News

Saturday September 18, 2004
Oh those beloved Wimpy breakfasts!
Leon and his helper Leslie, met us again at the marina gate at 0815 hrs sharp. Once again they took footage after footage and interviewed me. I had to demonstrate my mast climbing techniques while he shot footage from different angles. I jumped into the water and reinstalled the windvane's rudder singlehanded while Leon got it all on tape. Dad drove back to La-Lucia to get the DVD's.
There was more footage and interviews on the deck of the Point Yacht Club overlooking the marina and harbor. Dad returned and Leon interviewed him inside the Yacht Club's conference room. When we wanted to play the DVD's on Dad's laptop computer, the software broke down and after a quick call to Russel Knight, he showed up with his state of the art Dell laptop. We played the DVD's of the footage that I took while crossing from Darwin to Durban via Rodrigues. Leon copied the highlights, using his camera close up to the screen of the laptop.
At 1500 hrs Leon and Leslie packed up and left to go back to Johannesburg.
Hi Russel! You saved the dayagain! Thanks mate!!!
Dad and I joined the members of the Yacht Club in the bar and we then watched the Saturday rugby on TV. Wow! It was beatiful running and banger after banger rugby with buckets full of tries!! Unfotunately the Natal Sharks were losing their grip on the lead at the last minutes and members in the bar, Dad told me, became very quiet.
For supper we had the carved roast beef buffet at the Yacht Club Restaurant.
I went to sleep early, once again very pooped!

Friday September 17, 2004
Another hearty breakfast at Wimpy's, bacon, boerewors, eggs and chips topped off with a mega cup of coffee!!
I took the wheel-adaptor to Johan's shop so that he could fabricate u-bolts to fit the spokes onto the helm.
Dad and I drove north along the coast to La-Lucia, just north of Durban, to hand in my video tapes to be converted into DVD's. We got lost in the maze of the business development district! Finally, we found the place and dropped off the video tapes.
We drove back and sat eating biltong and watching TV at the Point Yacht Club.
Late afternoon, Arie, dad's friend, and his wife Mariekie came onboard for sundowners and snacks. They brought me bags and bags full of paperback books. I still have to find place to stack them. Thank you very much Arie and Mariekie!!
At 2000 hrs Arie and Mariekie left and Leon from M-TV and his helper Leslie arrived after a 6 hr drive from Johannesburg. Leon is a producer and also a cameraman. They shot footage after footage until 2300. I was really pooped after the repeated interviews and demonstrating!
I was fast asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Thursday September 16, 2004
After another hearty breakfast at Wimpy's with dad's friend, Arie who joined us, Dad and I took the 10 min ride with the rental car to the Pavilion Mall just outside the city where we browsed around and did some shopping. I returned empty handed !
Back at IT I fired Balle, who I hired yesterday to clean up IT. He did a lousey job. I then hired Aaron who did a magnificent job by using acrylic acid. He got all the brown rustic stains off the gellcoat and all the stainless steel stanchions.
Kobus and Gavin, Dell technicians, came by returning the dead laptop, they managed to copy all my files from the harddrive onto a CD. The laptop stays dead as a dodo! Thank you very much Kobus and Gavin!
I then took Willie's rudder off one more time and took it across the street to a small workshop and asked the owner, Johan, to drill a new hole through the lever arm and the shaft, so I could install a safety pin. I also asked him to drill out the old broken off, corroded stainless steel bolts on the lever arm. This way I could install an extra lever arm that would extend to the opposite side which I can then use by installing extra small blocks and lines that will lead to the steering wheel. I had already purchased a used wheel-adaptor at the used sailboat hardware shop across the street. In case Willie's rudder breaks down again, I can now also use Willie to control the main rudder! A Boer maak a plan times hundred!
I climbed the mast and did a thorough check of the spreader arms, the tangs and cotter pins on all the clevis pins.
Dad and I went to sleep early.

