Speyer

Happy New Year, everyone! I've had a wonderful time in Speyer (Germany) with my friends Alex and Cati, their lovely daughters Nina and Natalia, my mom Berit and Cati's mom Theresa.

Here is an updated map of Twister's anchorages and moorings since leaving San Diego.

I expect to arrive Cape Town around Jan 10 and be there till the end of the month. Below are addresses for mail and parcels:

Parcels (ie fedex):

Lars Thoresen
SV Twister, yacht in transit
Royal Cape Yacht Club
Duncan Road
Table Bay Docks
Cape Town.
8001
South Africa
Mail:

Lars Thoresen
SV Twister, yacht in transit
Royal Cape Yacht Club
P.O.Box 772
Cape Town
8000
South Africa

Video: Sailing from Cocos Keeling to Rodrigues

I'm taking advantage of my friends Alex and Cati's fast internet connection  to post a video from the passage between Cocos Keeling and Rodrigues (before the forestay parted):

And here are some videos from Hluhluwe-Umfolozi game reserve:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW7rrPkxp2k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki1K242yuCk

Knysna (pronounced nice-na)

Another lovely passage, East London to Knysna. Took the predicted 3 days. I thought I was going to make it in two at one point but was becalmed for the better part of a day. I did find more current and Twister set a new speed record: 10.7 knots (with sustained speeds of 10.2 knots), resulting in another 160 mile day (the first day).

Evening Sky Southwest of East London

Cape Gannets

The wildlife gave the feeling of the Southern Ocean:  Cape Gannets became numerous, a humpback whale swam nearby, a group of seals (sea lions? they had ears) curiously inspected Twister as we were becalmed south of the appropriately named Cape Seal, and the occasional Jackass Penguin popped up.

Knysna Heads

Becalmed ca 40 miles to the Knysna Heads I unsailorly decided to motor to try to catch the last hour of incoming tide (going through the entrance to the Knysna Lagoon, The Knysna Heads, requires near slack tide to avoid the strong tidal stream) the next morning. Fortunately I had neglected the starting battery and couldn't get the engine going (tried raising the decompression levers and assisting with the hand crank but to no avail) so I was forced to wait for wind which arrived gradually the next morning. Had a lovely sleep that night (I was out of the major traffic lanes at that point) and a nice sail to Knysna the next day. I put up the assymetrical spinnaker (hereafter, A-sail)--the biggest sail I have--to give Twister a little boost and make sure we arrived near the end of the afternoon incoming tide and enjoyed the beautiful scenery as I got closer to the rugged coast. The Knysna Heads are truly spectacular I wish I had taken more photos but was occupied with keeping Twister in the middle of the passage (not one to be attempted in big swell). Once inside the lagoon, the water was flat and I sailed amongst the powerboats towing kids on inner tubes and the faux-paddle wheel sightseeing boats, up to the dinghy dock at the Knysna Yacht Club where my new friends Mike, John, Grant, and Leon (whom Bridget and I met when we arrived East London. They had sailed from East London to Knysna the day before) caught my dock lines (after a couple of failed attempts at sailing up to the dock, one where I tossed them a line without properly securing it to Twister, so the whole thing went in the water). They kindly handed me a cold beer before I even stepped off the boat. So, definitely a good first impression of Knysna.

I've added a few more photos to the South Africa album (hopefully it's accessible now)

East London to Knysna

Twister arrived East London yesterday afternoon after a 2-day sail from Durban. Bridget and I had a pleasant passage which included a 160-mile day and  a top speed of 9.7 knots courtesy of the Agulhas Current, Albatrosses and petrels, thunderstorms, a yellow-fin tuna, and lots of ships. Today Bridget is flying back to Saudi Arabia and I will be sailing on to Knysna this afternoon. It's about the same distance as Durban to East London, but with less current, so I expect the passage to take around 3 days.

