good 'biltong' (the S.African dried meat) and then on to a 'Pick and Pay' near Simon's Town last week, so I've already stocked up with UHT milk, onions, potatoes, cereal, eggs and apples, also gem and butternut squash which last for ages, and I've been checking through, and re-organizing, my dried & tinned foods - plenty of those from before.

I received quite a big order of spare lines and halyards from Southern Ropes on my return and Warren, of Associated Rigging, generously offered to splice eyes for me where they were needed.   I'm also pleased to have organised a pole for my staysail - that could be very useful in strong following conditions.

I've seen lots of cruisers since December and especially since my return.  Most have come down the coast from Richard's Bay or Durban, after crossing the Indian Ocean from Thailand, Indonesia or Australia.  It's been enjoyable chatting to them.  On my arrival here at the Royal Cape Y.C. on Sunday, I was greeted by Kurt of 'Salsa' calling out to me as I looked for somewhere to tie up to:  "Jeanne, remember me - I line-handled for you through the Panama Canal...!!"   It's always good fun to meet up with a cruiser unexpectedly like that (it was early in June 2008) - one of the things I enjoy about my sailing!

I promised some photos in my last posting - but never managed it... and I just found that it's not possible at the Club here.  The photos are all ready but will have to wait until I find a way around that problem... A pity, since I've some nice ones!

The SE wind ('The Cape Doctor') is howling now... and has been since Tuesday (racing was cancelled yesterday with winds of 30-40 kn)...  but over the weekend, a Low is supposed to pass by - which might give the less strong wind from a better direction for me to be able to 'escape' S from here for two days or so, to get around the Agulhas Bank, before 'turning left' to head East for Tasmania..,.  We'll see how that works out....  I'd better get back to the boat and do some more stowing and organizing...

The weather in the SE of England has been very mild (with none of the fierce gales suffered in the W of England and Scotland) since soon after my arrival in early December - a definite bonus when travelling around so much as I have been, enjoying meeting up with family and friends over the holiday period and trying to sort out boat equipment.

I visited a friend in Ludlow (Shropshire) - a very old town with castle and other buildings dating back at least to the 14th century.....   (photos to come...)

On Thursday, I thoroughly enjoyed giving a presentation on my sailing to my grand kids' school assembly - they enjoyed my photos of different flying fish and Falkland penguins - especially the ones of the brown, fluffy, baby King penguins in their nursery area with their parents close by, keeping an eye on them.

Of course, despite my best efforts, I was not able to do everything I'd hoped, despite my visit being longer than usual .... but I achieved a fair amount and my luggage reflected that on the flight back to "Nereida" in Simon's Town, S. Africa. I'd spent two solid, productive days at the London Boat Show - which looked to me to have a very much reduced attendance since my last visit to LIBS three years ago and a very poor attendance by comparison with the Southampton Boat Show in September, which is invariably far more enjoyable than the big 'barn' which is how the Excel Exhibition Centre feels, near to Canary Wharf in London's Docklands.

Looking ahead to my forthcoming solo nonstop RTW attempt (which I hope to start (again) from Victoria, British Columbia, under the auspices of the WSSRC, at the beginning of October), I've been very busy trying to get help with the costs of repairing and preparing "Nereida" (instruments, rigging, communications, other equipment, etc) both in S.Africa and after my arrival this summer in USA/Canada..... (No major sponsor found so far.... any offers?)   I'll be sailing again in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care's free home nursing for the terminally ill.

The Cruising Association invited me last Saturday to their Flag Officers' Annual Lunch - at which Robin Knox-Johnston presented me with the C.A.'s Duchess of Kent Award - a real honour! (It's rarely awarded and was last presented to the Naval Officer who organised the Dunkirk Landings in WWII...!!)

