Greetings from 'Nereida' at the start of a long ocean crossing - 1 month to Trinidad across the S.Atlantic from St Helena (where I arrived late afternoon on Saturday, after a 10-day passage from Namibia in SW Africa)

St Helena proved every bit as enjoyable a place as I'd been led to expect - with lovely, friendly, helpful people but a lot more rain & strong wind than I anticipated. But with air temperatures around 28-30C, I soon dried out after each shower.

I was at anchor with 3 other single-handers I know.... & another couple came in from Cape Town Sunday evening. Unfortunately for us, the rockface above the Jamestown wharf is being made safe. Rockfalls over the years have regularly demolished or damaged buildings on the front, and people have been killed both there and elsewhere on the island, the volcanic rock strata being very unstable, especially after heavy rain. (In fact, we couldn't clear in with Immigration on Monday morning because they had had to evacuate their building after an overnight fall of rock onto their roof.) This means that the only time we are allowed to use the jetty for shore landings (I used the highly convenient 'ferry service' in the anchorage) is when work is not in progress - before 7am, 1215-1245 and after 5pm (but 'ferry service' only runs tooup to 7pm) - which is very restrictive.

On Sunday, after a very good sleep-in, and despite the threatening weather, I went on a walk-about/hitchhike around the interior of St Helena. The coast is so very barren & rocky, with steep, stratified bare, brown-grey rock that it came as a very pleasant surprise to see how very lovely & green the island is away from the coast, with a great variety of trees, bushes, flowers & birds (lots of delicate fairy terns, tiny warblers & finches, cardinals, mynahs & tropic birds) - but it was mostly too misty/cloudy for the good views normally had from many highpoints. My first lift was from the very friendly Jamestown Police in their van, up the steep, winding road of Ladder Hill (and the 699 steps of Jacob's Ladder) to St Paul's, from where I started walking. The second was from a lady named Tracy who went out of her way (even though on her way to Sunday dinner with her mother) to show me far more of the lovely countryside (reminiscent of Devon & Somerset) than I had intended walking. (I think she felt bad about my walking in such showery/rainy weather, even though I assured her I was used to getting wet on the boat!!) She dropped me off on Sandy Ridge where I had a lovely walk past the beginning of the footpath to Diana's Peak - which I'd been warned off attempting in view of the wet conditions, but it was far too misty up there to see much anyway. Lower down, I got my third lift from ex-Governor's wife Delia and after another walk past some beautiful wild flowers, the last, in to town, was with a local Cable & Wireless guy Kevin with lots of interesting perspectives on a possible airport here (there is none at present - all people & supplies have to come by sea!!) & the highly-dependent possible cellphone network & mast coverage problems caused by deep little valleys between several good highpoints...

Monday turned into a boaters' group tour, with all of us joining forces to get a good price on a day tour of the island, including the sites associated with Napoleon's exile. Our guide/taxi driver was Peter Roberts who is a very well-informed local man with a good sense of humour who took us to Napoleon's houses and his tomb site which is in a lovely setting, full of flowers. We ended the day back at Ann's Place for a meal under the 'ceiling' of ensigns and burgees donated by passing 'yachties'...

Tuesday was work day for me - I had several things I needed to see to before leaving on Wednesday: re-fuelling, with the ferry man helpfully bringing the diesel out to our boats at anchor, 'mending' the frayed outer of the Spectra topping lift (I used amalgamating tape!) & a few other jobs, including a new Line Isolator installation on the antenna line to the tuner from the SSB radio, after yet more helpful, practical suggestions from Jim Corenman (He's given me a lot of good advice about various radio/Airmail problems I've had). That job actually took all evening & well into the night, I was so determined to finish it but do it properly. The most time-consuming part was getting in behind woodwork to get at the well-hidden ATU and then extracting the unit itself so I could work on it. I made sure that all connections were good and clean and added in some more ferrite 'chokes' at the end of some cable runs - all this effort to try to reduce the radio interference problems I've been having for some time.

I'm hoping I'll have enough water for the 1 mth passage to Trini from here - the watermaker is not functioning (among other thing...!!) I'm having to make sure I use the seawater tap as much as possible .... having to re-train myself in the galley!

Wednesday, I had to clear out with both Immigration and Customs after getting cash to pay for the fuel, but did not want to be stuck onshore for hours on end so arranged to go in at lunchtime. That meant a mad dash around, trying to do everything in half an hour - impossible... there was a time-consuming problem at the bank, ...the Immigration lady had just gone out for lunch (but someone was sent to find her for me)... there were several forms to be filled in...!!

Fortunately, the late start to the French workers' lunchtime turned into an even later return to work, although I suspect that there might have been some helpful connivance on various kind people's part, knowing that I was trying to Clear Out ready to leave that afternoon. The net result was that I was able to get the ferry back out to my boat well after it would normally have stopped running... so an hour or so later, I was ready to raise the anchor and start heading for Trinidad.

P.S. I forgot to mention - my new Sony computer refuses to 'wake up'.... completely unuseable ... can you believe my bad luck with computers...?? It's charged up (light kept flashing while charging), but when I press the 'on' button to start up, the battery light & 'on' light both light up - but the hard drive doesn't start up & so nothing happens - black/blank screen...!! Unbelievable - I can't fathom out why it's happened. All I know is - I can't use that computer!

Friday

Clouds were lined up nicely downwind - "Trade wind clouds" at last... and it's warm! But often not much wind so had to motor several times to make be sure of making St Helena before nightfall Saturday, rather than having to hang around for another 12 hours for daylight Sunday - or later. Wind has only given boatspeeds of around 3-4 knots at most, for most of today.

While sailing this morning, seas were fairly calm again so I finally bit the bullet and got into the engine compartment to take the cover off the generator (awkward & heavy) - can't see anything obviously wrong with wiring - checked 25A blade fuse with multimeter & that's OK but there are also two relays - maybe one of those has gone?

Saturday

Thought I was going to have to motorsail overnight - but wind came up nicely soon after dark and so had an excellent sail all night long, mainly goose-winged with genoa poled out to port. Has been very showery overnight and over the day - had to close the hatches several times so as not to let the rain down below ... but benefit was being able to wipe down decks and generally clean off accumulated salt.

Over the day, sailing has been mainly good, with quite a bit of sunshine in between the showers.

I caught sight of St Helena, which is not so very high, when about 30 miles off, but then it disappeared into thick mist for quite a time - a bit worrying when coming in to land if you can't see where exactly you're heading, even though the coast is relatively steep-to, so I turned on the radar and kept well offshore until the mist lifted & I could see the shoreline clearly.

I was able to keep sailing nicely until rounding the rocky NW point (Sugar Loaf Pt) of the island, when the wind died in the lee of the steep, grey, highly-stratified, mainly bare, volcanic hills as I came towards the Jamestown anchorage on the sheltered west side of the island.

It was fairly obvious where to head for, since there were three other yachts in the bay. As I came in to anchor, Greg, the 'water-taxi' ferryman, came to point out where I should head for - but, in fact, the holding is good almost anywhere, in about 18-20m. When I'd finished tidying up the boat, Greg came by again to take me onshore to clear Customs with the friendly, helpful official there - but Immigration & Port Authority will have to wait until Monday. I made my way to 'Anne's Place' - full of flags & burgees - where I was welcomed by the skippers of the other boats in the harbour - all three were singlehanders I knew from Richards Bay & Simon's Town. As we chatted, they were able to give me useful advice on seeing the island and later we ate together before heading back to the dockside to catch the latest possible (6.45pm!) 'ferry' out to our boats.