More photos from South Africa

Durban

My friend Bridget came to Richards Bay (I had been writing Richard's, but I think Richards was actually someone's last name) Nov. 29. The next day we joined Paul, Dino, and Sasha and drove to Hluhluwe/ Umfolozi game reserve where we saw 4 (lions, elephants (enormous ones and baby ones), rhinos, and buffalo, but no leopards) of the "big 5" as well as warthogs, impalas, giraffes, wildebeests, velvet monkeys, baboons, zebras (one with only a stub for a tail, but which he continued to wag to ward off the flies), african hoepoo bird, and possibly hippos among others.  Back in Richards Bay, we managed to get in a couple of surf sessions and frisbee tosses before moving on.

After a meal of curries, including the local specialty, bunny chow (curry in a hollowed out chunk of bread), Twister departed Richard's Bay Wednesday (5 Dec) evening. After tacking for several hours to get around all the ships anchored by the harbor entrance, we set a course for Durban. The Agulhas gave us a boost for awhile and Twister was cruising at 7 to 8.5 knots until we encountered a counter-current and light winds.  Orion and Taurus were standing on their heads (from Bridget's northern hemispherocentric perspective). After many hours of sailing in place, the northeasterlies increased and allowed us to sail 4 to 5 knots against the current.  Bridge baked scones for breakfast.  We saw one albatross and lots of white-chinned petrels.

Andrew and Bridget on top of world cup stadium 

Approaching Durban, we sailed wing and wing until we accidentally backed the mainsail. The boom was held in place by a preventer, but when the wind caught the right side of the sail again, a large hole along a seam was the result. Repeating this procedure more or less tore the sail in two (fortunately along the seam, so it was easy to repair). Durban is Africa’s biggest and busiest port. There were numerous ships anchored off the harbor entrance. Turns out one was not anchored and we had to get out of its way. Once inside, we enjoyed a nice sail (using only the jib as the main was retired) through the calm waters of the harbor. We were approached by water police who instructed us to maintain our course and speed as one of them jumped aboard. Turns out we were not speeding, they just wanted our boat's details. We arrived Bluff Yacht Club at the western end of Durban Harbor ca 28 hours after we departed Richard's Bay. There we saw Imvubu (who I'd met in Rodrigues) and tied up to the same pontoon.  The port of Durban is very industrial, of course, but the waterfront area is lovely. Andrew from the yacht Liquid Blue at Bluff Yacht Club was kind enough to drive us around on a tour of the sights, including his favorite surf breaks (which we surfed) and the stadium built for the soccer world cup.

Today is Sunday the 9th of December and the forecast looks good to move on to East London or Port Elisabeth tomorrow morning. Should be a 3-day sail.

Photos from South Africa.

Monkey and baby monkey

My South African Phone Number:

+27 716381122

Call or text anytime.

Africa!

Reunion Island to Richard's Bay, South Africa

The short version:  12 days, no gales.

The long version:

Wednesday November 14

Twister departed St. Pierre the afternoon of November 10, an hour or two after Rebellion, with a fresh southeasterly breeze and lumpy, confused seas. We made pretty good time the first two days. The highlight of the first two days was finally getting the last piece of sea urchin out of my big toe. 

 On day three, the wind eased and backed to the north-northeast. With Madagascar out of the way, we tacked and set a direct course for Richard's Bay.  We are currently on a broad reach with 15-20 knots from north-northeast. I had expected to pick up the southern part of the equatorial current here, but instead I find a 1-2 knot counter-current, so we are only doing 4.5 knots when we should be doing at least 6. Maybe all those people who said give Madagascar a wide berth knew what they were talking about. 

Friday November 16

Currently about 50 miles due south of Cape Sainte Marie, the southern tip of Madagascar (ca halfway between St. Pierre and Richard's Bay). Thursday morning we finally picked up the portion of The South Equatorial off southern Madagascar, which gave us a 2 knot boost for a while. Unfortunately we were becalmed (took the opportunity for a swim. Some sardine-like fish had taken up residence under Twister, and I saw several tuna farther down) and then had light winds most of the day, but in the evening they picked up and Twister was cruising along downwind at around 7 knots. Now the current is gone, but we're heading a bit south of the direct course to Richard's Bay to try to pick it up again. Also yesterday, a big tanker appeared to be bearing down on me, so I hailed them on the VHF. They actually answered and said that they did see me and wouldn't run me down (often the ships just ignore me when I hail them.  I don't know their names, so I say, "ship in approximate position …). Just after I spotted the tanker, a school of tuna gathered in Twister's bow wave and were playing and cavorting much in the manner of dolphins. I think I could've speared one from the bow had I tried, but that would've been the height of bad manners toward my guests. 30 minutes later or so when the ship was abeam, I unexpectedly heard Paul from Rebellion hail the ship on VHF channel 16. He was, I guess, about 10-15 miles to my southwest. My VHF radio does not transmit that far, so he couldn't hear me, but I was glad to know that I've kept up with him so far. 

