Mon 15th March

If only sailing were always like this! We're creaming along in bright sunshine at well over 6 knots (although losing up to 1 knot to current), in NW wind of ~10 knots, under a clear blue sky, in company with albatrosses, petrels and others... Swell not too bad, although expected to increase, and wind expected to back gradually over next day or so. I'm hoping to keep the reasonable wind strength as I head NE to move away from 40S where strong winds & big swell are forecast in 2 days or so. Sea not calm enough today to try to replace rudder on windsteering unit, unfortunately, but with Kiss wind generator going nicely in the wind, we seem to be managing power requirements of autopilot, so no worry just now.

I've been seeing to domestic duties so far this morning - always nice to have a clear galley area and a pumpkin has been chopped up ready for making soup in the pressure cooker - a safe item to cook in on board. It helps to be able to use the sink properly - not being heeled over so much, I could open the galley sink seacock, so the water drains away normally.

Sun 14th March - Great fun and games....!!

It all started with trying to let out reefs in the mainsail as the wind dropped - but I soon realized that the main halyard (rope via mast top to head of sail, used to raise & lower it) was caught right up at the top of the mast, around a mast-step. For a moment, I wondered whether I was finally going to have to climb the mast to free it, but then decided it was safer to lower the sail completely in order to grab the halyard and swing it free - which eventually happened ...

But while perched on a lower mast-step & winch trying to grab the halyard when the sail was down, to my horror, I heard something clatter onto the deck. It was the clevis pin holding the headboard of the sail to the car (which holds the sail to the mast) . What luck it didn't bounce into the sea - as normally happens when Murphy is around.... I thought a small split pin had gone missing, but then realized that wasn't so - the toggle holding the pin in place had simply come adrift. (Maybe it was a stroke of good fortune that the halyard had decided to get caught now, since for the sail to come away from its fixing to the mast in strong conditions over the next few days could have been nasty!!) I've never liked that system and a small toggle had early on been replaced with a larger one on the Hamble in England. When I replaced the clevis pin, I secured the toggle with a cable tie, so hopefully it can't come undone again. Whoever invented those plastic (electrical) cable ties should get a knighthood - brilliantly useful items in so many situations! (Easy to fix and easy to cut away)

Next job was to raise the mainsail again - so the genoa (large headsail) needed to be furled in so we could come head-to-wind to do that .... but the winch made peculiar noises... So now I had to take it apart to check it out & service/grease it (something I'd already done in Cape Town) - no big deal and soon back together again & sounding sweet!

So finally, I get the main up (being careful not to get the halyard caught again!) and the genoa unfurled, so we're sailing gently again in not much wind and fairly calm seas ... Time to try replacing that windsteering rudder again, I thought... boatspeed only ~1 knot so going really slowly through the water (one mile per hour!) .... Took ages, what with harnessing myself onto steelwork at the stern to be safe, manoeuvring both myself and the heavy, big rudder into position on the stern steps, in a very restricted space, and tying on the rudder safety line securely. Leaning out over the stern feels very precarious.... With only one spare hand to try to get the rudder vertically onto the rudder post from below, with it being moved around vigorously by the seawater motion... this just wasn't going to happen...!

Just after sunset, with the seas even calmer, I tried again, this time heaving-to first, so the boat was more-or-less stopped in the water. The problem now was that the stern kept moving up and down with the swell - which crashed onto the stern and regularly submerged it in a rush of water making it again impossible to keep the rudder still enough to fix in position.... I kept locating it onto the hole... but couldn't keep it vertical, with only the one hand available, so I could slide it up... (I tested my Goretex seaboots well and truly... they came out trumps!... at least my feet stayed dry!!) ..... Hey ho!... What fun!! Retire gracefully.... Back under sail and using the autopilot... I cooked a nice meal, feeling my efforts deserved it!

With the wind right down to ~4 knots, I actually motored quite a bit last night, having taken on extra fuel in jerrycans in Cape Town with that possibility in mind.... I had a call from WRI who were worried about my being caught at 40S with 20ft swells and strong wind in 2 days' time ... I reassured them that I was heading ENE-NE to get further north ... What with my regular grib weather files I download each day, my contact with the S. African Maritime Mobile Net each morning and occasional input from concerned friends, as well as WRI who keep an eye out for nasty conditions I might encounter, I'm not short on weather info to help me try to head the best way possible, despite my having no Internet access. Of course, having said that, my speed is very limited and the weather often does its own thing, regardless of forecasters!! "What you see is what you get..."

