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Where am I ? > Journals > South Africa - Brazil > |
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Capetown (South-Africa) - St.HelenaPREVIOUS JOURNALDay 173, Wednesday 19 January 2005
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[Natascha >>]
This print from the navigation tool C-Map shows our route from Cape Town to St. Helena which is right in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. The total distance is 1,690 miles and as you can see we have 1,344 miles left at this moment. C-Map is connected to GPS and it's very easy to exactly find out where you are. The programme also calculates the number of days to go given the current speed. We do have paper charts for back-up as well. Just as generators, PC's can break down and in this case the helpdesk is not located at the sixth floor.
Day 176, Saturday 22 January 2005
29° 47.7' S 10° 40.0' E
Atlantic Ocean
The wind has dropped from 20-25 knots to 10-15 knots, perfect wind to fly the spinnaker. With the giant blue-red handkerchief up we still do over 6 knots, we're not complaining at all!
There's still no other ships around us, it feels we are only the lonely on this enormous ocean. Every day at 6 pm we chat with other yachties over the HF radio. Our Dutch friends Henk and Marjolein from Jori left Cape Town this morning and are 450 miles behind us and Hans from the Danish boat Joy is 250 miles ahead of us.
Another daily and very important ritual is the Happy Hour. Depending on the sun it either takes place on the fore deck or in the cockpit. Around 4 pm we put on some music, take a beer or wine from the fridge (hurrah for the fridge!) and nibble on some crisps or a piece of cheese. This is definitely the best time of the day.
[<< Natascha]
Day 177, Sunday 23 January 2005
28° 30.3' S 08° 34.2' E
Atlantic Ocean
[Natascha >>]
And then it becalms completely. Six knots of wind is not enough to sail and the flapping sails during my night watch drive me nuts. We better not hoist the spinnaker in the middle of the night so I start the engine. Fortunately Stefan is fast asleep so he doesn't wake up. Too tired to be disturbed by anyone or anything. I must admit, after a few days at sea I start sleeping better as well. I was probably not tired enough during the first few days or simply needed some time to get accustomed to the passage rhythm again.
Stefan returns cursing from his daily inspection round on the deck. Five mast cars of the main broke because of the banging of the sails last night. They weren’t too good in the first place and we can’t find proper replacements so every broken car increases our problem. All we can do is swap them with the ones in the main that don’t need to slide up and down, hence take less strain and are therefore in a better condition. Thing is that the mast cars outnumber the boom cars by a factor three so there will come an end to this jury rigging. Another one for the Trinidad list.
Sick of the engine noise we give it a try with the spinnaker. With only 6 knots of wind we only manage to squeeze out 3 knots of boat speed. Stefan called his dad to get the weather forecast as provided by www.weatheronline.com which confirms the low winds we have, and worse, tells us it’s not improving over the coming few days. With another 1,050 miles to go, that’s going to be a long journey.
[<< Natascha]
Day 178, Monday 24 January 2005
27° 24.1' S 06° 45.4' E
Atlantic Ocean
[Stefan >>]
Against our preference, we decide to leave the spinnaker on for the night. Although it’s a hustle getting it down at night, it’s better than listening to the banging working sails or the humming engine. Fortunately the full moon will give us some light to work by and the weather forecast is so stable that it’s unlikely that we have to take it down in the first place. All it takes is an alert watchman (or woman) who keeps a close eye on the wind meter and the air looking for any squalls.
With the wind hovering around 10 knots we keep the bag up all day, but despite this huge sail we only do 105 miles in 24 hours. An all-time low.
[<< Stefan]
Day 179, Tuesday 25 January 2005
26° 38.1' S 04° 50.0' E
Atlantic Ocean
[Natascha >>]
Sailing the spinnaker at night worked well so we continue this way since the conditions are still very light. In the morning we change sails a couple of times. Dousing the spinnaker, hoisting the main and the genoa. Suddenly the wind drops completely, so up the spinnaker again and furl away the genoa. We keep the main up. The wind kind of likes this little game with us and, hop, increases again. We are now totally overpowered. Get the main down and fast, before we damage the spinnaker! Stefan on the other hand can't really appreciate this game and his temper is getting worse by the minute.