At the Boat Show, I was presented with a personal locator beacon (PLB) by ACR (it's a small floating version of their previous PLB) which transmits to satellites (like a personalized EPIRB) if I end up in the water separated from the boat ... God forbid!... Also, ISP (International Safety Products) presented me with a 'self-righting', inflatable lifejacket with face mask and strobe light - several people asked me to promise to wear it (and the PLB) on a regular basis.... like all the other safety equipment on board any boat, we always hope never to need it in an emergency!! Other equipment I've brought back with me includes lovely new headsails made by Jeckell's of Wroxham (who celebrated their 150th Anniversary at the Show!), spare anodes for my Brunton's prop, a replacement AIS unit, lockable latches for my aft lazarettes, a variety of tools and screws, a long length of LED lighting for my cockpit and hanging lockers and for the engine compartment (donated by IMP - thanks, Mike!), a small radio receiver for 'real-time' weather sat-pics (a new project - need now to construct the quadfilar antenna!), a replacement Hammar hydrostatic release (thanks to Ocean Safety Ltd) for my liferaft (they expire every two years), an improved, stronger self-levelling radar support from Scanstrut (thank you, Tom), updated and extended coverage of the Navionics charts for my plotter (thanks to Lance of Navionics UK and Katia of Navionics Italy), a small but strong fuel pump to move diesel from my jerry cans to my cockpit fuel intake (saves the problem of moving my full jerry cans around - possibly in big seas...) and last, but definitely not least, a commitment from Raymarine to increase the level of support they've already been giving me so helpfully over the last few years by upgrading my equipment well prior to my departure in October from Victoria, B.C.

I hope to be ready to set sail East from here a.s.a.p., aiming to be away by the end of January, stopping in Aus/NZ/probably not Polynesia, although I shall try hard!/certainly Hawaii/maybe San Francisco, on my way to the 'Pacific NW' of USA and B.C., Canada, (Strait of Juan de Fuca) by July sometime... Quite a way to go...!

Well - it's blowing the usual summer Cape SE 'hooley' here in Simon's Town, as I write this... very noisy.. boat rocking about a lot... but I'll go and post this using the False Bay Y.C. clubhouse wi-fi while I listen to the end of the afternoon's music put on by the Y.C. 'yachtie' band .. usually good fun and good to listen to (if the wind doesn't drown them out!)

..... bye for now!

An awesome evening in Buckingham Palace .....!  What a privilege!  Amid the splendour of the State rooms with their magnificent paintings and with several relevant displays of original letters, photos and other objects from explorations and adventures over the last two centuries, we were all presented to the Queen and Prince Philip who were hosting a Reception to mark the centenary of Capt Scott's final expedition to the S. Pole.  The Reception was intended to recognise the accomplishments of those involved in exploration and adventure in all its forms.

I passed on greetings from people in both Cape Town and Simon's Town (where 'Nereida' is presently based while work is completed, ready for sailing on towards Tasmania, NZ and US/Canada, starting in January).   Both the Queen and Prince Philip (and 'Britannia') have visited Simon's Town several times in the past - it has been the main Naval base in S.Africa since set up by the British well over two centuries ago.

Among the sailors, I chatted to Ellen Macarthur and Sam Davies and was delighted to catch up with Sydney-based Alex Whitworth of Berrimilla, whom I last saw in Cape Town two years ago after Berrimilla had followed Nereida down the S.Atlantic from the Canaries.  I met rowers (Roz Savage, who has recently finished rowing across all 3 largest Oceans in a 26ft rowboat) & kayakers, rock-climbers & mountain-climbers, pot-holers, hangliders and many different Antarctic and Arctic explorers, oceanographers and researchers.   All had different and often fascinating stories to tell.  I also chatted to a very enthusiastic Princess Beatrice and then to the Duke of Kent who were both clearly thoroughly enjoying the evening and the variety of people there.  ( Princess B. took my card, saying she'd like to follow my nonstop attempt next year...)

 All in all, the evening was a very relaxed and enjoyable affair in fabulous surroundings!

My Palace outfit!
 
I passed by a famous store on my way into London...  (It got dark at 3.30pm...)
  
Waiting to drive into the Palace inner courtyard - after the bomb squad had searched the car:

The Royal Standard flies over the Palace - the Queen is in residence.,!

