The Passage to Brazil

makeshift whisker pole (after repair)

was pleasant, uneventful--even a bit monotonous.  I didn't catch a single fish, but something did take my favorite lure (without returning it) a few days before I arrived Recife. I don't think the wind exceeded 20 knots or dropped below 10. It was mostly dead downwind sailing, which does make it a bit rolly when there is swell (which there always is). Most of the passage was sailed with twin jibs (using a wooden pole as a makeshift second whisker pole for the hank-on jib on the inner forestay. The pole broke a week into the passage but was fixed with a couple of bolts and some line). The best day was 138 miles, the slowest 119. The passage took ca 13 days and 16 hours which is faster than I had expected (If I sailed 1800 miles, which I think is not too far off--the great-circle distance is 1775 nm--that is an average of 5.5 knots). Anyway, it was fast enough to get to Recife in time to have a visit with my friends Gui and Steve who were here for a wedding (they flew home on Tuesday). Gui's parents, Joao and Elba, have very kindly hosted me at their lovely apartment in the Aflitos area of Recife, since I arrived. Here are a few photos from Recife.

The great-circle distance is the shortest distance between two points on a sphere--so called because the line between the two points are part of a circle whose center coincides with the center of the sphere (ie the largest circle you can draw on the surface of a sphere). A whisker pole is used to hold out a headsail to better catch the wind when sailing downwind. Twin jibs means using two headsails with both (usually) poled out--one to port, one to starboard.

Hugo Boss Boat

The other day, I accidentally sent an email that was meant for my friend Paul, to the blog. Thus the odd blogpost a couple of days ago. To the right is the Hugo Boss boat I was referring to seen from Twister sailing into Recife harbor.  Here it is in Cape Town. This boat is a 60 footer made to compete in the Vendee Globe singlehanded round-the world, southern ocean race. The winner of the 2012-2013 race averaged more than 15 knots over ca 28 000 nautical miles.

Brazil

Arrived Recife, Brazil in the early hours of March 3. Good passage from St. helena but no fish.

To Brazil

Setting sail in a couple of hours. Destination:  Recife, Brazil. It's ca 1800 nautical miles which I'm hoping to do in 14 days. It might take 18 or more as winds will probably be on the light side and coming from directly astern (not a good point of sail).  

St. Helena pt. 2

Pretty much in the middle of nowhere in the South Atlantic Ocean. Closest anything is Ascension Island, ca 700 nautical miles away.  Population:  4000. The telephone numbers and car license plates have four digits. No airport, no ATMs, no mobile phones. One supply/passenger  ship which comes  from South Africa once per month (well it stops again on the way back from Ascension Island, but not with any new supplies).  One town—Jamestown. The island looks very barren from sea, but the interior is green if not exactly lush. It is most famous probably because Napoleon spent his last several years here as a prisoner. He was buried here, but his body was moved to France 19 or so years after his burial. Folks are friendly. Everyone waves when they drive by and say hello if they’re walking.  It's British territory, but the people generally look some indeterminate mixture of Indian, African, and European ancestry. 

Sorry, I think the link to the photos in the last post was kaput. I have hopefully fixed it now. The problem seems to be that the default setting in Google photos is that only I can see the albums. So here they are hopefully. 

St. Helena

Passage From Cape Town To St. Helena

Some photos from The South Atlantic

Wednesday 30/01-2013

Motored out of the Royal Cape Yacht Club and the Cape Town harbor. Paul was waiting for me outside the breakwater, putting away his outboard (and only) engine. We had agreed to race to St. Helena. I pulled up alongside, we said “ready?”, raised our sails, and the race was on. There is a “traffic separation scheme” outside the harbor—basically like a two-way road, ships entering or leaving the harbor are supposed to follow the lanes marked on the charts (and they drive on the right side of the road). Anyway, small boats should stay out of these lanes as much as possible, and try to cross them at right angles. I thought the wind was favorable for crossing the lanes southwest of the harbor, so I headed that way. Rebellion stayed on the northeast side, heading toward Robben Island. After tacking back and forth many times in the shifty northwest breeze (I had a little trouble in the beginning with the tacking, as I had to furl the genoa each time, then unfurl it on the opposite tack because of the (removeable) inner forestay which I had left in place), I ended up back on the track Rebellion had chosen, and I followed him, close-hauled in very mellow conditions (especially considering it seems to blow a gale more often than not in Cape Town).