Today we covered 130 miles, we are halfway. The generator works smoothly. After Stefan tightened the hose clamp it doesn't leak coolwater anymore. We enjoy our cold drinks, cheese and meat. Treats we missed during the last passages.
[<< Natascha]
Day 180, Wednesday 26 January 2005
25° 35.7' S 02° 42.0' E
Atlantic Ocean
Stefan is not feeling well. He was up with stomach problems all night, perhaps because of something we ate. Leaves me puzzled because we both had the same and I don’t have any problems at all. Browsing through our Medical Handbook for Sailors it seems Ibuprofen might do it for him. And yes, after 20 minutes he is fast asleep. That Medical Handbook is a real asset by the way. It gives you a whole array of illnesses and accidents that might occur at sea, and the kind of treatment you should give in these cases. We also used this book to assemble our medical kit with painkillers, antibiotics, etc.
Another print screen of C-map shows that St. Helena is indeed coming closer, to be specific another 716 miles, which comes to five more days sailing if we maintain the same boat speed of five knots. Incredible, in the Indian Ocean, we calculated with averages of 7.5 knots. You can also see our destination thereafter, Fernando de Noronha, a small island 300 miles east of Brazil.
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Happy Hour is starting in “The Cockpit Pub” in 30 minutes. Stefan is still asleep so I guess I’ll have to go on my own today.
[<< Natascha]
Day 181, Thursday 27 January 2005
23° 51.2' S 01° 26.5' E
Atlantic Ocean
[Stefan >>]
We took the spinnaker down yesterday because of an upcoming squall which turned out to have 23 knots of wind – a bit over the top for our light weather champ. That party didn’t last for long though, so now we’re sitting with banging sails again. My suggestion to put the spinnaker up at the watch change at 2 am is received with a lot of grunting. OK, I’ll leave it for a while.
But you know, as you sit there, getting bored and tired, you need some entertainment and start thinking about ways to hoist the sucker on your own. Well, lets start preparing stuff first, see how far I get. And you know what, it actually works. Instead of the usual two times crossing the deck, I now run eight times from the cockpit to the pulpit (keeps you fit I guess) and proudly look at the spinnaker flying free again. You should have seen Natascha’s face when she came on watch.
One of the infamous 25 pumps seized. This time, it’s the fresh water pump for drinking water. No worries we have an exact copy as a spare so that it’s easy to replace without fiddling around with connectors etc. The electro motor’s wiring smells like hell indicating the end of its life.
Having a spare is all nice and good, as long as it works. Which it doesn’t! Interesting. Here we sit with 300 litres of water in our tank and no means to get it out. Actually, virtually no means, because we do have a foot pump that can however only function as a hand pump since I can’t fit it to the floor. If you imagine the strength in your hands compared to the force you can apply with your legs, you understand that I’m in for some hard labour. Something tells me we’re not going to finish all of these 300 litres.
Let’s hope we find somebody in St. Helena who can turn two dodgy pumps into one working one. And I was hoping to reach our next anchorage without a to-do list. Failed again. Shit.
[<< Stefan]
Day 182, Friday 28 January 2005
22° 18.4' S 00° 17.8' E
Atlantic Ocean
[Natascha >>]
Our 10th day at sea. 500 miles to go and C-Map just showed me this will take us another 15 days (!!) if we'd continue at this speed. Oh no! There's no wind at all at the moment, we do 1 knot per hour (we have the current with us). As soon as Stefan wakes up we'll douse the spinnaker and start our iron friend.
After a few hours of motoring we hoist the spinnaker again around noon, keeping an eye on the speedometer. As soon as our speed drops below 4,5 knots, we'll start the engine. We hope to arrive in St. Helena on Monday or Tuesday, which won't be possible if we average less than 4,5 knots.