Time here is GMT - I'm actually in Britain's time zone!! The money in use is sterling - but I discovered that they have their own 'St Helena & Ascension' notes & coins. I had been intending sending postcards to quite a few people from here - but heard that the supply ship was in this morning to collect post.... and wouldn't be back for another 6 weeks to deliver/collect the next lot of post. The nearest airstrip to here is on Ascension Island, several hundred miles to the NNW. The supply ship makes its run between the U.K., S.Africa, St Helena & Ascension....

Thursday 6th March '08

A delicate white tropic bird flew by again yesterday & this evening, shortly after a lovely sunset, I saw a small dark bird skimming the waves - probably a petrel. No other life seen, although a couple more flying fish were on deck again this morning.

The wind has been mainly light from S/SSE, mostly up to 12kn - very pleasant, enjoyable, gentle sailing (with air temperature today up to 30C!) but far too slow at times... I started the motor when boatspeed dropped to under 3 knots & motor-sailed while charging the batteries! Of course, light winds from abaft the beam & overcast skies mean very little help from wind generator or solar panels.

I took advantage of the calmer conditions Thursday afternoon to go up the mast to the top spreader to retrieve the starboard line which held up the damaged lazyjacks. It all went fine & I only had to hold on tightly to the mast a couple of times when we rolled in bigger swell! I sewed & seized a join where a damaged line had chafed and parted and then raised the lazyjack lines back up. I'm hoping my mending will last to Trinidad (nearly 4,000 miles away) where I'll be able to replace the old line with new. As I passed the pole uphaul where it enters the mast, I inspected that as well - I'd noticed from deck-level that there was chafe damage there...but it doesn't look too bad, although that's another item on the shopping list for Trinidad. The mast steps I had installed in San Diego (with help from Selden US) are certainly proving useful!

I've been trying to sort out where in my radio system I should add a new line isolator and ferrite chokes I had sent out to me in S. Africa. I'm trying to get rid of a RFI (radio frequency interference) problem in the SSB radio system which is also affecting the computer & Pactor modem used for emailing via radio. At present, I'm still having major problems: 1) PC often 'hangs up' (telling me, "ERROR: Communications with the PTC-IIpro have been lost.") when trying to connect, especially on 12 & 14 MHz - often JUST as I'm actually getting connected; 2) other times, PC doesn't respond to a successful connection being made by the radio/modem & sits there, still saying it's calling the station ... then I have to close the Airmail program down & re-start it.... all very frustrating, as well as time- & power-consuming. Then, if battery power is below about 12.4V, the call attempt is often unsuccessful anyway, with the Pactor modem showing its anger by flashing all possible lights at me as it refuses to make the call attempt. Then I have to close the Terminal window on the PC down & open it up again & try a different frequency, after switching off & on the radio.... It all gets very convoluted & annoying....

I'm hoping to make St Helena in daylight on Saturday, staying just long enough to do a quick tour of what everyone tells me is a lovely, interesting island, & top up water & maybe fuel before making for Trinidad, 3750 miles away - a passage passing close by Brazil and across the Equator, which will probably take nigh on 30 days. If I can sort out my generator problem in the meantime, so much the better -it's far more economical on fuel for re-charging batteries than running the main engine - which it is not good to run when not under load.

As I'm writing this, late on Mon 3rd March, "Nereida" is 'creaming' along. When she's going well, she bounces gently but silently - making no sound at all. It's usually the sign that we're sailing well - and we're making 6-6.5 kn SOG, with boatpeed of 6.5 -7 kn, in wind from SSE around 16 knots - up from the 10-14 kn of earlier today when I nearly got out the cruising 'chute with boatspeed dropping to 4-5 kn for quite a time. So much for the wind dying, although there are several more days yet when that can happen as forecast. The wind seems often to die a bit overnight and then it comes up nicely again by late morning.

The days have continued to be very pleasant - slightly rolly at times but I've hardly had to touch the sails - full main & genoa, goosewinged. There has been some cloud, with a tiny hint of rain spitting today - hardly noticeable. Mainly, it's been sunny with just a few small clouds. I saw my first flying fish in the Atlantic today - it flew quite a distance - & on checking the deck, I found three more: one about 15 cm long & the smallest about 3 cm long. Yesterday, a lovely white-tailed tropic bird came by for a short while - the only bird seen for the last two days. Lookng at the photos & video I shot the other day, I'm sure that the large birds with long wings that I saw then were albatross - but I don't know what kind. I must find out...

I've still not investigated the generator problem.... just not feeling very enthusiastic since I have this nasty feeling it won't be easy to find & since main engine is starting up fine, for topping up batteries when needed, I don't have any great sense of urgency. When it's fairly calm, I need to go up the mast to retrieve a broken lazy-jack line caught at the top spreader - it has chafed through at a metal ring, I think maybe because it was rather too tight & touching the sail. I found the rest of the lines intact but dangling in the water. Something it would be useful to see to before arriving, ready for lowering the mains'l, since the lazyjack lines stop it from flopping all over the place as it comes down towards the boom.

Another single-hander I've made radio contact with is Glen on 'Kim Chow', from Victoria B.C., who is also going westabout, but nonstop around the Horn... He's SSE of me - well down, at about 40S. He hopes to complete in July.

I've done a good amount of clearing up but have been feeling very relaxed. Lunch earlier today comprised S.African kudu biltong (dried venison!) and Australian cheese with crackers - vacuum-packed in Cairns just before I left there - lasts ages!! And breakfast started with half an enormous mango I bought in Luderitz - yummee! I had an excellent dinner the other night to celebrate my engine starting up OK ... chop with onions, potatoes & sweetcorn .... you might say food becomes important on passage!!

Communications are proving difficult - getting a connection with shore stations is often difficult, if not impossible & that is taking a lot of battery power.. Just to add to my frustration, the computer keeps hanging up, sometimes just as the radio is finally connecting with a station .... grrr!!! I presume that's because of the RF transmission, with the PC in the aft cabin being so close to the transmitter, despite loads of ferrites in use. Then, when I decide to use the Iridium satellite phone as a data modem, that frequently has too poor a signal for things to work quickly as they should ... & that must be getting very expensive... The phone being damaged at the serial port connection at its base doesn't make things any easier, either! When I'm having problems sending a Winlink position report, I'll often try to send one via Sailmail to Yotreps at www.pangolin.co.nz in the meantime. (Winlink normally copies my position reports to Yotreps anyway - so they are all there eventually.)

I'm gradually overhauling 'Rhiannon' who left before me: late morning Tuesday - our distance apart is down from 185 mls last Thursday morning to just 65 mls Tuesday morning. With arrival not expected before next Saturday 8th March, we'll probably get in at much the same time! I've got out the cruising 'chute ready - light winds seem to have arrived, & are being forecast for the next few days.

Being north of 23.5S, I'm well into the tropics, but it's been far cooler up to now than it should have been, under the influence of the cold Benguela current, although that effect has been getting far less & has now pretty well disappeared. I'm also nearly back in the Western hemisphere - we'll soon be crossing the Greenwich Meridian !! Time for a party maybe... Wed evening...??

Friday 29th February: Leap Day

I suppose I should have guessed that it was too good a day to last.... The wind was frequently up at 15-20 knots, I'd poled out the genoa early in the morning, with the wind having swung a touch more to the SSE & our speed was regularly up around 7 knots.... lovely, fast broad-reaching in sunshine with fair-sized, but not too uncomfortable, seas.

I'd been happily sorting a few things out at the chart-table - pencilling in some positions and courses on paper charts, having finalized my passage-planning to Panama on the computer, using my Nobeltec software, deleting a load of old emails on the computer, trying to see why my Inmarsat C terminal seemed to be misbehaving - turned out to be a computer problem (didn't like a bad shutdown recently) since all was working fine on the back-up laptop. Means I probably have to re-instal the software, if I can find the CD!