            As I looked back at Cape Town and Table Mountain, shrouded in fog and clouds, I felt a surge of contentment as well as affection for the city and its delightfully diverse people. Sailing past Robben Island, the mainland disappeared in the mist.

            AIS made crossing the traffic lanes, as big tankers and cargo ships were coming and going, an easy affair--something which would previously have been stressful. As Robben Island faded in the fog, we sailed into sunshine and the South Atlantic.  

            Rebellion had a lead of several miles by sunset. Maybe there’s more to sailing than just the sails.

Thursday 31/01-2013

A Yellow-Nosed Albatross greeted me at dawn and kept me company through the morning.

1730:  Rebellion hailed me on VHF channel 16 (He couldn’t hear my response), so though I can’t see him, he is probably not more than 12 miles ahead.

Friday 01/02-2013

First Flying Fish found on deck, and the dirty brownish green of the coastal water has been replaced by the deep blue of the open ocean. Water also much warmer.

Sunday 03/02

Flying twin jibs (the genoa on the main forestay, and a hank-on jib on the inner forestay I installed in Cape Town) for the first time. Would be better if I had a second whisker pole.

Wednesday 06/02.  0820 UTC

Almost exactly one week out of Cape Town. 940 miles done and another 748 to St. Helena. Spotted first (Red-Billed) Tropic Bird of this passage. Winds becoming lighter and lighter.

1205 UTC

Noon-to-noon runs:

Date	Mileage (nm)
30-31	165
31-01	154
01-02	137
02-03	129
03-04	131
04-05	119
05-06	108

Saturday 09/02. 0005 UTC.  21° 39.’5 S  000° 01.’1 W

Crossed The Prime Meridian (Greenwich longitude) about ten minutes ago. Now into westerly longitudes.

1345 UTC.

Caught a lovely 3-foot bull Dorado (mahi-mahi) about two hours ago. Had ceviche for lunch (minus cilantro, normally an essential ingredient). Fish tacos for dinner.

Tuesday 12/02.  1545 UTC

2 or 3 whales stopped by to say hello as I sat, reading, in the cockpit. Don’t know what kind. Dark, nearly black. Prominent dorsal fins. Hard to judge size as I couldn’t see the whole bodies—maybe 20 feet or so. Soon after a female Dorado swam right next to Twister, rudely ignoring my fishing lure.

Wednesday 13/02, 0730

Land Ho! St. Helena visible in the distance, north-northwest.

1730

Arrived James Bay, St. Helena. Found Rebellion there waiting for me. Beat me by 1.5 days. What a thrashing! I owe Paul 5 milkshakes.  

All systems go

It looks like Twister will be ready to set sail for St. Helena Wednesday morning. Paul of SY Rebellion is also going to St. Helena, and we plan to depart at the same time and race. With my new sails, I don't think Paul stands much of a chance, but I took on as much water as I can hold to give him a fighting chance.
It's around 1650 nautical miles, and with the consistent southeasterlies the South Atlantic is known for, it should take us 12-16 days. There is a small chance that I will be so caught up in the glorious trade wind sailing that I will bypass St. Helena and go directly to Brazil. Just saying, if you don't hear from me for 30 days, that's why.
I'm pretty excited to sail into another ocean. The South Atlantic, like The South Indian Ocean, does not offer many rest stops, but on the other hand there will be plenty of time to catch up on reading and to practice celestial navigation.
Did I mention that Cape Town is windy? I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that it blows over 30 knots here more often than not.
I guess that's all I have to say. See y'all in St. Helena.

South Africa And Beyond

South Africa--What an interesting place! After having spent almost two months here, I haven't even scratched the surface, for lack of a better cliche. I don't really know what's going on beneath the surface, but I can tell there's a lot. Apartheid ended roughly a generation ago, but it's obvious that some of its legacy remains. On the other hand, the diversity of South Africa's people is wonderful (if you like that sort of thing). Desmond Tutu apparently coined or popularized the nickname, "The Rainbow Nation," and it fits. There are 11 official languages and seemingly as many ethnic groups. It tickles (delights) me  to walk down the street and hear Afrikaans (basically old Dutch), several varieties of English, and native African languages that incorporate clicking and popping sounds (for example Zulu and Xhosa).