The main gates to the Palace:

The grandiose, gilded Victoria Monument is in front of the Palace:

After the Reception, which lasted from 6 - 8.30 pm ..... :

More hard-working, productive days – among other things, working on stowage behind saloon settees – took quite a time, but had to think it all through carefully so as to get it right.  Finally completed just before left for airport, having finally managed to arrange for the last 3 pieces of perspex to be bent – with that done, it was a fairly simple matter (with electtric drill!) to screw them into place beneath the hinged  opening sections to finish it all, after a bit of adjustment...  It looks good and works well...! 

False Bay Y.C. member Bryne has been really helpful, chasing around trying to help me get everything done.   Forepeak is looking far more tidy and shipshape now after several days working on it and I’m far happier with the changed stowage of several  important items.   Bryne collected 'bent' perspex from Paarden Eiland for me but still no joy on getting US propane bottles filled, despite lots of chasing around... Sean (v.helpful!), manager at Sun Valley Midas store, rang to say he'd located a replacement decklight which Eileen picked up for me the next day.

 In the heat of last Sunday afternoon, I shared some mango juice on board "Nereida" with Laura D. as we had a brief chat during her short visit to False Bay:

Eileen drove us both  into Royal Cape Y.C. for their Commodore’s Wife’s Dinner in November – basically an excuse for ‘Team Lobelia’ to get together for a fun “girls’ evening”– which it definitely was... lots of laughter and dancing!!  Click here to see photos.   

Before the Dinner, I found myself having a lengthy chat with Nick Leggatt:
 
who is taking part in the Double-Handed Race (GOR) with girl friend Phillippa Hutton-Squire on ‘Phesheya-Racing’:
They had arrived in Cape Town early in November  and left on their next leg to Wellington, N.Z., on 27^th Nov – two days later than planned, with nasty weather (and one of the boats needing time to repair some equipment) having delayed the start.   I  went to see him and his Class 40 boat at the Waterfront on the Sunday afternoon just before he left  & spent quite a time looking over the boat and discussing  the sailing gear and equipment in detail – impressive!

Also at the Cape Town Waterfront were the first two Volvo Ocean Racing boats (Open 70s) – ‘Camper’ having just arrived in 2^nd place after 'Telefonica':
  
with ‘Groupama 4’ still two days out and the dismasted ‘Puma’ still hoping to be brought in by ship from Tristan da Cunha  in time for the next race with a new mast....  (BTW – my mistake... this ‘Puma’ is clearly NOT the boat I mentioned in the RCYC Ladies’ Race.)   I felt quite envious to see how, as soon as they’d arrived, a big team of support guys came by ‘Camper’ to take away sails, a shroud, clothing, bedding etc for repair and washing....   All the crew and skipper of 'Camper' had to do was enjoy landfall, it seemed..!  It looked as though a stay was among the damaged items and one of the shore crew was quickly hoisted up the mast to bring down the damaged  stiff wire which held out the head and top of the mainsail roach.
 
(Signal Hill in the background)

My early a.m. flight to LHR was cancelled - flew overnight Tues/Wed instead...grr! But was able to sleep in on Tues morning ....and was able to get more work done on board during the day, before being given a lift by Tanya to Cape Town airport.

Safe arrival at LHR this morning.. Went shopping for outfit (new dress etc!) - didn't take as long as feared it might... so I'm all set for Thursday evening. Might go early to view Queen's Gallery Exhibition, 'The Heart of the Great Alone' , marking 100th Anniversary of Scott's journey to S. Pole, with photos of both Scott's and Shackleton's expeditions and of the Antarctic they saw...

Thanks for all the good wishes and the many messages for the Queen!!

(Don't forget to go to the SeaBC  Facebook  Resources page to download the Report sheets for when  you count the birds you see when you go out boating one fair-weather day in December...)

Good productive, hard-working day today - stowage project behind saloon settees coming on well.  Just need to get some perspex bent, re-staple Velcro to hold settee backs and screw on piano hinges ... and it will  be complete!  Should also have new cables in mast and new tricolour/anchor light fixed tomorrow - 'tail' on new light-fitting was so much shorter than old one that mast cables were just not long enough - amazing how a simple job turns into a convoluted one....  Still have a small wiring job to complete - to connect new Eberspacher control unit to system - finally found connectors I'd lost sight of for over a month!  AIS has stopped working so having to disconnect display and GPS to take back to UK for repair/replacement.  I'm making quite a list of items to bring back from UK (either unobtainable or stupidly expensive here)  - some small, others not so.  Various other jobs have been completed over the last few weeks (most items have now been crossed off' the list), albeit at the usual Cape Town snail's pace, and I'm hoping to sort the boat out once my settee project is finished.