Having used a fair amount of power with PC, SSB radio & inverter usage, I thought I'd run the generator a bit - it started up fine but I soon realized it wasn't charging, or rather, no charge was being received ... curses - I'd thought the genset was all nicely mended & sorted in Richards Bay and then Simon's Town... So I then went to turn on the main engine ... nada!! A good thing this wasn't happening as I left Luderitz - I'd have really been in trouble close to those anchor lines!!!

This was clearly an electrical, possibly a starter motor, problem .... so down I went, resignedly, to investigate - this was all feeling way too horribly familiar...!!! There seemed to be quite a few glistening water droplets around - I dried and sprayed around the starter motor terminals & then the use of my long-suffering screw-driver across the terminals finally had the desired effect - the motor was persuaded to turn over & start... sigh of relief!... but this was only a temporary 'fix'. I still have to try to sort the problem out in daylight tomorrow. I let the motor run for a time to bring the batteries up and managed to connect with the radio to send & receive emails while it was running. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow!

Saturday 1st March - St David's Day ... but no daffodils!!

Well, it's been another lovely sailing day in the South Atlantic - and I refused to let my engine/electrical problems stop my enjoyment of that!! We've made good progress, making over 140 mls yesterday and well over 150 miles today, noon-to-noon.

I did a bit more passage-planning work, checking over several of the chart-plotter cards for content. Surprisingly, St Helena is nowhere to be found in detail on them, although the Nobeltec charts on my PC are fine - clearly the detailed British Admiralty charts for St Helena are in use there.

I eventually turned my attention to the engine. When I'd managed to start it up last night, there had been a loud squealing which lasted for some time, with minimal power input, before the noise disappeared and the power input came up dramatically - clear sign, I thought, of the alternator belt slipping. Not a job I like, since I always feel I'm not strong enough to get enough leverage to move the alternator out enough to tension the belt. Anyway, it had to be done, so I loosened the two bolts and got out the length of copper tubing I use when possible to give me a longer lever arm on the thick metal file I was using.... It didn't take long before I was able to tighten the nuts again and the belt definitely felt tighter afterwards. Then for the test, having reconnected the ignition wire back onto the clean, sprayed starter motor..... engine started at the first try - not a hint of a problem ... yippee!! (I just hope it continues to behave...)

I shall leave the generator fault-chasing for tomorrow.... I'm celebrating this small achievement with a mug of tea & a hot cross bun, relaxing in the cockpit.... 'bye for for now!!

I took my time, making sure all on board was ready for passage to St Helena. Roger & Dawn ('Katrilli') came by to say goodbye & helped with lifting the outboard & dinghy. I decided to take time to cook a large 'ratatouille stew' ready for the expected rough start to the passage - which was very welcome later that night when it was blowing F6-7 with correspondingly big seas!
Heiko & Stefan came by, worried that I was taking so long to get ready (amazing how many things I found to sort out!). They'd also heard from Bjorn, whose buoy 'Nereida' was attached to, that his diamond ship was due in that night - no problem, since when they arrived I was just about to slip the line.

Of course, as usual over the afternoon & evening, the wind had got up strongly but I was surprised just how strong it was as I went to raise the mains'l outside the harbour entrance channel near Pt Diaz - a good F6-7, around 27-28 knots, from the SW, which became over 30kn apparent when I used the motor, as I had to, to keep us heading into wind to raise the sail (triple-reefed main & correspondingly tiny genoa!).

As I headed out further, making 5-6 knots in 3m seas, the fog I was expecting a short distance out was more murky mistiness in the failing light. I knew a diamond dredger was stationed to the NW of Luderitz Hbr & reckoned I could see it in the distance but my course (300T) seemed fine to avoid it. I heard 'Discoverer' calling a boat on VHF getting close to its anchor lines & wondered where 'Discoverer' was exactly.... someone came on the VHF to say the boat in question "had no engine" - which struck
me as odd. I assumed this was all taking place further down the coast somewhere... & went down below, with the boat going well in the strong conditions, to make a log entry.

Suddenly I heard the radio blare into life: "Sailing ship - you are about to foul in my anchor lines - turn south IMMEDIATELY!"....It could only be addressed to me since I was the only sailing boat around.... I rushed up on deck & dead ahead, too close for comfort, I could see four long lines splayed out from the ship - THIS must be 'Discoverer' (NOT displaying a signal on my AIS unit, for whatever reason, which would have warned me - unlike another ship which I had just been calling, thinking it
was them, to confirm they were anchored & that I would be clearing their lines OK... ). Clearly, in the strong wind, our leeway was sufficient to have caused the drift towards them. Also, the problem was that the lines are VERY long and angled very shallowly - so a really good distance needs to be kept from these anchored diamond dredger ships.

I swung the boat around to the south, but the wind was so strong, & almost from that direction, that now we lost way & actually couldn't make the tack.... as we drifted closer, I started the engine (that's when you're relieved you kept up the regular maintenance - when it works in an emergency...!). It helped us escape, but heading "two km south & then 2 km west" as I was instructed just wasn't happening..... I had to tack like mad, with motor well-revved up, to make any headway away from those
lines..... Going north wasn't an option because of the orientation of the lines. After each tack, either we ended up headed ESE or due W. After what seemed like an age, I nipped down to see where they were on the AIS display (he'd clearly turned on his unit after a comment of mine) ... he was 0.9 ml due east of me. I called him up to ask if that was far enough.... "no, you might foul the other lines - keep heading south & then west & then you're free to head wherever you like!" came the reply.
I was drenched from the spray as waves hit us - thank goodness I'd put on my jacket & hat for raising the mains'l earlier....! More quick tacking for what seemed like an eternity.... but finally we were OK & the ship's lights faded in the gloom astern, as he wished me well on my journey, saying "All's well that ends well!" That's when I really appreciated my earlier cooking...!!

By midnight, about 40 miles off, conditions had calmed down a bit, but we were still making good speed. Around 1 a.m., I contacted another ship, 'Tzini', looking as though they would pass uncomfortably close.... we stayed in touch for some time, until it was clear they would pass well ahead.

In the pre-dawn light, at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT), the wind had died sufficiently for me to let out 2 reefs & unfurl the genoa & by midday I had let out the last reef to try to keep us at the 6 knots or more we'd been making so far. The seas were more regular, the sun had got out, we were sailing smoothly & had the company of several birds for most of the day - dark shearwaters with a pale beak, petrels and, I think, albatrosses - big, graceful birds with long wings, body mainly white with dark upper
wings & shoulders, long, dark beak with an orange leading edge & a dark end to their tail. If anyone can identify them, please tell me!

It's been a really lovely, relaxing day - but now I'd like a touch more wind... we're only making 4.9 kn!!

Today I managed to re-stitch the tapes holding the mainsail to the mast cars - one was completely undone and another about to be so ... I couldn't believe how skimpily Quantum in Durban had stitched them when asked to re-do them for me recently precisely because I was unhappy with the state of the stitching there after my Indian Ocean crossing. (I should add that Quantum in Cape Town, & Mark in particular, were very good, being helpful & thorough, working over a weekend to get work done in time for me). It took a bit of effort to re-connect the sail to the mast, not helped by the height of the cars & a brisk wind.... I managed to bruise/crush one finger tip when the cars above the one I was dealing with slid down onto it suddenly...ouch!! I shall have to keep an eye on the remainder of the tapes that they don't come undone.

Harry on 'Rhiannon' left before midday and Dieter on 'Amazon' is already on passage - both making for St Helena & then the Caribbean. I went ashore to do my final provisioning, clear Customs & Immigration & see Heiko & family to say farewell. I stayed for a braai & they later helped me down to the dinghy dock, laden with water, UHT milk & food.