At 1 pm we pass Greenwich, our GPS co-ordinates are: 21° 55 South and 00° 00 West. We are in the Western hemisphere!
Day 183, Saturday 29 January 2005
20° 48.8' S 01° 01.0' W
Atlantic Ocean
Mister Noisy is working all night to keep our boat speed up. With no wind whatsoever we are glad to have a reliable engine. The alternative would be floating for days. With only 400 more miles to go, we are looking forward to arriving.
Hey, a ship. The second in nearly two weeks. It’s always a bit weird to see another ship after such a long time. You feel so isolated out there that a sudden encounter with another ship is quite unreal. It also emphasises the need for keeping watch. Chances of running into one are low, but the results will be quite horrific, especially if you realise that the ship’s crew wouldn’t even notice diminishing a little yacht to meatloaf.
I make some cookies to pass the time. They’re supposed to be the healthy variant with olive oil instead of butter. Not that Stefan could be bothered with the latter, he’ll eat them anyway. The sweetheart is such a rewarding audience to cook for.
Fishing is another good distracter. Stefan likes playing with the lures and after a few days of meat we feel like some fish. I put in an order for a yellow fin tuna, let’s see what the lures can do. Our famous lethal lure strikes again, this time a Dorado made a crucial mistake for which the poor lad will have to pay with his life. Sorry boy, don’t expect any sympathy from us, we are going to eat you! As you can see, this battered lure has been quite popular.
Day 184, Sunday 30 January 2005
19° 23.0' S 02° 47.6' W
Atlantic Ocean
The countdown has started, only 270 miles to go. Although this is not a very fast passage, I'm glad it's a relaxed one. I definitely prefer 13 easy days (no sea-sickness, no equipment failure, nice weather etc.) to 10 tough ones. It might be difficult to imagine but we are still not bored at all and time seems to fly. To give you an idea of our schedule at sea:
7 - 8 am
Official end of Natascha's night watch, but usually Stefan sleeps in. I record our position in the logbook and download a weather fax via the HF radio.
8 - 9 am
Stefan wakes up, breakfast and running the generator.
9 am - 1 pm
A combination of: Reading, sunbathing, bread making, change sails, doing small boat jobs and having lunch.
1 - 4 pm
We record our position in the logbook and calculate the covered distance over the last 24 hours. We take a shower and sometimes a nap. We read, change sails or do small boat jobs. We update this log and if we are lucky to have caught a fish, Stefan will fillet it.
4 - 5 pm
Happy Hour! We booze, snack and often brainstorm/fantasize about the ideal sailing yacht.
5 - 6 pm
Peak hour. Cooking, running the generator, supper and dishwashing.
6 - 7 pm
Cruising net on the HF radio. We chat, exchange positions and weather conditions with other yachties. After the net we sit in the cockpit, enjoying the sunset.
7 - 11 pm
We listen to the news on the HF radio. Start Stefan's first night watch.
11 pm - 2 am
My first night watch, crawling out of my comfortable bed is something I'm still not good at. Time to sleep for Stefan.
2 - 4:30 am
Second night watch Stefan.
4:30 - 7 am
Second night watch Natascha.
Fortunately the wind has picked up. With the spinnaker and 10 knots of wind we do an average of 5 knots.
Day 185, Monday 31 January 2005
17° 43.6' S 04° 06.8' W
Atlantic Ocean
Our watches are still on South Africa time despite our position of 1,000 miles more westerly. That asks for adjusting them by two hours. We normally do this only upon arrival so that we don’t confuse our daily rhythm. I’m not so font of this approach anymore because now, the sun only sets at 9 pm, two hours into my first sleep-watch and only rises at 7:30 am, which is exactly at the end of my last watch. In other words, I have too much light when wanting to sleep, and none at all when sitting in the cockpit. The captain, on the other hand, has it just perfect, so you can imagine why my pleads for change are ignored. Ah well, I’ll catch up with my sleep during the day. What else is there to do?
