News

Saturday September 25, 2004
Oh,the rain in Spain !!!!
An unusual tropical intrusion is the cause of this rain. Thank goodness I left Durban on Wednesday as this system right now is creating havoc along the north east coast of South Africa.
Bev and I spent most of the time in my parents home catching up on our logs for the website and replying to e-mails. Dad and I checked out IT, very worried that the the river might come down. I went over to Jack and Amy who are sailing a state of the art 75 foot ketch to CapeTown and invited them to my welcoming party tonite at the Latimers Landings that Marie organized for me.
They left Durban on Thursday morning and arrived in East London an hour after I entered. Both of them are 100 ton certified skippers.
Late afternoon I took Jonah, that is my dad's dog, named after the powerful All Black rugby player, Jonah Luma, for a walk in the rain. We walked down to the beach and I had a drink at the Sportsman bar, watching some rugby on TV then headed back home, Jonah pulling me all the way back uphill! He is a very powerful pitbull-bull mastiff cross yet very kind to dad and Marie's friends and family only! Pray for the poor soul who tries to break into this house!
We went to my party, met Marie's friends and co-workers, my cousin Gillian and her husband were also there, Jack and Amy too. Many invited guests, due to the rain, could not make it to the party. We had some R and R and a finger supper.
A girls high school cricket (Capicorn High School) team from Pietersburg, Northen Transvaal, were at the restaurant too. They are touring the East Cape and the manager of the restaurant asked me to gave them a brief history of my trip. I did so and was bombarded by questions which I answered both in Afrikaans and English. I received a grand applause from the children after my closing statement: "Just because the deaf have a communication deficit, does not mean they have an intelligence problem!"
And it was still raining .........
After coffee we said our goodbyes and left for home...... still raining
Thank you Marie for the wonderful evening!!!! I enjoyed meeting new people and making new friends!
For the first time in 7 months I slept in a real bed!

Friday September 24, 2004
To my brother in Pretoria:
Hi Francois, Happy 40th birthday!! Hou die blinkant bo, maar moenie 'n foto neem nie!

At 0200 hrs I passed the mouth of the Kei river and memories came back. It was in this river that my late brother Gerrie passed out while sailing his Dart catamaran at full speed two years ago. He had suffered a perforated aneurism. He died in a East London private hospital undergoing surgery two days later. He was only 40 years old.

I passed the Cape Morgan lighthouse, then Double Mouth, then Haga-Haga, then Cintsa, Gunobie, Nahoon and finally saw the pilot lights of East London's harbor beckoning to me. Memories kept flooding back and I thought about my school friend of Komga, Morne du Plessis,(now professor, Dr at the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of Orthonology at the University of CapeTown). We had hiked from Kei Mouth to East London in two days! I must remind the readers that we were extremely fit in those days. Both of us only 16 years old.

A freighter was also approaching the harbor entrance and when I saw the tugboats approaching, I circled around to let it pass. I followed the freighter into the harbor waiting a while until it was moored to the Mercedes Benz car loading terminal. All Mercedes cars with right hand steering around the world, are assembled and exported here in East London. The harbor is also the only natural river harbor in South Africa. I passed the moored freighter and moved towards the Latimer landings where I threw a line to my father and rafted onto a charter boat.
Welcoming me were my father, his wife Marie, my niece Monique and my cousin Gillian and the journalist Lew Elias from the local newspaper. After a brief reunion, we posed for pictures and I was interviewed.
I took all my soaking wet clothes with me to my Dad's house, took a well earned shower and then we went over to Wimpy's for brunch.
Back at the wharf we had to move IT as the charter boat was booked for use and we found another spot, this time IT was rafted between two yachts. It started to rain and I locked up IT. Schoolkids were visiting the harbor and under a shelter I spoke to them about my whole trip while their geography teacher then translated into isiXhosa, also questioning the students every now and then, checking their geography knowledge!
We headed back home and it was not long before Bev called to let us know her bus was almost in East London. We then, in the pouring rain, went to pick her up at the terminal.
Back home we watched footage of my trip and talked about everything. Went to a Chinese restaurant for supper.
Bev gave me a sleeping pill and I hit the zzzzzz before my head hit the pillow. Another joyful day!