Cape Town seen from Table Mountain

After a couple of days sightseeing around Cape Town (including the obligatory hike up Table Mountain, with fellow sailors Andrew and Diana--that is to say it's not obligatory to hike it with Andrew and Diana, only to get up the mountain), Alison and I rented a car and headed for wine country--specifically the towns of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek.  We managed to visit a few wineries, sample some tasty wines, and eat some delicious meals in two days. Stellenbosch and Franschhoek are charming and quaint (now 25% quainter) but also very homogeneous compared to other parts of South Africa I've seen. We returned to Cape Town via Betty's Bay, False Bay (where we saw Jackass Penguins on the beach in Simon's Town), and Hout Bay (scenic, stunning, and more stunning, respectively).  

Hout Bay

After Alison headed home, Paul and I ventured up Table Mountain again, this time with some of Paul's climbing gear. I had dabbled in so-called sport climbing many years ago, but this was my first time doing "trad" (traditional) climbing (where there are no bolts in the mountain so you have to bring your own devices for securing the rope to the rock) as well as my first time doing a multi-pitch climb. We selected route that was supposed to be relatively easy as we are both out of shape and I was climbing in running shoes. It turned out maybe a little boring for Paul and not overly challenging for me but still a lot of fun.

Paul leading the way

Boat projects have been going well--I was finally able to find parts and fix the roller furler, new anchor chain is in the anchor locker, I've installed an inner, removable forestay (backup in case the other one breaks, but also to be able to fly twin jibs or a hank-on storm jib), the masthead windvane has been replaced, and Twister has brand new mainsail and genoa (sails are relatively inexpensive in South Africa). Only a few chores remain before I'm ready to head north into The Atlantic Ocean.

Here's a rough itinerary for 2013:
January 30:  Depart Cape Town
February 13:  Arrive St. Helena
February 16:  Depart St. Helena
March 2:  Arrive Recife, Brazil
March 12:  Depart Recife
April 4:  Arrive Trinidad
April 14:  Depart Trinidad
April 24:  Arrive Cuba
May 8: Depart Cuba
May 10:  Arrive Florida
May 20:  Depart Florida
May 30:  Arrive Bermuda
June 10:  Depart Bermuda
June 25:  Arrive Azores
July 1:  Depart Azores
July 12:  Arrive UK
July 25:  Depart UK
August 1:  Arrive Norway
August - April:  hibernate

I've added a few more photos to the South Africa album.

Cape Town

Twister arrived Cape Town in the early hours of January 14, 2013. The passage from Knysna was uneventful and generally pleasant (at least for me. My friend Alison who's visiting, suffered a bit from seasickness). Exiting The Knysna Heads just after high tide was no problem (several days before, waves had been breaking across the entire entrance). We motor-sailed the first 18 hours I must confess. The second day was a bit rolly, sailing downwind in 20-25 knot easterlies with ~3 meter groundswell coming out of the Southern Ocean. We rounded Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa, around one AM on the 13th, so all we were able to see was the lighthouse, which blinks once every 5 seconds.* Fortunately we were able to enjoy The Cape Of Good Hope in daylight (and a good-looking cape it is) and lovely sailing conditions--close-hauled with about 12 knots of wind and smooth seas, going 5 to 6 knots with a current giving us a boost of one knot. We didn't see any penguins but did see many sea lions, relaxing on patches of free-floating kelp, frolicking, and doing sea-lion stuff. There was plenty of bird life a well--terns, gannets,cormorants, fulmars (?), etc. One highlight was dolphins surfing the bow wave at night, producing glowing trails in the bio-luminescence. Before leaving Knysna, I installed a new VHF radio which has built-in AIS.  AIS allows me to see the position, course, and speed (and sometimes a lot of other info) of ships (which have an AIS transmitter installed) within 10 to 20 miles of my position. It makes navigation in high traffic areas like Cape Town harbor, much less stressful.  Now looking forward to exploring Cape Town and doing some long-needed repairs on Twister (job number 1--fix roller furler). 

*That is a very useful navigational tool at night, by the way. Lighthouses all have different blinking patterns--at least the ones in the same area--which are listed on the charts. So if I'm in sailing from Knysna to Cape Town and see a light blinking once every 5 seconds, I know I'm passing Cape Agulhas. Of course with GPS and electronic chart plotters it's not as important as in the good old days, but it's always nice to get some on-the-ground confirmation of what the chart plotter is telling you. 

Guest Blogging

I wrote a guest blogpost on Alex's blog, recounting the holiday festivities. 

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