Come morning, before the wind gets up strongly, as it really does most days, I need to lift the outboard & raise, deflate & pack away the dinghy. Once I've stowed food etc safely away & tidied up ready for passage-making, I'll be able to leave for St Helena.

Thursday night, there was finally lovely moonshine - & no fog!! With a clear, starry sky, I could actually see - so much better than Wed night when I had to stay awake so much, keeping an eye on ships around as 'seen' on AIS. I'd had to call several - none knew I was there otherwise - don't think many are bothering with their radar.... No visual on any of them, even though several passed fairly close by.

I managed to keep our speed down around 5 knots or less, although in strong wind conditions that proved very difficult... no genoa + triple-reefed main, centred in a following breeze!! That ploy just about worked & meant I neared Luderitz Bay in daylight rather than having to make a night entry. If I'd had to, I probably could have done, but I prefer to see what's going on in daylight. The wind was consistently up around 20-25kn, ending on a beam reach as we turned the 'corner' to come towards the entrance channel here. I put out some jib to steer better (with just the main, kept tending to head up, of course) and ended up having a nice gentle sail as the sun rose. Fog had come down again overnight, so it was nice to find myself in clear conditions as I got close... and managed to sail most of the way in, only having to put on the motor as I headed south towards the mooring buoys. I picked up a buoy with no trouble in fairly calm conditions with a touch of ebb tide to help.

Luderitz is an intriguing place - a mix of desert (I can see dunes from the harbour), Africa (really feel I'm in Africa with mainly black faces around) & Germany (many old buildings dating from turn of 20th century with a definite German look), with many German-speaking folk around & street names in German. Then there's the fishing & diamond-mining side - lots of working fish boats (many catch crayfish) around me here as well as boats with long pipes which go out to suck up diamond-bearing gravel from the sea-bed to bring back here for processing.

Immigration took no time at all (none of S. Africa's long form-filling!) & when I asked if I needed to go to Customs the guy asked if I had anything to declare .... "No need, then", he said...! I was rowed to shore & shown the way by another single-hander I knew from Simon's Town... & there were 3 other boats I know here... we're all following the same trail to St Helena & on over, of course. I celebrated arrival by going for a nice coffee & chocolate cake!!

I pumped up my dinghy & got the outboard on after a nap in the afternoon, not having had so much sleep overnight - that's the problem with a morning entry - you're so near to shore & possible boats etc, it's difficult to rest properly.

Heiko from 'Stenella' came by to see me when he spotted me entering the harbour (he & family just completed their 10-yr circumnavigation). I first met them in Cocos Keeling. I'm still debating whether to take time out to go to Windhoek to see friends there - but it's such a long way from here...

I spent part of Friday evening trying to sort out some of my shorting 12V circuit problems ... managed to make matters worse in that one outlet which had been working fine no longer is... grrr!!

Saturday morning went by very quickly with a leisurely breakfast and visits from people. I hadn't finally woken up until after 10 o'clock, despite first waking around sunrise - making up on lost sleep again! I heard voices and found a rowboat headed my way. The owner of my mooring, Bjorn, wanted to check how long I intended staying, since his diamond-dredging boat was due back sometime early next week. He agreed I could stay but I said I'd keep my VHF on so he could contact me if his skipper came back needing the mooring before I left. I can easily slip my line & drop my anchor nearby if needs be.

I made my way up to Heiko & Diane's house high up overlooking the harbour, soaking wet from an unintended swim... I had misjudged my approach to the dinghy dock & over-reached... fortunately no harm done & the sun was shining! The local SWAPO supporters were having a rally nearby with much singing & dancing - ladies in lovely dresses and headgear were happy to have their photos taken. The atmosphere around town is very relaxed & friendly.

Diane insisted I have an immediate shower and change of clothes while she put my laundry into her new machine. Later, I headed out with Heiko & their sons to Agate Beach, with its mini sand dunes downwind from each of the many tiny shrubs, to look for ....agates! The scenery en route was dramatic, being right on the edge of the desert with slightly pink, high sand dunes close by and several springbok grazing near to the dusty road. At the edge of a lake made by the outflow from the local water purification plant were lots of pink flamingos feeding and at one point we saw several Nile geese.

The evening was rounded off with other friends arriving for a braai of crayfish and meat accompanied by salads - Stefan is clearly good at catching crayfish & is hoping to get plenty more in the morning at low water.

By the way, Heiko tells me that the patches of red sea I saw were the fatal 'red tide' which causes crayfish (and presumably other sea-creatures) to die from oxygen starvation - they can be seen crawling onto the beaches and collapsing.

Sunday

Went with Heiko & sons crayfishing in Grossebucht and Essie Bay, on the west coast, in the morning at low water - or, rather, son Stefan went to catch the crayfish (wearing TWO wetsuits plus an essential neoprene helmet) while I walked around or sat and enjoyed the scenery! Stefan got twelve legal-sized crayfish - he measured as he caught them & returned under-sized ones immediately. They're very strict here & liable to put up road blocks to check on people's catch. The rock formations were fascinating
- these are the oldest rocks in the world and clearly volcanic in origin, well worn, often stratified & with lots of rose quartz embedded n them.

I was then taken first to Diaz Point, with its replica of the original cross put up by Diaz, to see the view & the seals on Halifax Island, & then we went for a 'scenic drive' in Heiko's new 4-wheel-drive car into the desert nearby - pinkish sand, lots more old worn rocks and lots of different scrubby plants, many with tiny flowers. We nearly got stuck in one place on a steep section of the sandy track - but the drive proved its worth!

After helping to eat some of the smaller of the crayfish I came back to the boat to get some work done - I've been well looked after by Diane & Heiko, getting out & about or simply chatting, ever since getting here & needed to sort out a few things on "Nereida'.

I came past the very pleasant, newly-built premises of the 'Yacht Club' - more a popular bar for the locals than a yacht club (very few local yachts here & no slips!!) but it does have showers.

One of the things I did was to look over my forthcoming passages in detail - handy to have the Nobeltec charting software which makes that all so very easy! I checked on total distances for each passage and estimated the time needed for each (on the basis of 120ml days - hopefully, they'll be nearer 150ml days, but there are sure to be slower ones). I should be transiting Panama in early May.

Monday

I'd hoped to sew the tapes between my mainsail batten ends and cars - one had come completely undone getting here. First I had to release the sailcover & undo the batten end connections in order to take the sail off the mast. The wind gets up strongly after midday, often becoming around 30 knots - as today. By the time I'd stitched a torn telltale back in place, released & untangled the twisted sailcover, re-tied the reef lines and slowly & painfully (literally - it hurt my hand & fingertips!)
persuaded the jammed zip along the foot of the sail connecting the cover to do up, it was far too windy to remove any part of the sail from the mast - so that's now tomorrow's job.

I came below & found & sorted through my paper charts, ready for the next few passages - across the Atlantic via St Helena to Fernando da Noronha, on to Trinidad (for wind-generator and watermaker parts), through the Caribbean via Bonaire & on to Panama.... two months of long passagemaking with a maximum of four stops.

I'm now (Wed) 2 1/2 days out from Cape Town, headed up to Namibia before crossing over to St Helena & then Brazil. We're 'creaming' along nicely at 7.2 kn in nearly 20kn from S, with the occasional spurt as we try to surf in the building 3m SW swell. There's a little bit of helpful current - I always like to see that!

I've seen quite a few different birds (lots of terns here) but it's frustrating not having an adequate bird book with me!