Thursday September 23, 2004
We literally flew all night thanks to the strong Agulhas current. We were making a whopping 9.3 knots average.
However, it was shorlived, as the wind dwindled down to zero knots around 0800 hrs. The wind suddenly changed to a new direction, coming from the SW!
The waves soon crashed over IT and I struggled to triple reef the main. We were soon heading towards land, close hauled in 30 knots of wind. First time ever I experienced the notorious freak waves of the 100 fathom line. All I had in mind was survival. I spurred IT on as hard as I could and soon saw the Wild Coast shore approaching. I did what the experienced yachtsmen at Durban told me to do. Within one mile from shore the seas were much calmer as we were in 25 fathoms of water. I could see the waves crashing against the cliffs and breaking on the beaches. I turned IT around, then hove to with a triple reefed main and the engine running just above idle speed. I checked my drift course and saw that we were at least safe for now. After 4 hrs of heaving to, the wind dwindled down to 25 knots and I then started sailing close hauled against the SW wind, tacking every 2 miles, heading slowly down the treacherous coast of Southern Africa. I text messaged my father on the satphone asking for forecasts. He soon replied and told me that the forecasts said the wind would soon veer towards the East. It never happened!!!
I messaged him again at noon and asked him what was going on? He replied, by checking the sattelite images on the web, that there was an unusual front coming from the tropics bringing much needed rain for the very dry South Africa. It was good news for the farmers but not such good news for me! As I was hugging the coast I kept my laptop and gps linked so I could track us on the C-map software on the monitor.
Later I took some video footage when we passed the famous "Hole in the Wall " rock and at that moment the hair stood up on my neck. I saw two huge whales just 10 meters away surfacing on IT's stern. They were keeping pace with IT's speed. It baffled me as the engine was running and I thought the noise would scare them away. They soon came closer, my hands were shaking as I tried to keep the video camera still. Then suddenly one of them leaped out the water and charged down on me! At that moment I threw the camera down, grabbed the jerry can and poured 2 liters of kerosene alongside IT's hull, awaiting the worst! The blow never come and a few minutes later they were 100 meters behind us. I was still shaking but breathed a sigh of relief. I saw more whales in the distance but none threatened us again.
The seas calmed down more that night and I kept heading towards East London.

Wed./Thurs/Fri September 22, 23, 24, 2004
Summary of text conversations between Charl and his Dad after departure from Durban goinbg to East London:

04/09/23 06:49
POS AT 0315 HRS UTC SEPT 23 31 33 S 30 00 E COG 250 SOG 10.5 KT
04/09/23 08:12
WIND HAS TURNED WHAT DOES WEATHER LOOK LIKE?
04/09/23 08:22
wind will veer to S by 1200utc will veer further to E to NE by 1800utc Pa
04/09/23 04:01
WIND STILL FROM SW AT 1400 UTC.WHAT IS GOING ON?
04/09/23 05:22
What is your latest position? Pa
04/09/23 07:02
ETA UNSURE COG 295 PORT TACK CLOSE HAULED WIND ON THE NOSE
04/09/23 08:55
0700 HRS UTC POS 31 46 S 29 29 E GOING TO HOVE TO.TOO CLOSE TO LAND.
04/09/23 09:40
WIND STILL FROM SW AT 1400 UTC.WHAT GIVES?
04/09/23 11:25 Winds forecast for your position 1200utc 11kts SSE; 1800utc 6kts E; 2400utc 7kts ESE; 0600utc 5kts E Pa
04/09/23 04:01
HEAVING TO ON STRB TACK I AM IN FULL CONTROL WILL WAIT TILL WIND VEERS
04/09/23 09:38
is your engine ok? what is your drift cog and sog? give new exact position please. Pa
04/09/23 10:08
ENGINE RUNNING IN NEUTRAL,CHARGING BAT.TOO UNCOMFORTABLE TO RUN INTO WIND.31 46 S 29 25 E STILL HEAVING TO
4/09/23 01:37
Has the wind started to veer and drop? Stay safe Pa
04/09/23 02:50
NO, TACKING AT 180 THROUGH 290 DEG
04/09/23 10:11
SOG 0.8 KT COG 159 DEG
4.26pm
(Don't know what is going on. Weather forecast still the same. Start motoring! Buster expected day after tomorrow)Ek weet nie wat aangaan nie. Voorspelling is steeds dieselfde. Begin solank motor. Buster kom oormore. Pa
4.32pm
Reply to this my home address. I am home for the weekend. Pa
4.42pm
a coastal low is passing through, wind should veer soon. Pa
24th 3.45am
Please update your position and eta. Pa
04/09/24 03:59 1200 HRS 31 56 S 29 17 E,TACKING ETA SUNRISE TOM. MORNING