[<< Natascha]
[Stefan >>]
Passages like these make us realise that this life style suits us quite well; the freedom, being one with nature and the ocean, the peace and quiet on board, seeing special places and lots of time together. Add to that the enjoyment of trimming and nursing the boat so that it will take care of you as well, and you can see why we like it out here. Looking at the investments we had to do, a year cruising is actually a bit too short, which makes us already dreaming about a second, longer cruise. This will have to wait a bit though, first we have a career to take care of since we’re not prepared to spend our life as sea-bums. So all in all, it may take 15 years before we leave again, but hey, that gives us plenty of time to prepare, doesn’t it?
[<< Stefan]
Day
186, Tuesday 1 February 2005
16° 10.6' S 05° 09.4' W
Arrival St. Helena
[Natascha >>]
It's getting light, Stefan is still in a deep sleep. Exactly 6 months and 8,500 miles after leaving Singapore, we are sailing 30 miles off the British colony St. Helena. Looking through my binoculars I think I see mountains looming up from the sea. I'm not 100% sure though. Is this really St. Helena? I look again and decide I definitely see land ahead. I'm so excited and want to call Stefan, but decide to let him sleep a little longer.
I can't wait to step on land and start exploring this unique place, one of the most deserted islands in the world. A pin's head on the chart, lying in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, only accessible by ship since the island is lacking an airstrip. At 2 pm we drop the anchor in the harbour in front of Jamestown. There's only two other boats; the Danish boat Joy and the Finish boat Tikki.
Day 187, Wednesday 2 February 2005
15° 55.3' S 05° 43.3' W
St. Helena
Walking around the island we feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland. It’s a world that seems to have come to a standstill 100 years back, the cars aside. No heavy traffic, no mobile phones, no crime and everybody seems to know each other. Looking from the sea, it seems that the island is one huge volcanic rock with no life on it whatsoever. How different once you’re there; green valleys, tropical woods, waterfalls and plenty grass land.
We are actually surprised by the number of cars, which is in a way understandable looking at the steep roads that are not very bicycle friendly. The sometimes one digit number plates makes you realise that this is indeed a tiny island. The same applies to telephone numbers – only 4 digits after the country code.
Jamestown is St. Helena’s only town with 900 inhabitants who live in two streets that stretch from the ocean to the upper end of the volcanic valley. All basics can be found here; a supermarket, video rental, tourist office, two hotels, some restaurants, a dentist, a hospital and a hardware shop. Cable & Wireless, St. Helena’s telecom provider has also internet access; fast but at a cost and we’re not allowed to upload any files for our website update.
Ann's Place is well-known among yachties for her friendliness and good food at fair prices. The restaurant’s roof is covered with flags from all over the world and her collection of guest books dates back to the first yachties she entertained in 1979. The food is indeed as expected: big portions, good meat, lots of fat and good beer.
We ascend the 700 stairs of Jacob’s Ladder to the top of "Ladder Hill". The ladder was used to transport dung up the hill with a donkey-driven train. The climb is rewarded with a splendid view over the port.
Handy Hans from Joy offers to have a look at our two faulty water pumps. An hour probing learns that one is definitely bust and the other runs albeit muttering. Funny thing is that we didn’t actually do something to number two – just disassembling and reassembling and it works. Never mind it moans a bit, as long as it works we’ll be fine until we can pick up a spare that West Marine is sending to Fortaleza.
Day 188,Thursday 3 February 2005
15° 55.3' S 05° 43.3' W
St. Helena
Although we were planning to leave this Saturday or Sunday, we consider leaving tomorrow since the anchorage is quite rolly. Stefan is in a bad temper, he hardly slept last night.
"Saint Robert" takes us with his taxi on a tour around the island together with Hans, Rita and Andrew. The taxi is a pick-up truck with a canvas cover. Robert is one of the eldest inhabitants on the island. Everybody knows him since he was a bus driver for 28 years. He explains us that the tour will take at least 3,5 hours, which is no problem for us.