Had a possibility of a two-day ride to Jo'burg last Monday - but had to abandon idea.  Pity, since I've not been able to get away from here as I'd hoped and that was probably my last chance.

This is a very belated newletter...  I've been to two recent Saturday events at the Royal Cape Y.C. The first was their Opening Cruise (as reported last time) which was good fun and highly sociable - I took some photos which weren't posted before - so here's one of a well-dressed sailing yacht saluting the RCYC Commodore on his plush motor-yacht:

I'm still feeling quite excited about the invitation I heard about that morning - to meet the Queen and Prince Philip (and possibly others of the Household) at an evening Reception (for 'Adventurers and Explorers!!) on 8th December in Buckingham Palace - should definitely be a fun event with plenty of interesting people to chat to!
On Sunday, I returned via Kalk Bay and stopped off for some 'fish & chips' (it's a small fishing harbour, so very good, fresh fish there)  and enjoyed live jazz over my coffee at Polana's afterwards:

The following weekend I went with a group of Club members here to a concert given near Scarborough which is just over the mountain from Simon's Town.  Dan Patlansky, from Jo'burg, was playing guitar with his group:

 - he turned out to be every bit as good a player as I'd enthusiastically been told, and the afternoon was dry & sunny - just as well since many people lounged around on the grass outside the main marquee:

To my astonishment, at one point in the concert, I spotted a locust making its way towards my table..

There have been a few evening 'brais' (barbecues!) here at False Bay Y.C. for birthday celebrations and after one, I was given some fresh Saldanha oysters - which were enormous and absolutely delicious.   I hadn't realised that Saldanha Bay was well-known for its oysters until meeting a couple who run an oyster 'farm' there.

The second enjoyable sailing event at RCYC was the Ladies Day Racing on 12th November when I joined 'Team Lobelia' with Judy Provoyeur as skipper - the practice in the morning went beautifully - several spinnaker gybes went very well - but unfortunately in the Race itself, we got into a real mess with the hoist so instead of coming first, as we clearly were all set to do, we made third place - but we were happy to have beaten 'Puma' to the podium. (Puma's usual crew went on to start the Volvo Ocean Race - but lost their carbon mast a few days back and are now on their way to Tristan da Cunha where they'll meet a ship from Cape Town bringing them a replacement...money clearly no object there!)

'Team Lobelia' pose befiore the race:

and again on board 'Lobelia":

We celebrated with lots of ;bubbly..

Richie, the fibreglass worker here, kindly took me in to CT to get the perspex which had been cut as I wanted - I gather perspex is really difficult to cut without it suddenly breaking, just as it has to be treated gently when screwing into it - or it will suddenly start cracking.  I'm about to drill into the pieces to attach them and I also have to cut 'finger holes' in it - so I hope I don't have any such problems tomorrow!  On the way back, we took the scenic route along the beautiful coast road - which passed  Kommetjie Beach - a well-known surf beach:

On our first trip into town to order the perspex and collect a few other items, we also went into the Waterfont complex where Richie had some work to sort out on the big Lifeboat in the Table Bay NSRI (National Sea Rescue Institute) station - so I got a chance to see the two lifeboats (one a small, fast Inshore RIB) - they've a close connection with the UK's Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) of which I'm a member, as are most UK seafarers.

The smaller inshore lifeboat (RIB):

And, finally, a few more flowers not posted previously.  Unfortunately, having fallen in the water here recently, with my camera in my backpack, until I replace the camera, I can only take photos using my mobile (cellphone) - surprising how well they're coming out for emailing...!

Don't forget the SeaBC - seabird count - coming up in December...  Do take part if you can - seabird conservation will be helped by reliable data.

For additional information and tally sheets, go to www.Facebook.com/Birding.Aboard

The central clearing house for the data will be Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird website.

You may be a landlubber, but if you know birds, team up with a boating friend and get out in December to add to the count!