About to have a good meal - think I deserve it!

Monday 15th March: Day 7 (continued)

A pair of white-rumped storm petrels dash by, low down to the waves.... an albatross soars by, keeping a pair of all-dark, yellow-billed petrels company, ..... they land in the water to join a group of petrels resting there. The sun shines out of a clear blue sky... we're gently sailing along with just a fair-sized swell... All's well with the world!!

What a difference it makes when it's calmer like this - you can actually get so much more done! I've cleaned, tidied up, cooked (made a fabulous pumpkin soup - scrumptious!!), checked over vegetables and eggs (yet another broken egg - what a mess! I'm not doing too well on this passage!!) and re-organized some stowage by my bunk - so I should be more comfortable when sleeping. All in addition to the usual S. African Maritime Mobile radio net at 0630 and 1130 UTC, trying to make radio contact to send/receive emails, checking weather files, keeping an eye on sail-trim & occasional food and drinks. I looked at the sea-state & decided it was NOT, however, calm enough for another rudder session... There's a long (9 second) 2-3 m swell from the W, as well as other less obvious ones from other directions which occasionally combine and the usual wind-ruffled sea surface....

The wind has been quite good over most of the day, contrary to the forecast, and we've been making a good 6 knots, or nearly so, until this evening around sunset, when due to the wind backing, putting us onto more of a broad reach, we've slowed to around 5 knots SOG - still not too bad... It's so much calmer, I keep thinking we've slowed right down. The wind is expected to keep backing, into the South by tomorrow, and strengthen over the next few days, as will the swell (expected to get very large), due to a deep depression passing East to the south of our position... the reason I headed more north as of yesterday.

(By the way, I've been asked to point out that the helpful Rear Commodore Outside House at the Royal Cape Y.C. is not a Vice-Commodore, as I mistakenly referred to him .... Seems someone took umbrage at the wrong title used.... Oh dear.... I can think of far worse things in life to get upset about...)

Just went up to check on deck - a really heavy dew - just as though it had been raining from the clear, starlight sky. And now for some of that lovely soup..... !!

Position at 1800 UTC: 38* 55' S; 026* 32'E (See my website 'Travels' page for my daily noon positions on Google Earth)

Wed/Thurs: Days 2&3
Trying to head S-SSE to get around Agulhas Bank -a large, relatively shallow area south of Cape Agulhas which gets nasty in winds from S and W due to Agulhas Current running SW-W. Wind is mainly from SSE-SSW so not being helpful .... having to put in a series of long tacks and often losing speed due to current. It's always quite a balancing act when sailing a close-reach between not wanting to go too far off course and trying to keep up a decent speed.
Windsteering rudder fell off this morning (I'd clearly managed to 'secure' the pin holding it in place in a really clever way just before leaving - so it had slowly got pulled out..!) - good thing it was tied with a safety line! Tried to replace it later whilst hove-to, but there was too much swell and motion for me to manage to slide it up onto rudder post, so on autopilot (AP) for time being. Means battery power needed... not too bad while wind generator putting in lots of electrons, as it has been, but together with radio use, batteries slowly go down, so will need to top up by running genset occasionally from now on. I must have a look to see how to get AP to steer to the wind (as wind-steering does automatically) so we maximize our speed by staying in keeping with sail-trim.
Reason I was hove-to was that I'd discovered noise-making culprits causing bad interference on SSB radio while talking to South African Maritime Mobile (SAMM) Net were mainly Iridium telephone (on standby) but partly also the basic instruments - which include AP in circuit. So if instruments turned off to avoid noise on frequency when receiving on radio, AP gets switched off also & so boat is not being steered (since I'm by radio & not at the helm) - we end up hove-to!! With wind-steering, no such problem... another reason to get that rudder in place a.s.a.p.!
Another problem was how to fix the emergency shroud in place. It had started swinging wildly overnight, despite having newly been held down by a small Highfield-type lever - but that was clearly not strong enough for the job and the hook at one end simply opened up to release it - pity! - it had seemed like a good solution to an ongoing problem. I've tied it down but will need to keep an eye on it for chafe on the rope used.
Have had a pair of albatrosses & large petrels keeping company from time to time - always good to see them soaring close by. I must look them up in my new oceanbirds book!
Feeling a bit better today - yesterday I was definitely not 100%. It was pretty rough a lot of the time, and having had to concentrate on re-stowing several items that had come adrift in the forepeak with the crashing about, that had clearly upset my system. I'm not usually seasick but was not feeling at all good & took to my bunk a lot!
Forecast is for possible strong winds later, maybe overnight - up to 35knots... but for the moment, wind is around 12 knots.
Time for tea - I have some lovely rye bread to have with & I've several more loaves bought in a Cape Town German 'deli' which I'm hoping will last for quite a time (Thanks for that 'heads up', Vojan! . and to Tony for taking me there despite the heat of Sunday and missing good sailing time..).
Cheers for now from "Nereida"...., (making 5 knots SW...oh well..!)