Via Napoleon Street we drive up the hills towards the view point "Two Gun Saddle", which gives us a magnificent view over Jamestown en James Bay. St. Helena was created millions of years ago by a volcanic eruption. Many years of erosion flattened the peak and created many gorgeous and deep valleys running all the way into the ocean. Thick forests and grass-land cover the fertile slopes.
Being used to the most luxurious palaces, Napoleon was heavily disappointed when he arrived in 1815 and saw the farmhouse (Longwood House) where he was supposed to live. He was promised the house would be renovated for him and his 20 servants and in the mean time he occupied the one-room "Briars Pavilion" which was built on a hill overlooking the island. Longwood House was nicely renovated into a spacious country house counting nine rooms, a library and a billiard room. Napoleon was much to depressive to play though, he only used his billiard table to write his memoirs on. In 1919 he became seriously ill and two years later he died in Longwood House. Some people say he died of stomach cancer, others think it was his liver whereas other theories say he was poisoned. Our South African guide and Napoleon fanatic is convinced he died of stomach cancer. His tomb is empty now since his body was transferred to "Les Invalides" in Paris.
Proudly Robert drives us to all the different spots of interest. He shows us the satellite equipment built in 1995 which increased the islanders'connection with the outside world dramatically, for example by the introduction of TV. The airstrip, which authorities have been talking about is still not built and the question is if it will ever happen. Robert doesn't advocate an airstrip, which would destroy the islands' unspoilt character.
We visit Jonathan, St. Helena's eldest inhabitant. Jonathan is a giant tortoise of 170 years old! Together with his four younger friends he lives in the garden of "Plantation House" - the governor's residence. The last part of our tour goes past High Knoll Fort, Prince Andrew School (the grammar school) and the area "Half Tree Hollow", where Robert lives. Our empty stomachs indicate it's time for lunch at Ann's Place where we also pick up our laundry.
We decide to leave tomorrow indeed. The island is not that big and we saw the highlights. Next stop is the Brazilian island Fernando de Noronha, a paradise according to fellow cruisers. It will be the longest passage so far, over 1,700 miles. Hopefully we'll get some wind so that the trip won't take more than two weeks.
Day 189, Friday 4 February 2005
15° 55.3' S 05° 43.3' W
Departure St. Helena
Stefan’s disappointing experience with the hairdresser in Durban gives me some allowance for failure reasoning that if it’s to be messed up, it better be for free. Putting the electric hair trimmer to work it takes me 15 minutes to do a reasonable haircut. It used to be better back home, but hey, it’s not bad for an amateur.
We spend the morning with all kind of chores like ordering a new water pump, filling the water and diesel tanks, buy fresh vegetables etc. Just before lunchtime we reach St. Helena’s only museum which is run by two very sweet ladies. We are the first visitors for the day.
"Where are you from?", asks the lady in charge.
"From the Netherlands."
"Oh, really? Which one?"
"Holland"
She nods enthusiastically: "I was there long time ago."
She is quite surprised to hear that we’re here with a yacht.
"But you don't look like yachties..."
"Well, how is a yachtie supposed to look like then?"
She takes a close look and responds carefully:
"Err, more sunburned and maybe different clothes".
She probably also though: "Shabby and older..."
Never mind we’ll just consider it as a compliment, shouldn’t we?
Despite it’s size considerable effort was put into setting up the museum. It has some crockery and other stuff that was dived up from the Dutch 17th century ship “de Witte Leeuw” ("the White Lion"), which was destroyed when it tried to raid to Portuguese ships. Oh my naughty ancestors, serves you right.
Three more yachts arrived during our stay, all of them also bound for Fernando de Noronha except one French yacht, who by the way fully fit the image one might have from this nation. Our polite question in French if they were from France was answered with: "Non, non, nous sommes de Paris". Yeah, yeah, they still exist.
At 5 pm we lift anchor and wave Tikki and Joy goodbye, who will both follow tomorrow morning. Stefan is however so fed up with the rolly anchorage that he rather spends the night at sea making some headway while being tossed around. The sunset puts the island in a beautiful light. Quite a remarkable place which is definitely worthwhile a visit.
[<< Natascha]
