News

Saturday November 13, 2004 pm
Position at 1800 hrs UTC

5 42 S
25 17 W
Cog 315
Sog 7.5
Wind 15
Still running

I am feeling the current now. Unfortunately my mechanical knotmeter was damaged at the haul out facilities in CapeTown. I suspect the impeller was bent
as the straps squeezed it. We are hitting GPS speed of 8 knots and up without
the hull vibrating, so I quess 1.5 to 2 knot current.
Still 750 miles to the halfway mark between Cape Town and Palacios, Texas.
Temp is 80 up in the sun, too hot to catnap during the day.

Saturday November 13, 2004 am
Yesterday was the first day that the sun shone all day since the day after we left Cape Town. I used it to get some of my lost tan back.
Sailing with spinnaker and double reefed main all day until 2300 when the wind strengthened and the cross swells made a comeback. The spinnaker was dancing like a madman due to the heavy swells and I had no choice but to handle it. Took me a while to fish it out of the water! My kingdom for a dowser!
Sailed till early morning with double reefed main only. Unfurled the genoa, poled out, goosewinged and we are running again.
Finished reading 2 more thrillers by Matthew Reilly and Clive Cussler.
Had spaghetti and bully beef for supper.

Position at 0800 hrs UTC
6 09 S
24 15 W
Cog 315
Sog 6 kt
Wind 15 kt
Wind from SE
Still running
Cloudy and cool, some scattered storm clouds in the distance.

Friday November 12, 2004 pm
Have since this morning hauled up the assymetrical spinnaker, it's one clew tied down at the bow. Took the headsail down, rolled the drum up with sheet again. Dumped the headsail in the forward berth, took the genoa out and installed it into the furling system. That done, furled it up. Took the spinnaker pole, tied the clew of the spinnaker to a new sheet. Sheeted out the pole and we were flying downwind again. Spinnaker and doubled reefed torn up main. The rolling has become less because of the tremendous force the spinnaker is exerting on the mast. We are sailing on a run to a broad reach, but IT is leaning to one side like when you sail on a beam reach. I have to watch the squalls and a yaw can put us on a broach. I have sheeted the pole out more to make a broach impossible, the spinnaker will just start to luff. Took a refreshing bath in the cockpit, my first one since leaving St Helena. Temp is already 80 degrees farenheit and I have been sweating like hell this morning getting all the tasks done.
Had a 6 cube Bokomo Weetbix with long life milk for breakfast (Compliments from Oom Piere and Tannie Marie!)

Friday November 12, 2004 am
Finally touched base with Iridium. Everybody telling me I have a problem, butthat was not so, the &#@*$! Iridium company probably never registered the new 200 min Bev bought. I could not even send text messages for 18 hrs, all my outgoing messages got barred, so how could I reply to everybody sending me text messages??? Even a cocky Iridium technician texed me asking how he could help me !!!????.........beats me ????

Position at 0730 UTC
7 12 S
22 07 W
Cog 320
Sog 5 kt
Wind 12 kt
Running, double reefed torn main and poled out headsail.
Tried to sail on a broad reach, but the cross swells caused us to yaw and head 40 degrees off course. Just adapting to the rolling motion again. As per pilot charts, tradewinds should come from the NE once passing the equator.

Thursday November 11, 2004
Happy Birthday Mom! Hope you have a wonderful day and good wishes for the coming year.
Position at 0700 UTC
8 05 S
20 04 W
Cog 300
Sog 5
Wind 10
Running

It is raining lightly. Will tackle the headsail this morning.
Still no connection with Iridium.
1300 hrs UTC
Have since untangled the headsail from the furling system, but unrolled it so much that the spool is almost empty. No way I can furl it up again. Have to take the whole sail down first. Anyway the headsail is poled out at the moment. Will have to wait for calmer conditions.
Anyway, just as I wanted to tuck into breakfast, the seam at the top of the mainsail blew out. The seam is just under the top baton spar. I got the mainsail down and hauled it into the cockpit. Took me 4 hrs to stitch it up by hand as I ran out of sail repair tape and duct tape won't stick. Got the main back up, this time double reefed. It was not long and there went my all for nothing work. It blew out again. No doubt the sun has done it's work over the past 8 months. Anyway, we are still sailing on, ruptured main et al. I still have the old main on board, but have to install new slugs before I can use it. 1400 hrs UTC
Exactly 1000 miles from St Helena
1000 miles in 7 days.
Heading for Barbados, closest and only place with a new marina and full yacht repair facilities.
Still 2645 miles away.
1800 hrs UTC still no connection with Iridium
1930 hrs Position 7 42 S 21 06 W
0000 hrs UTC still no connection with Iridium

Wednesday November 10, 2004
Position at 0700 hrs UTC
9 01 S
18 03 W
Cog 305
Sog 5.5
Wind 10 Wind from SE
On a broad reach port tack.
A big change in the weather, we are back in squall country, however the rain is light and the wind does not exceed 20 knots. It is warmer too, I am back in my rugby shorts and sleeveless T-shirts, barefoot too.
Still 880 miles to de Fernando de Noronha island, I will just pass it as there is no marina or ferry taxis available. Hope to catch the fabuous fast current along the Brazilian coast. Will then head for Tobago or Barbados, it all depends on the winds.
1800 hrs UTC
Still waiting on Iridium to connect.
A squall hit us a while ago, causing IT to go into unforced jibe, but thanks to the boom preventers, we went into a heaving to position. The pole holding the headsail came loose, causing the headsail to tangle itself around the furling system. Another big mess. Winds still too strong to do anything about it. We are now sailing under full main only. Running.