Wednesday September 15, 2004
Francois, Susan, Annafre and Francois jr. got up at 0400 hrs as they had to catch the first plane out back to Johannesburg. My father took them to the airport in the rental car.
It was a great joy to see my late Mother's 70 year old cousin, Uncle George van der Merwe waiting at the gate of the marina. The last time we saw each other was 19 years ago when he was working with us on the Limpopo farms. We had a wonderful re-union talking about the good old days!
Dad and I then went to the closest Wimpy restaurant for breakfast and I just wanted to hide as on every street corner, my face covered the front page of the local newspaper! Crikey!
Back onboard my father then tried unsuccesfully to get the satphone softwarew orking on the spare laptop. While I took the spinnaker pole over to the rigging shop to replace all the piston release and uphaul lines, Dad received a surprise visit from Russel Knight, whom I had met while transiting through the Panama Canal. Russel was one of Ali Nui's linehandlers. Russel, a computer wiz, took 5 minutes to sort out the conflict between the satphone and the GPS software! When I returned Dad was all smiles and I was very surprised to see Russel! We held a brief re-union, having lunch on the deck of the Point Yacht Club overlooking the marina and harbor.
I took the autohelm over to the Raymarine dealer, and I will have to wait a few days for a new gearbox, it is still under full warranty.
I then took the dodger off and took it, with the genoa, to the sailmakers shop to get the dodger's tear repaired and the front window replaced. The genoa's clew was coming loose and I had that repaired too.
Kobus and Gavin, Dell computer technicians, came over to see if they could get the "dead" Dell laptop back working again, but had to gave up as it was dead as a dodo. They then took it with them to try and see if they could get better results at their repairshop.
Late afternoon, Uncle George van der Merwe's twin sister, Betty, her 76 year old husband Mannie, also came to see me. With them was their daughter Adele who is now a Pastor. The last time I saw them was 26 years ago!!

Everybody, please be patient, I am trying my best to catch up on my logs and will soon visit the internet cafe and reply to my e-mails. Thank you!!

Tuesday 14 September, 2004
Got up early and went to drink a cup of coffee with my father. Everybody was still sleeping on IT. Soon it was time for Frederich and Ivan to head back to Pretoria where both are students at the University. After saying goodbye to them, we then drove over to a very large shopping mall outside the city where we all had brunch at the Wimpy restaurant. Christo and Marie also had to head backh home. We said our goodbyes and we then took the broken windvane over to my father's friends, Arie and Mariekie's house. They let us use their workshop. Francois, my father and I then tackled the windvane. We drilled holes through the rudder shaft using the drill press. We alsp drilled holes through two pieces of flat bar then bolted the rudder to the shaft. My father is a quantity surveyor, Francois a mechanical engineer and I am a Jack of all Trades and we re-designed and beefed up the windvane! n Boer maak n plan times three!!
Back at IT I had a brief interview with the local newspaper journalist and posed for pictures for the photographer. Then, with Francois in the water and me on the stern we then reinstalled the rudder back onto the windvane. We all had supper onboard, lots of take-away fish and chips! My father joined us and slept in the cockpit! Another joyful day!

Monday 13 September 2004
Sailed into the marina at 0700 hrs sharp. My father,Johan, his friend Arie, my brother,Christo and his fiance, Marie and my two stepbrothers, Frederik and Ivan were at hand to welcome me. My other brother, Francois and his wife, Susan and their young children, Annafre and Francois jr soon joined the re-union. As IT was docked at the fuel dock, I topped her tanks and the extra jerry cans. I then proceeded to the visitors dock where I cleared customs and immigration. My brothers then helped me wash down the saltsoaked spinnakers, hoisting them up to dry while Marie and Susan took all my wet clothes to a nearby laundry. We then tackled the broken windvane and soon got the shaft and rudder out. Ivan was in the water, Francois and Christo on the stern, everybody pitching in to help! IT was swarming with people, Annafre took all my wet books out while Francois jr. unpacked the soaked ditch and medical bags to let the contents dry in the sunny and warm Natal weather. The shaft came completly out of the rudder, which revealed that the six ears on the shaft had corroded off as a result of bad design and fabrication. The ears were only welded on one side, when in fact it should have been welded both sides. I will soon write a letter to Peter Forthamm, owner of Windpilot windvanes in Germany, to advise him of the problem.
I soon than had to move IT to her slip at the Point Yacht Club Marina. Susana and Marie got my messed up galley spotlessly clean. I then moved all my storage ice chests to make space as everybody wanted sleep on IT.
Durban harbor is probably the largest harbor in Africa. At the marina we went to the Yacht Club restaurant where we celebrated my arrival.
Susan did some shopping during the day, buying cheap blankets and pillows. Francois and Susan took the V-berth, Annafre the upper starboard berth, Francois jr the lower starboard berth, while I had the aft port berth. Frederik and Ivan slept in the cockpit while my father and Christo with Marie shared a hotel room across the street from the marina. Wow!! What a joyful day!!!

Text Received September 13, 2004
12:30am Charl's Dad called from Durban and Charl spoke to me on the phone!
He has arrived safely in Durban.
"Thank you dear Lord for your love and protection."

10:07pm Arrived safely and what a surprise it was to see my Father, my Brothers with their families and my Stepbrothers waiting for me!

Tex Received September 12, 2004
05:57am Sept 12 1100 UTC. Beam reach. Port tack. Sog 5.2kts. ETA Durban is 0600Hrs UTC September 13

09:46pm Sept 13 0300 UTC. Cog 320. Sog 6kts. ETA Durban in 2 hours or 0500.

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