Had a weird sight mid-morning: we passed through a deep pink portion of seawater - & there were lots of other pink areas in sight - no obvious jellyfish/seaweed cause (the water was coloured - it was not something floating on top) & depth was 166m, so I wonder what it was due to. I wonder if anyone reading this has a good idea?

The wind & seas got up really strongly last night and there was a really heavy dew with everything on top, cockpit included, sopping wet. We nearly shipped water into the cockpit several times, with frequent, slightly-breaking crests on big, quartering swell. I stayed mainly down below & cooked myself a nice meal! With the wind well over 20 knots, I went to reef down & had a bit of a problem - turned out one of the newly-sewn tapes attaching a sail batten end to a mast-track car had come adrift...
grr!! So much for relying on professional (Quantum, in Durban) expertise... I'm glad I'm headed to Luderitz (Namibia) before my Atlantic crossing - I'll have to deal with it there. Interestingly, the shallow alarm went off frequently last night in the swell - the water disturbance clearly causing that .... but that wasn't the case the other morning...!

Early in the morning, I noticed the vang/mast connection was coming loose - had to tighten it up quite a bit to stop movement in the swell - black metal dust marks from the wear were visible on deck.... not good news! I'll have to keep a good eye on that.

Sailmail connection for emails seems to be working reasonably but not Winlink - I'm having to use my (fast!) Iridium data connection for that (for my regular daily Position Report).

Thursday

It has been grey, damp, cold & murky all day, brightening up a little around midday.

There was supposed to be a lunar eclipse overnight, being full moon - but it was way too foggy to see anything!! The cold, dripping fog came with nightfall last night when I was off the Orange River and the S.A./Namibia border. I found several ships around, some at anchor, some under way - but none were seen through the fog, only on the AIS screen, with radar not very helpful. I called some to make sure they knew I was in their path or to check if they were at anchor... !

At least the full moon lit up the fog - it was almost like being in early evening twilight all night long - helpful for working on deck when I had to take down the whisker pole with the wind having changed direction - I ended up motoring for some time in almost no wind.

The Captain of 'Delmar Atlantic' was very helpful & informative. I'd called him up near midday on VHF16, having heard him talking to another ship nearby, to ask if he'd mind chatting a bit when he wasn't too busy with his work. I wanted to find out what all the ships around were doing & to get some local info - on shoals etc!! He told me that diamond-mining was what they were all concerned with - the bit on his ship's drill was 7m across and 80 (or 800??) kg in weight & most ships were converted
from diving operations. (I'd seen a ship, 'Neptune Explorer', with a high drill-rig on deck slowly coming towards Mossel Bay in January on its way to Cape Town for maintenance - it was moving no faster than 'Nereida'!) He also reassured me about shoals in the area - "no problem" so long as I was over 1-2 miles from shore. He reckoned my shallow depth readings were caused by the numerous big shoals of fish hereabouts - I've certainly seen lots of birds going after fish here. He also gave me some
useful advice on Luderitz & the entry there. I should have asked him about the red-coloured patches of sea I saw...

I'm keeping well-reefed down to keep our speed to below 5 knots in order to make Luderitz in daylight tomorrow morning. I'd looked at the distance yesterday and realized that, since we couldn't guarantee keeping up an average speed of well over 7 knots to get in before nightfall today, going slowly was the only viable alternative....

Mon/Tues 18/19th Feb 08

What a nightmare...! I woke up at one point, at 'oh-do-dark something',... to see 7m depth on the display across the cabin. Imagine my feelings as I rushed up on deck, expecting us to be in shallows close to shore, despite what the chart-plotter was showing - no such thing... the charted depth was well over 85m and we were still 15 miles off as we headed towards Lambert's Bay, hoping to see some inshore wildlife over the day.... I hurriedly turned us around to head back out to sea - and saw the
depth display fall even further... to 4m... ugh! It kept varying between 4m to 10m, occasionally plunging to over 100m before coming way up again for quite some time.
Having read & been told so much about dangerous shoaling off this coast (as well as frequent fog), with notes on the charts in this area stating "Uncharted Dangers: Due to possible existence of uncharted rocks & shoals, vessels should exercise extreme caution when navigating inside territorial (sic!!) waters", I concluded that this was what they were talking about... I turned tail & fled! And began to wonder about the point of coming up the coast if I wasn't going to be able to see much of it or
the wildlife around... Writing this, I wonder if I had some large fish sheltering under the boat...??!!! Or was it a thermal effect? Who knows? "Better to be safe than sorry"..."Discretion is the better part of valour" ...etc, etc. This is not a coast to get into trouble on when sailing alone, with 3-4m swell quite common & few inhabited parts ....although I have been impressed by the help the S.African Coastguard give people ... when they're close enough to do so.

All that excitement apart, it's been lovely sailing - in bright sun, wind abaft the beam, occasional poling out of the genoa (chance to try out my new pole - I had a few hiccups, now sorted, but it's so lovely & light, even I can move it about easily!). The swell has been mainly 3m but well spaced out so not a bad motion. BUT IT'S COLD!! In air temperature of 16C overnight & 21C over the day, feeling colder in the breeze, I'm in thick fleecy trousers, long ski socks & 2 fleece tops .. and that's
when down below! This, I gather, is the result of the cold Benguela current which runs along the coast.... Complete opposite to the Agulhas current off the East coast which made the sea far warmer (rather like the Gulf current in the N. atlantic) - I noticed an increase in temperature there of 4.5C.

After I left Cape Town yesterday morning, with dramatic Table Mt in the background, a solitary dolphin came up to bid me farewell..!

It's so nice to be sailing again, especially in such easy conditions. My only company today has been hearing CG or shipping/fishboats radio talk, flocks of terns and occasional other birds. (This evening I shall check in, if propagation permits, with some other boats which are heading to St Helena.) Being onshore and meeting people is fine & enjoyable in its way but this is something else... gives time to think/reflect ...and do a few more jobs! How lucky can you be??

Sat /Sun16/17th Feb08

By the time the riggers had finished drilling out the rivets and replacing with (shorter) screws, making sure the reefing blocks/cars inside the boom were finally able to move freely, it was late morning.  I rigged a flag halyard on the backstay, using a tiny block I attached to it, and hoisted a brand new 'red duster' (the previous C.A. blue ensign had been looking very tattered for some time now).

I don't know quite where the day went.... I spent some time on the Internet, using the convenient Club (free) computer, mixed some epoxy for some over-large screw holes in a few places and then drilled & replaced the screws - hopefully that will work. I had several visitors over the day - very friendly & sociable but definitely interrupts the work...!   spent a time double-checking things and clearing up metal bits etc ready to leave early in the morning - but that plan went by the board after 'Trudel' asked me to join them at "Panama Jack's" - a nearby restaurant - that evening.  We had a lovely meal and got back late.....  I didn't get up until 10 o'clock next morning!   I'd deliberately not set an alarm, knowing I was tired, but hadn't expected to sleep in quite so late.

I was supposed to be moving on today, but suddenly remembered my log impellor was stuck & not giving a speed/log display on the way around to here from Simon's Town (despite the diver's efforts at freeing the impellor a week ago). It needed withdrawing and cleaning - it was really encrusted with 'wormy' growth inside, so that was my morning job.  Then I decided to go up the mast to attach seine twine between mast steps and shrouds to prevent halyards catching.  Got interesting since wind gets strong off Table Mt every afternoon, gusting up to 30 knots - and, since Nereida is beam on to the wind direction at the fuel dock I'd moved to, she was really heeling over suddenly & often while I was up there!  Two good jobs done, though, ready for my forthcoming ocean crossing.

Tonight's job is to re-connect a cable into my autopilot remote control - it's been misbehaving for some time so I decided to investigate - one wire disconnected & another very loose.  Hopefully, an easy, quick after-dinner fix!