Finally! I'm sailing south and Cape Point (the Cape of Good Hope) was fading away at the entrance to False Bay as I started to write this over the (sunny) afternoon. An end to all the frustrations of the past three months !!

It feels so good to have finally got away - although I've a mix of feelings, having left so many friendly people behind, amongst them several whose company I'll miss.

I've just dug out my long, warm undertrousers and I'm wearing a fleece top - the cold sea water makes it feel quite chilly and there was a lot of sea fog all morning. Despite the warm sunshine from around midday, after the fog had cleared away, the wind had a cold edge to it.... but at least, eventually, the wind did get up enough so that I could turn off the motor & sail. I'd bought extra jerrycans for fuel, knowing there was little wind expected for 2-3 days.

(Later) We're losing over two knots to current as we cross the edge of the Agulhas bank - nearly 6 kn boatspeed but only 3.5 kn over the ground...frustrating! It's a very bumpy ride in rough water tonight - I've been warned by several people here to get across it by heading due S as quickly as possible - it can get very nasty with the strong Agulhas current flowing in relatively shallow water. Position tonight: 38mls SW of Cape Pt at midnight (local time)

Earlier today I passed by a large whale cruising slowly on the surface & saw lots of seals with fins raised out of the water. (Comment heard recently: makes them look like dolphins from below, so the Great Whites don't take them - seals being their main food... and wet-suited humans swimming look like seals from below....) Also lots of birds, mainly resting on the calm surface in the sun, including an albatross and several small flocks of white birds. As we approached the larger petrels, they ran across the water in a frantic effort to take off ... quite funny to watch!

It was so calm, I calibrated the fluxgate compass and checked our heading alignment quite soon after starting out, as well as going through the autopilot set-up routine to make sure that would be OK, since I expected to have to motor for quite a bit.

The aim is to make for 38-40S and stay along those latitudes towards S. Australia - trying to avoid the deep lows to the south, with their associated bad weather, and also the high pressure 'no wind' areas further north. That's the theory!

Stress right up to the end here!!.... The guys working on warranty work on board turned up just two out of the last five days - for half a day's work... It's still not complete and I've a big hole high up above the galley which was supposed to have been covered up with a wooden spice shelf - no sign of that , nor of Manuel all day Friday.....and I just have to leave.   I had begun to wonder if I'd ever get away - and my visa was due to expire on Tuesday 9th March - making it  three months that I'll have been in S. Africa!! 

The people at the Royal Cape Y.C. where I've been berthed whilst work has been in progress were very helpful on Friday in resolving problems so I could  be ready to clear out... but I had to spend all Friday afternoon trying to organize international payments so I could leave here... Phone calls to Sweden and England kept being dropped just at the end of a convoluted process - so I had to go through it all over again- several times until successful!!   I keep hearing "What!  Are you still here?"!!

On Wednesday, I took the opportunity at the Race Prize-Giving to say "Thank you" to everyone here - so many people have helped keep me sane over the stressful times I've gone through while here.  Melvin & Shama came by on Friday and took me to meet her family for a meal, which was very nice of them and very enjoyable.  On Saturday, I spent all day trying to get the sail and running rigging sorted - Miles (one of Melvin's 'Day Skipper' students) had kindly volunteered to help me the previous day - and despite being hung over from celebrating passing the exam until the early hours, he came along and proved very helpful.  Baden popped by from Simons Town to say goodbye and was also a great help, even though, unfortunately, he couldn't stay long.  So the mainsail, lazyjacks, reefing lines and reef tie-in strop system were all in place by the evening - and looking far cleaner due to Miles' efforts!!