Wednesday September 22, 2004
First thing in the morning, I went to pick up my laundry then I was off to check the weather forecasts and get advice from Tony, a very experienced yachtsman.
It was time for me to go as there was a 3 day window open and I would be able to make it to East London. I was just about to hire a Taxi cab when my aunt Betty called and she was on the way. She took us to Port control, then off back to the marina where Mannie and I drove over to the immigration offices, got lost and it took us more than an hour to find the place!! Then it was over to customs then back to Port control. I thanked Mannie for all the trouble! Said my goodbyes at the Yacht Club and got a surprise visit from Alan Coetzer's sister, Beverly, whom I last saw when she was 13 years old!! Took pictures with her 12 year old daughter, Jessica. Said our goodbyes then I had to start preparing to pack the last minute stuff.
Said my goodbyes to Bev and Betty. Bev will stay with them and catch a bus to East London.
At 1500 hrs I left the marina, went through the channel, passed the point and took a turn, bearing 180. Sailed till dark until land was out of sight, found the 5 knot Agulhas current and we were soon dancing down on a broad reach towards EL at 11 knots!!
The watchman on my radar kept waking me repeatly, tankers and freighters all over the sea.
Slept very little.

Tuesday September 21, 2004
Bev told me that she had a surprise package for me to be delivered to the marina in the morning and I was to hang around until it arrived.
Well I waited and eventually she got a call and went to get it at the gate.
And can you believe what it was??
It was Titch Snyman my old skydiving buddy and very good friend. In our haydays we could track towards each other after an eventful 4 to 24 way freefall and pop our parachutes close to each other, then quickly build a 2-man stack, Titch always on top, then a side-by-side, then a screaming eagle down-plane!! Crazy old days those were! We probably did more than 500 parachute jumps together. Show-jumps, team-jumps, Boogies, you name it, we did it!!
We had breakfast at the Royal Natal Yacht Club, then Titch gave me a ride to pick up the genoa and dodger at the sailmakers shop. I discovered that the autohelm parts had not yet left England so I took the autohelm back to the boat with us. I will get them in Cape Town. Same problem as in Darwin!
Vodacom's Kwazulu Natal manager come over again with people from an advertising ompany and they put on Vodacom and Silent Voyager decals on both of IT's front beam sides! IT finally got a sponsor! She was smiling from ear to ear as proud as could be!
Back on board Russell Knight came by and installed the satphone software onto the new laptop that Bev brought with her from Texas. Many thanks to Mr Pearce of Dixie Computers back in our hometown, for all your support and encouragement. Without these laptops, I would be stranded for sure.
Titch then had to go and we said our goodbyes. Titch, thank you very much for visiting! It does a soul good to see old friends!
Alan and his wife Zelda joined us for sundowners and snacks which they brought with them. We talked the evening away about our fun times at school! Alan and I, when the beer ran out, eyed the whiskey bottle, oh what the heck, we did not know when we would see each other again. It was toast after toast until the last drop! The ladies were very patient and understanding and had much sympathy for us as our tongues became very loose!
Thank you Alan and Zelda for visiting us!

Monday September 20, 2004
While Bev cleaned up my pigsty mess, I ran to the laundromat where I turned in the last of my dirty laundry. I then went over to CNA and bought some stationery materials. With this Bev helped me make a chart and map of my voyage so far. We placed this between two pieces of plexiglass and I hung it from the bow so that everybody could see, at a glance, my voyage starting from Palacios. Later that afternoon, Vodacom's district manager and local Public Relations Manager, Richard and Michelle, came over and presented Bev with a free cell phone and minutes which she can use for her stay in SA. (Vodacom is the largest cellular phone organization in Africa.) Richard then broke some amazing news. Vodacom is now officially sponsoring me with a big dollar amount! I was completely dumbstruck. I never expected this! Thank you very, very much VODACOM!

Sunday September 19, 2004
The whole downtown was closed, so Dad and I drove over to the Pavilion Mall,where we were the first customers at the Wimpy restaurant. After breakfast I bought a pair of new reading glasses(Yeah, I am getting old!) We then checked out my website at the internet cafe. I got my old Komga school buddy, Alan Coetzer's phone number, and found that he lives close to Durban. Dad gave him a call. He knew I was here but not exactly where at the harbor. Anyway, Alan, his wife Zelda their 17 year old son and two friends then paid me a visit. We have not seen each other in 14 years. They now operate a guest house down the coast in Amanzimtoti.
At 1400 hrs we said our goodbyes and left for the airport where Betty and Mannie joined us at the Spur Restaurant.
My lovely wife Bev then arrived from Cape Town after a 2 hour non-stop flight. Bev and Dad had a brief re-union as he had just minutes to catch the flight back to East London. Betty and Mannie took us back to the marina.
We had delicious mutton and beef curry for supper at the restaurant. What another joyful day!!

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