Since The Great Barrier Reef, I've been following in the footsteps of Joshua Slocum (and Charles Darwin) who sailed past Cape Sainte Marie October 31, 1897. He was, of course, the first person to sail around the world alone. I would highly recommend his book, Sailing Alone Around The World. I hope I don't encounter the same weather he had between here and Durban (numerous southwesterly gales). 

Afternoon, same day:  becalmed again. Well there is enough wind to sail, but not in this swell which is coming from several directions so the sails flog incessantly which is maddening as well as destroying the sails. So I've dropped the sails and am bobbing and rolling and pitching in the swell. Went for a dip in the ocean and felt better. Spotted my first albatross on this passage (26° 32' S 44° 52' E). Black-browed one I think. 

Wednesday 21 November, 28° 24' S  35° 04' E.

About 160 miles to go to Richard's Bay. I've enjoyed the company of one, then two, and now three (what I think are) White-chinned Petrels for the last 5-6 days. That's by far the longest duration any seabirds have followed Twister. Just as I was writing this, I looked out of the companionway to see the second albatross of this passage—maybe a Yellow-nosed Albatross. I have continued to see several ships per day, except today when I haven't seen any. I'm currently going 6 knots, and at this pace I will arrive Richard's Bay tomorrow (Thursday) evening. I may encounter strong southwesterly winds this evening, though.  Apparently it's a good idea to stay out of the Agulhas Current (which flows down the South African SW coast) in strong southwesterlies, as that combination can produce big, steep, breaking waves. So I may end up waiting offshore until the easterlies return. 

Friday 23 November

Twister arrived Richard's Bay last night (Thursday the 22nd), making it a 12 day passage from Reunion. I was far enough away from the front to avoid the strong southwesterlies, but there was an impressive electrical storm Wednesday night.  My entourage of White-chinned Petrels stayed with me until I sighted land. There are several boats here I have met before in various places in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. 

Departing Reunion

I plan to set sail for Richard's Bay, South Africa this (Saturday the 10th) afternoon. The ~1400 nm passage should take around 14 days, but could be longer if I get headwinds on the second half of the passage. I've had a wonderful time in Reunion and met some lovely people. I have aspirations of knowing some French next time I'm here. During the last several days I got to explore a little of the island's interior--canyons, volcanoes, and waterfalls. I also managed to get in a few more surf sessions at the break next to the marina. Yesterday, three more solo sailors arrived St. Pierre. I've never seen so many in one place. At the moment we are 5 (with two more having departed for South Africa).
I've uploaded a few more photos from Reunion:  https://plus.google.com/photos/103270251008355624305/albums/5799071900819550753
See you in South Africa.

Still in Reunion

I am still in Reunion and still enjoying it. There is good surf, hiking, food, drink, and music. But it's about time to move on. At the moment, the forecast looks promising for a Sunday (Nov 11th) departure. It's ca 1400 miles to Richard's Bay on the northeast coast. Since this passage will take me out of the trade winds, I can expect winds from pretty much any direction.  I will be happy if I average 100 miles per day. So, hopefully the passage will take around 14 days.
I have replaced the jury-rigged forestay with a new one I had made at a shop nearby. I'll continue to sail with hank-on jibs until I get to South Africa where I'll be able to buy some parts for the roller furler.
Oh, by the way, I'm famous:  I was interviewed by a local TV reporter who was looking for Americans (there aren't very many in Reunion) to talk about the presidential election. Here is the program.  I hope I didn't say anything stupid.