That still left me with lots to do today - but Vice Commodore Tony stepped in to help me with provisioning, finding somewhere to buy jerrycans for the extra fuel I felt I should take, providing bits of wood for lashing one of the cans on deck and eventually ferrying me around to the three different places needed to clear out this evening:  Port Authority, Immigration and Customs - who also dealt with my VAT reclaim form. Thanks a lot for all that help, Tony. 

I've done laundry, got the Hydrovane ready, flaked the Jordan series drogue & chain into its new bag on deck, run lots more lines, hosed the deck and solar panels down to get rid of the usual black dust, and stowed food away... but still haven't got my pulpit back together  - taken off to access the bow navigation lights' wiring so they could be changed.  That has turned into a major problem, with the silicone sealant, which was  most unfortunately used previously, together with a tiny hole for the wire, seriously complicating what should have been a simple job. 

I'll go back to the boat now to finish tidying up and stowing things away ready for sea before getting some sleep... the wind looks good for leaving tomorrow morning - NW, but not strong, so I may have to motor for a day or two to get down towards 40S - the latitude I'll be roughly keeping to while on passage towards S. Australia and Tasmania.  The HOT sunny day has now given way to overnight thunder ...

I'll be keeping up my usual regular news updates while on passage nonstop to San Francisco  - or Hawaii, if taking too long (see my website:  www.svnereida.com .... 'Home Page' .... and 'Travels' page  - "Where is Nereida?" for noon positions)

'Bye for now from Cape Town - hopefully my next update will, finally, be from "Nereida" at sea again!

 Monday 1st March (St David's Day - but no daffodils here!)

Murphy came visiting 'Nereida' last week.... to make sure a Monday exit  from Cape Town and South Africa (today) became impossible.  The new engine was run for the first time on Wednesday - everything seemed fine except that I noticed the charging system shooting up to well over 16V each time the secondary alternator kicked in.. not good news on a 12V system so the motor was stopped each time...  The next day that problem was investigated and (more-or-less) fixed, but when the engine was run on Friday, hoping for a seatrial later that day, the pressure and temperature gauges were misbehaving....  another problem to be sorted out. 

Some good news was .that Clive came back from the UK on Thursday, bringing with him a  British ensign (plus a spare) for me to replace one that went missing in December, along with a replacement driving licence &, credit cards, to replace ones that were in a bag  stolen just before Christmas.  The bad news was that he went down badly ill on Monday so the engine seatrial was put on hold, but the good news was that the senders were changed by Philip and Welcome in the meantime, to give sensible readings on the temperature and oil-pressure gauges.  (Clive's on medicine for a bad infection & seems much better already)

Last Friday (26th) was a frustrating day all round for me with the other jobs on board not being touched, let alone finished as had been promised.... TIA.   . I buried my sorrows that night with dancing to the 'Cape Rockers' - all guys from the Royal Cape Y.C. here... and enjoyed what I hope will be my final Friday dance night in Cape Town. There's a possible 'weather window' later this week to get away South around the relatively shallow Agulhas Bank and then East towards S. Australia.

The previous week was, again, a very frustrating time for me - I should have learned my lesson after all the time I've been here in Cape Town but I assumed, wrongly, of course, that once the engine was in, all the other work which had been waiting for that to happen would get done quickly so I could leave soon after - surely well before the end of the month ...  but... no way!! 

               The few days on the hard to instal a new watermaker intake through-hull fitting and make changes to the exhaust system were, as always, not as pleasant as being in the water, but at least the hull was thoroughly cleaned and then antifouled...

I was amazed at how badly fouled the keel was, on seeing it when the boat was lifted in slings by crane - lots of a kind of thick. dripping jelly all over, especially on the anodes and log/speed impellor, in addition to gooseneck barnacles still well stuck on with a kind of cement, as well as green 'whiskers' near the waterline and other, harder growth on the through-hull fittings. 

By Friday 19th, "Nereida" was back in the water - but nothing else was achieved by way of work ("It's Friday - nothing gets done since the weekend is coming up"...!!)... more frustration.. so I was happy to be driven up the coast to where the Mykonos Regatta was being held, the first 60 mile offshore  race having started that morning, up the coast from Cape Town via Dassen Island and on to  Saldanha Bay.  This is the big event of the Cape Town/South African racing calendar and had well over a  hundred boats taking part - of all sizes.