Tuesday November 9, 2004
Position at 0700 hrs
9 58 S
15 57 W
Cog 310
Sog 5.5 kt
Wind 12 kt
Running

Still very cloudy and cool. Sea very uneven. The rolling is taking its toll on
my nerves. Considering heading more northerly on a broad reach, probably for
Barbados?? No drama on board. Headsail starboard sheet chafed through, got it
back in order in a jiffy. Still reading a lot.

Monday November 8, 2004
Position at 0800 hrs
11 17 S
13 53 W
Cog 320
Sog 6 ky
Wind 12 kt
Still running

Still no sun. The trades are blowing lively. Cross swells more common now, I suspect the change in the current flow direction as per pilot charts. The current is flowing more westerly now, but there is little impact on our heading.
Yesterday I dug out the small GPS my father had loaned me. The GPS is smaller than the newest cellphone on the market and works with 2 triple A batteries. Just out of curiosity, I turned it on and plugged in the data kit, connected it to my laptop, turned on the C-map software and within less than 2 minutes I could cleary see on the world map exactly where we are. Repacing the small GPS I did similar tests with the other two old handheld GPS units. Both pinpoint us on the world map precisely. I usually plot my position on paper, but this! Spoiled!
My fixed Furuno GPS on board gives a more accurate position, even gives me exact distances from two points, average speed, total time to go, ETA and much more. How does this all work?? Simple, it is all just triangulation and sattelites. Triangulation, if you know the length of one side and the angles of two corners, you can work out all it's other dimensions without moving your butt. Anybody that knows how to use a sextant will understand the term triangulation. In fact anybody that knows what two plus two is will be able to pinpoint his/her position by using a sextant. First of all the tricky part is to use the sextant correctly. On a moving boat, rolling is common, here the user will have to be skillful. It is just an art and takes lots of practice, but once you master the art, then it is just a matter of two plus two. You savvy? You will need a good chronometer and of course a nautical almanac. You savvy again? But who cares today? You could buy a good hand held marine GPS today with one third of the price of a sextant, so you can buy two extra backups! Anyway it is good to have a sextant aboard, it gives you more confidence if everything else fails, e.g. you drop your GPS in the ocean, you run out of batteries etc. But there is still a matter of concern, you cannot use the sextant if it is overcast, you need to see the sun or some stars at least. Well, it is not the end, here we get to dead reckoning, you sail on, using the compass and just assume where you are. If you keep your compass course well, chances are good that you will reach l and somewhere or somehow! Again, speaking of a GPS and a sextant, I wonder what Diaz, da Gama, Drake, Van Diemen, Cook, Torres reactions will be if they knew of our technology of navigation today? Shifting restlessly in their graves? I don't know. Kicking themselves? I bet!

Sunday November 7, 2004 am
Another pitch black night and this morning still no sight of the sun. Very, very cloudy and cool. At least the trades are blowing and we are making good headway.
Already 400 miles from St Helena. Had a can of beef stew mixed with potatoes and carrots for supper. The canned food is finally starting to taste good again. Reading, reading most of the night.

Position at 0600
12 42 S
11 29 W
Cog 315
Sog 6 kt
Wind 12 kt
Still running

15-May-2005   14-May-2005   02-Apr-2005   26-Mar-2005   26-Feb-2005   05-Feb-2005   22-Jan-2005   
15-Jan-2005   08-Jan-2005   01-Jan-2005   25-Dec-2004   18-Dec-2004   11-Dec-2004   04-Dec-2004   
27-Nov-2004   20-Nov-2004   13-Nov-2004   06-Nov-2004   30-Oct-2004   23-Oct-2004   16-Oct-2004   
09-Oct-2004   02-Oct-2004   25-Sep-2004   18-Sep-2004   11-Sep-2004   04-Sep-2004   28-Aug-2004   
21-Aug-2004   14-Aug-2004   07-Aug-2004   31-Jul-2004   24-Jul-2004   17-Jul-2004   10-Jul-2004   
03-Jul-2004   26-Jun-2004   19-Jun-2004   12-Jun-2004   05-Jun-2004   29-May-2004   22-May-2004   
15-May-2004   08-May-2004   01-May-2004   24-Apr-2004   17-Apr-2004   10-Apr-2004   03-Apr-2004   
27-Mar-2004   20-Mar-2004   13-Mar-2004   04-Dec-1999