I should reach Luderitz (Namibia) by next weekend, stay a few days & then it's over to St Helena - everyone I speak to tells me how beautiful it is & that I really shouldn't pass close by & not visit the island where Napoleon was exiled.

Well, I thought that having had three lots of good luck over the la7st two days, my passage to Luderitz was guaranteed to go well.... wishful thinking!!
The good luck started with finding that one lens had dropped out of my specs .. onto a damp tissue on the dock (and had NOT fallen down between the dock planking - which has large gaps in it!)   I'd found a very short bolt on deck coming down the coast to Simon's Town - this morning I suddenly realized it was from the anchor/chain connection  which was loose, so good thing to have spotted that! And finally, I found the purse today which I'd thought had been stolen/dropped/left behind somewhere - excellent news since it was of grey buffalo hide,  bought in Mossel Bay & I like it a lot!
Since Monday the weather has been bad for moving out of Simon's Bay - just as well since I've had plenty to keep me occupied... cover for new whisker pole, additional mast support for pole, cleaning deck (twice!) of metal bits from rivets drilled out, clearing/sorting out below deck (very time consuming since in complete chaos!) and checking out lines/blocks etc on deck after new rigging. Changed a preventer line and now need to do some more whipping at some point.  Still several jobs to be done but weather window on Thurs/Fri will dictate which get done - need to prioritize!!
........
Having said my farewells to the many people on and around the False Bay Y.C. dock, I was all set to go by soon after ten o'clock on Friday morning, having been up most of the night sorting out locker contents and re-stowing many items safely.  I even treated myself to a 'proper' English cooked b'fast and then Baden came to the boat to cut away two rusty anchor chain links before helping me cast off my lines in flat calm conditions..!
On hoisting the mains'l under a grey, drizzly sky near Roman Rock, I found that the 2nd reef car was jammed inside the boom (but  had  that not already  been sorted out earlier this week...??? Hmmm...) I was able to motor-sail around the Cape of Good Hope in increasingly sunny, flat calm conditions to the Royal Cape Y. C. in Cape Town, where Warren will sort out the rigging problem in the morning.... those rivets, again!!
The journey was increasingly pleasant - past Bellows Rock off Cape Point (the very end of the long peninsula of the Cape of Good Hope), where the swell crashed spectacularly.
On past craggy mountains and white sandy beaches to the Twelve Apostles, Table Mountain amd Lion's Head. The sun shone and I was even able to dry my washing from  the morning as well.   I came into the Royal Cape Y.C. just after sunset, berthed on the Visitors' Dock ready for tomorrow morning, met up with 'Trudel' and had a meal with Rowena & Ian of 'Warlock'
.  Then to bed for a good sleep - tomorrow I have several more jobs to complete before leaving again for Namibia - but the wind should be better for that passage since it is easy to leave the Royal Cape YC in a SE'ter
I wish everyone good sailing - through life, whether or not afloat!
Jeanne
'Nereida'
Cape Town                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Mon 11th Feb 2008

Today the riggers came - a rivet on inside either side of the boom was catching on the reefing lines - as soon as they were replaced with a slightly shorter rivet, both 1st & 2nd reefing lines were running freely - problem solved! .....sigh of relief!!
Because I was obviously staying on another day at least, kind local yacht club member Peter was able to take my propane tanks in for refill - one was filled OK, the other had a faulty valve so they couldn't deal with it. Means I have two full tanks (already had a spare) & will see whether the faulty one can be refilled in the Caribbean.
Kim & Phil (on 'Avocet' ) kindly shopped for me (I'd gone to see Kim about sprouting beans.. useful for long passages)- they shopped in nearby Vishhoek whilst the metalworkers were getting on with my pole support on the mast - riveting took a time (and I got smothered in sticky Duralac!), but finally finished just after 5.30 pm... Dealing with the ball bearings in the pole support cars proved interesting - turned out to be quite a lengthy, convoluted exercise but ended OK so new pole support car is installed on mast track as well as original one.
Cover for new pole was delivered - too long by a good foot!...adjusted cover not back by end of day - tomorrow??....
Decided to go for fish & chip supper with boat friends-still lots of clearing up to do but felt that I needed a break (& a meal!) after today's hassle. Will have to see whether leaving here tomorrow is realistic - lots still to do both on deck ..... & below - where chaos reigns! (Repaired double jammer still to be fitted, cockpit sole & drains still to be cleaned, seine lines to be run between mast steps & shrouds to avoid halyards catching...)
Wind is presently S/SSW 4 (~ 15 knots)
Will now see whether I can connect to send this .. Internet connection has not been good for several days....

Sat/Sun 9/10 Feb

So much for leaving early Sunday - the sailcover came back on Saturday unrepaired so had to be returned to loft and when it came on Sunday (yes - they're working overtime here!)the reefing lines were jammed inside the boom - having to get riggers in early Monday to remove boom to sort that problem out - can't leave before it's sorted....
On the positive side, I was able to hoist & furl the genoa, now that the strong winds have disappeared, the new aerial connection to the backstay is finished & works fine, I managed to get my wi-fi Internet connection back again (here only, of course!), the boat has been cleaned of several days' layer of salt & dirt deposited by winds of last few days, water tank has been filled, cockpit locker has finally been re-packed (although found the pipe to the hot water tank was perforated and spraying water everywhere - so had to repair that first - used amalgamating tape to 'bandage' it as a temporary 'fix' until next repair stop, when I'll replace that section of polybutylene piping)
I'm slowly getting boat more organized ready for passagemaking - that always feels good..!
Fedex finally arrived at the Yacht Club to deliver the Nobeltec CDs I need to run the software on Vista..
I'm now hoping to leave for Saldanha early Tuesday - assuming riggers manage to sort out the boom/reefing lines problem tomorrow.
Spent quite a time clearing & cleaning the hanging locker in the forepeak - several stored cans of tonic had corroded & so everything (LOTS!!) below them was wet & sticky - an unwanted extra job!
Tomorrow, I'll make use of the extra day by getting empty propane gas tanks refilled & do a touch more provisioning (with kind offer of transport from Club member Peter who lives nearby)& Baden will finish off new steel pole support on mast as well as pole fixtures on deck - he's worked overtime on my steel projects & was generously quite prepared to come Sunday to finish off.

For a news item on 'Nereida' on Yachting Monthly website dated 31st Jan 08, paste this into your browser window: http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20080031093957ymnews.html