It was a two-hour drive NW through mainly flat countryside of newly-built Cape Town suburbs initially and then partly through some coastal National Parks which, I was told, were full of flowers at the relevant time of year but were now devoid of much interest.  Mykonos resort was based on the Greek island of the same name - having visited there, it was interesting for me to see how well they had achieved their aim - not too bad, was my reaction.

Sat 20th Feb - Looking out from Mykonos Marina, Saldanha - not a lot of wind for a Pursuit Race..so the start was delayed !!  

        But then the wind came up a tad, so reasonable racing was possible, although there were plenty of 'holes' to try to avoid...   I was 'rail meat' on 'Picasso', courtesy owner Ray, but I found it very frustrating not to be allowed to be of more use.  Men only, it seemed - who didn't all seem to know what they were supposed to do......!! But the 3-man foredeck (spinnaker) crew coped quite well with some difficult situations...  It actually turned into a very pleasant afternoon's sail around Saldanha Bay - a much nicer way of touring it than by land!  The view of the marina entrance on our return gives a good picture of the 'Greek-style' housing behind.   And later I enjoyed the lively, sociable atmosphere - lots of people enjoying themselves with chatting, music and dancing.    
     

Approaching Cape Town the following morning, the 'Table Cloth' falling over Table Mountain was very clear, showing a strong 'Cape Doctor' (SE wind) was blowing:      

The strong wind encouraged me to stay down below on Sunday and start seriously clearing up, to make the boat ready for passage .. made me feel a lot better and I've kept up the stowing & tidying since, even though I can't finish until all work is completed.  One new problem has been the difficulty of changing the bow navigation lights - the wires  were so well stuck in place that the pulpit steelwork is having to be taken off partly for access to get the new wires through the tubing....

Thursday 11th February: AT LAST!  Clive gently guides the new engine down into "Nereida", with Welcome, crouched low, and Philip, above, helping, - soon it will be ready and, after other related work is completed, I'll be ready to set sail - well before the end of the month, I hope!  The keel needs a good clean from having been still here for so long and then I'll need to provision and generally get the boat tidy and well organized for the next long passage eastward...

    
.
A  RCYC member brought me a sou-wester hat from England - I wanted it for extra protection from heavy rain at sea .... they don't seem to sell them here anywhere!

Although busy trying to sort out the various problems I've had of late, I also took time out to climb up Table Mt with some other cruisers one Saturday morning - in heavy mist...  Beautiful views and plants, but a tough climb up the steep path through Platteklip Gorge ... stepping up enormous stones most of the way up, often slippery in the moist conditions of early morning - but definitely worth the effort!
     
           
A timid dassie ...... about half   a metre in length.....whose nearest relative is the elephant!!

Last week ended up being pretty busy both over the days and evenings.... I've been out Wednesday evening racing several times now on 'Thalassa' with skipper William and his crew - last Wednesday there was excellent wind & lots of boats on the water, making for a fun race, followed  by the usual very sociable evening.  The following evening, I was taken a short distance down the coast to busy Camps Bay, with its lovely beach and spectacular waves crashing onto the rocks just off the shore,  for a lovely fish dinner and Friday saw the usual excellent live music here at the Royal Cape Y.C., so I got a bit more exercise with some dancing ...

On Saturday, I enjoyed a lovely drive along the beautiful coast road from Cape Town, over Chapman's Peak and on to the Cape Point National Park, which has the Cape of Good Hope and its lighthouses within it.  Surprisingly, only one baboon was seen fleetingly, but I saw several more dassies, a few Cape zebra, black lizards and a blue-headed lizard, as well as some pretty striped mice!  The original light house high up on the promontory  was replaced with a lower one, which is better seen in cloudy conditions, after the liner Lusitania was wrecked on Bellows Rock, just off the Cape, in 1911 when the light was hidden from view by rainclouds.  Many people around were under the commonplace but mistaken impression that they were looking at the meeting of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans - which is actually at Cape Agulhas further to the SE.  Afterwards, I was driven around to False Bay and the surf beach of Muizenberg beyond Simons Town and Fishhoek.  Swimming here is a risky sport with people occasionally being taken by sharks....one poor man in a wetsuit was lost off a False Bay beach just a few weeks ago...  The thought is that wet-suited people are mistaken for seals - regular  food for sharks.  Sounds like a recipe for indigestion to me!!

 
High up ... the old light-house.  Low down, quite close to the sea... the replacement light-house.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bye for now.....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Not having fun!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday 1st December

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thursday 26th November 09

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

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

Friday 27th November 09

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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