This is most definitely the Cape of Storms!! I can sympathize with the ships of old trying to round the Cape heading South East - impossible on days like this!
I've seen southerly 40 knot winds for the last 2-3 days - even higher than the 'normal' 25-30 knots of most days since I arrived here nearly two weeks ago. I've had difficulty walking along the dock in the gusts & the noise makes it difficult to talk to anyone & be heard. Working on deck is almost impossible - & they expect the wind to get even stronger tomorrow! The waters of the Bay are angry-looking and waves are crashing almost over the railway track running beside the shore nearby.
I went in to Cape Town this afternoon to clear out in readiness for the wind to lessen enough to head south down False Bay before rounding Cape Point (at the end of the Cape of Good Hope peninsula) to pass Cape Town on my way north towards Namibia. I had a great problem getting the Clearance Certificate I needed, with the official wanting me to return in another day or so, since he said my clearance was only valid for the next 36 hrs - the fact that the wind is howling , making movement impossible just now seemed to be irrelevant to him.... as was the difficulty of the journey to Cape Town (railway takes two hours each way!)
Several boats came in to Simon's Town yesterday evening - they reported motoring most of the way from Mossel Bay - until they neared the entrance to False Bay when the winds increased rapidly to 30 knots or more. In Cape Town recently, a double-decker bus ended up on its side in a gust! The sky is mostly blue & out of the wind it's very warm but I've had to wear one of my warm Musto fleecy tops in the chilly wind.
I've been very busy since getting here- both organizing work to be done & also working on things myself, with the occasional break to be taken out sightseeing. The rigging has all been completely changed, with a lot of help from Selden of Sweden who kindly sent all the necessary fittings here. I'm also the proud owner of a carbon whisker pole - it will be interesting to experiment with using it going downwind & I'm lookinhg forward to using my new light-air spinnaker...
Baden here in the yard has made some lovely steel fittings for me - a bowsprit to hold out the foot of the spinnaker further forward than I could previously, a closure over the under-sized metal of the bow-roller fitting - hopefully the sides are now prevented from moving apart when in windy anchorages in future - and some neat little steel brackets to hold the soap & detergent bottles in place by the galley sink in heavy seas.. He also straightened a bent stanchion & is fabricating a mast fitting for the carbon pole end, to be used when the telescopic pole is stowed on the mast.
New & repaired sails & sailcover are being delivered tomorrow - although it may be difficult to hoist sails if this wind keeps up...
My electrical and shore power problems have all been finally resolved with the help of Gerry - turned out to be partly caused by a corroded water-heater element fitting which was leaking water onto the electric terminals - took quite a time to sort that all out, with great difficulty tracking down a replacement heater element..
Chasing people up & organizing getting items via the local chandlery (who have also made lots of trips and phone calls for me, trying to source things) has taken a lot of time each day... The cracked sides of a double Spinlock jammer have been replaced (after several hours of effort, taking it apart & cleaning corrosion away thoroughly) whereas replacements for the totally degraded Lewmar end-stops on the Genoa track could not be located - now on the list of 'to buy' for a later date - although 'friction-stop' parts were available. (They use the same soft plastic and are also falling apart after ten years of use, much of it in tropical sunshine).
The re-made SSB radio aerial connection seems to be working fine ... & amazingly, the line isolator & ferrites from the USA finally turned up at the Post Office - although the hassle with Customs is unbelievable. I've had to use an agent to sort out the importation, despite clearly being a 'ship in transit' even though the parcel total value is less than $100. I had to make a lengthy useless journey initially & now hope to have the parcel in my hands tomorrow.
A diver cleaned the keel today - and told me he'd freed the log impellor, so that saves me having to withdraw it from inside the boat to clean it. He'll replace the prop anode tomorrow.
Friend Andy came by to help with some of the work one day - I think he enjoyed 'messing about on a boat' although the poor thing didn't enjoy helping to move heavy diesel jerrycans around! Refilling the tanks is now complete - made easier, although time-consuming still, by using my favourite little in-line electric fuel pump. I'm really looking forward to having a clear cockpit for the first time in well over a week, now that I can re-pack the deep cockpit locker.
I was able to start my provisioning this evening on the way back from Cape Town with another boater. A lady comes to the nearby square every Saturday with excellent fresh fruit & veg so I'll buy that from her & I'm being taken to a supermarket tomorrow for the rest of my provisioning needs. I'm hoping that a gas shortage I've been told about won't stop me being able to refill a propane gas tank ready for my forthcoming long passages.
I've also been checking on forthcoming passage details north up the coast to Luderitz (Namibia)and over to St Helena.
Well, the wind is still blowing hard at over 40 knots from the south while writing most of this...

Friday 8 Feb
Nobeltec CD for 'Vista' on new PC is trapped with Fedex...
I've had no Internet wi-fi connection for over two days now.... 40-60 knot "Black South Easter" winds are making life difficult here in many ways.
I tried to fill propane tanks at Fishhoek- not possible, so someone is trying another place for me tomorrow - I've one third of a tank plus a spare full one - so may not be too critical. Also did some provisioning in Long Beach Mall Pick n Pay... a friend of Dave whom I met in Mauritius kindly volunteered use of his car & time when he, Dave & wife Colleen came to visit yesterday.
New sails were delivered but they hadn't dealt with mainsail cover which needs more work & could delay my leaving... that will be a nuisance if it means I miss a short weather window (still gusting up to 30kn at times now but seems to be lessening a bit). The weather is supposed to calm down but then come up again by Tue/Wed, they say.
There's been a big fire on the mountain above here - fanned by strong winds, of course - two helicopters have been picking up water to try to douse flames - but not being too successful. It's been a very stormy Simon's Town this week - there's lots of spume flying above the rough sea surface & the marina docks are jerking about rather worryingly.
I hope to feel more ready to leave after another day of sorting the boat out after all the work that's been done, although there's still lots to finish before I can feel completely relaxed.
Let's hope the wind dies down, as forecast, by Sunday/Monday... so I can leave.

Today was mainly calm & hot under a clear blue sky - several cruisers have left, taking advantage of the lack of a strong headwind. This morning, a sealion was catching several big squid right off my stern & later decided to rest on the dock nearby. The many seabirds (mainly gulls & cormorants)on the low floating boom a short distance away were keeping up their usual squawking and amusing, noisy arguments.

I had been considering using my own dive gear to clean the keel and change the prop anode, rather than using the rather dodgy-looking haul-out set-up here - but rapidly changed my mind when someone casually mentioned that Great Whites were regularly visited by tourist-boats in this bay (False Bay)- and one was often seen in the marina area..! I didn't fancy putting myself on the menu .... so I've arranged for the local (fearless!)diver to come in a few days' time when, hopefully, I'm closer to leaving for Luderitz in Namibia.

Yesterday afternoon, I went with friends Andy & Alison to a restaurant ('Wild Fig')her chef brother helps run - lovely lunch in a historic setting - and then on to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens (the equivalent of Kew Gardens)- a beautiful setting under the dramatic Lion's Head and Castle Peak mountains with lots of interesting native Cape plants & flowers, of course, and quite a few birds new to me also. 

On Monday, they'd taken me to the Cecil Rhodes monument - a fabulous viewpoint high up overlooking Cape Town, with a good, shady 'tearoom'! We also went to a couple of wineries in Constantia - lovely old buildings and settings & interesting free 'tastings'. It's a lovely drive over the mountains to Cape Town from here. I must try to get out to Castle Point & Table Mountain sometime. On the way back, I got diesel in jerry cans & spent a time today transferring it into the fuel tanks - but I still need lots more.

The riggers got going also on Wednesday and have done quite well, all the necessary end terminals/toggles having been kindly sent out earlier this month from Sweden by Mats-Uno Frederiksen of Selden - for which I'm very grateful. All shrouds except the forestay are now replaced - but some of the chain-plates need re-bedding. Baden, excellent at both racing and steelwork, is fabricating a spinnaker fitting for the bow - hopefully I won't trash the pulpit again as I did racing out to Hawaii in the Single-Handed TransPac of '06!! He's also incorporating a stronger bow-roller fitting for the anchors.

I changed the oil in both the generator and main engine(always a messy, time-consuming business) & (unusually!) didn't have too much trouble with fitting the new filter this time, although I did manage to cut my fingertip quite deeply, as usual, on the sharp edge of the oil wrench... I had hoped to change the gear oil and primary fuel filter today but that's now on tomorrow's joblist! Items ticked off now also include general engine maintenance checks - seawater strainer, belts, etc (engine mount nut was off again on arrival here so I've now put it back with some Nutlock - we'll see how long that lasts...) I did some whipping of fraying rope ends and a sailmaker came by to advise/quote on a new light-air sail (& took the sail-cover away for further repair work). It would be nice to be able to sail more easily in really light airs, rather than sitting becalmed or having to start the motor...! I've also been working on improving further my mains'l preventer set-up, making it easier to change over when gybing.

The replacement filter holder for the watermaker is proving difficult to find - of course, they mainly have metric items here, so it's not so easy to find Imperial items, as used in the USA. Have electrical guy coming Friday - I can't see why the generator is not putting out charge despite the motor working happily and the belt looking OK... Also I must try to find time to have another look at my shore supply problem - I must try changing the plug onto cable I know is fine to see if that fixes the problem.

Radioworks in the US have informed me that the line isolator & ferrites I ordered in the New Year were posted on 4th January to Royal Cape Y.C. - should have arrived by now but no sign of it... but the wi-fi aerial I got from Radiolabs is working fine for Internet access here - I've put it on the mast as high as it will reach. Two success stories, after weeks of trying, are that I finally managed the Iridium data connection for emails & weather info - so I now have good backup for the SSB radio when connection proves difficult or impossible - & I've also finally sorted out (both with Jim Corenman's help) the problem I was having with the automatic frequency tuning for Sailmail/Winlink stations - turned out to be a simple matter of NOT checking the PTC-IIpro RS-232 box in the Airmail Options Connection window... !!! I've also 'persuaded' the InmarsatC terminal to work properly - so often, simply taking plugs/connections apart & cleaning & replacing them seems to fix problems... So that's mainly good news on the communications side.... several persistent & time-consuming problems overcome - for now!! Now I have to re-make the aerial connection to the new backstay, after renewing the plastic pipe protection, & attach it with cable ties using plastic separators (bits of pipe!)so it stands proud of the backstay - supposed to make for better transmitting...

I can't believe it's almost February already - I feel there's so much still to do on "Nereida".... but I need to move north as soon as the important jobs are completed.... hopefully sometime next week.

Friday 25th Jan - Sunday 27th Jan 2008

What a windy place this is!!  I was clearly very lucky to have had the wind abate somewhat as I came in to dock at the False Bay Y.C. here in Simon's Town early on Friday - ever since then, the wind has generally been whistling around 30knots!!
But this is a lovely, really pleasant place with friendly people in & around the marina area.  There are plenty of old buildings nearby, lots of greenery & flowering shrubs and the dramatic steep backdrop of stony mountainside, added to which is the view over False Bay itself with more steep-sided mountains and small inlets.
After treating myself to a full cooked breakfast, I had an enjoyable meander around the main street soon after checking in at the False Bay Yacht Club where I'm berthed, chatted to a few people.. and then crashed out soon after midday, to awaken near 8pm!!  Clearly, I was tired after my sail here.... I just managed to get a meal before they closed the kitchen for the night - and an excellent one, too, of fish & seafood - and then proceeded to stay up late chatting to people, being now wide awake!!
Saturday was another sunny, if windy, day & I decided to walk south a short distance to Boulder Beach where I'd heard there were penguins to be seen.  Twenty minues or so later, I'd arrived at Seaforth Beach, a natural rocky cove with a lovely sandy beach, full of swimmers and people relaxing under the shady trees and was soon entering the Boulder Beach Marine National Park.
A boardwalk led through the shrub-covered sand-dune environment where penguins could be seen sitting on eggs (normally two) in a hole in the ground in the shade.  It ended overlooking a large beach area with huge rounded boulders.  There were hundreds of penguins, mainly resting, with just the occasional ones heading into or away from the water's edge. Many very obligingly posed close by for the visitors'cameras... I could have stayed a long time watching them, they were so comical & unafraid and the setting was so beautiful.
Sunday I tidied up the boat, made my list of 'jobs-to-do' & looked at the watermaker which has been misbehaving - to find a filter-holder has cracked & needs replacing. I also had visitors in the afternoon - friends from London, Andy & Alison, who are staying not far away (son Thomas is getting married here in March). Being 'new' cruisers themselves, they've offered to help me with boat jobs and, being familiar with the Cape Town area, they'll show me around a little also - all very nice and very welcome. My laundry has already been taken to Alison's brother's washing machine..!
It is so much more pleasant here, & safer to walk around, than the area close to the Royal Cape Y.C. in Cape Town that I've decided to stay put, rather than move there as planned.  My re-rigging can just as well be done here as there, along with my other jobs.  In any case, with the strong wind we've had so far, moving was out of the question.

Friday 25th Jan 2008

"Nereida" rounded Cape Agulhas yesterday, having left Mosselbaai late Wed night.

Conditions were 'picture book' for this notorious Cape - bright sun, blue skies, big (3-4m) seas, rough conditions in a cross swell and 25-30 knots from the ESE - so poled-out genoa and fully reefed main until reaching Quoin Pt some distance on when the seas moderated somewhat... I got really excited in the exhilarating, fast conditions and it seemed like a big moment to be finishing my Indian Ocean passage into the Atlantic in this way..... This Cape marks the southernmost point in my circumnavigation - from here it's north all the way!!

I shall stay in Simon's Town for a couple of nights, catching up with some other cruiser friends here, before moving around the Cape of Good Hope peninsula to Cape Town, ready for my re-rigging starting next week - & lots of other jobs to do also!!

Wed 23rd Jan 2008

The weather was not looking good for rounding Cape Agulhas yesterday & today. I had thought I would be moving on this morning (Wed) if not Tuesday night with the weather forecast I had, but the wind Tues was unexpectedly strong from the WSW and stayed that way today also - so it was a good thing I didn't leave too soon. Around 8pm, the wind suddenly dropped, so hopefully, it is about to go S/SE meaning I can leave soon & make passage around C. Agulhas & on to Simonstown overnight. It's absolutely calm now, as I write this.

I'm all ready to leave, having been busy most of a beautiful sunny day on checking engine, lines, refuelling etc. after a lovely dive this morning with Electro Dive who picked me up from boat. My last dive was on the Gt Barrier Reef out of Cairns. Saw lots of beautiful soft corals, basket stars on lovely Gorgonian fans, orange wall sponges & the only butterfly fish (a double sash) to live this far south. The water temp was only 21C & felt very cold despite a 5/7mm wetsuit! As I rose up, I passed through a large shoal of bright silver bonita - I just hoped no Great Whites were nearby!!

Yesterday, I visited the Bartolomeu Dias museum complex & enjoyed the caravel replica & exhibits. Boat on display was built in Portugal & sailed here in 1988 to mark 500th anniversary of the original landing here. I hadn't appreciated the significance of Mossel Bay & the maritime history hereabouts until I got here. Fascinating, enormous, 500 yr old 'Post Tree'! I'd got a lift in with 'Taniwani' (a much larger Najad) who are anchored near me - they left R. Bay last Friday also.

There is lots of flowering aloe & other pretty flowers everywhere & the view from 'Nereida' of the Mossel Bay area, a large bay backed by high green hills/mountains is very pleasant.

I spoke to the rigger in Cape Town - all the Selden parts have arrived safely & he is ready to start re-rigging on Mon or Tues, whichever suits, depending how soon I'm berthed at the Royal Cape Y.C. who expect me on Sat or Sun - it's looking like Sunday at earliest, I think, since I'll be stopping at Simonstown a couple of nights - several boats I know are there & would be nice to meet up with them again before I move on. 'Trudel' are here also.... they enjoyed their stops coming down the Mozambique Channel (after they finally made Chagos in v. light winds from Cocos Keeling) - that definitely sounds like somewhere to sail next time around!

Well, I'll have some food and raise the anchor to leave in flat calm - hope the rounding of Cape Agulhas, over 100 miles away & my furthest point S on this circumnavigation, goes well - it has a reputation for being very windy!!

I should reach Simonstown early Friday, to berth at the False Bay Y.C., if all goes to plan.....