Saturday, October 19, 2013

No job, no work permit, what to do?

Imvubu and Twister in Durban 12/2012
Go sailing, of course. In early November I will join Ralf on his sailboat, Imvubu (yes, that is Zulu for hippopotamus), in Cape Town, South Africa. The plan is to sail across to Chile (which will probably entail a much longer passage than the great circle route. How long will depend, among other things, on the position of the South Atlantic/St. Helena high). From Puerto Williams, Chile we will sail to The Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands and back up to Chile. Should be fun. I met Ralf in Rodriguez and again in Reunion Island and South Africa where he completed his circumnavigation which took him through The Northwest Passage. When he mentioned that he was planning to sail to Antarctica next, I naturally volunteered. 
Today Twister pulled her keel out of the chilly waters of the Norwegian fjords and sat down on a cozy aluminum crib for the winter. The hull looked surprisingly good given all the abuse I've give it the last couple of years.


Some more data-entry and number-crunching yielded the following:


Total distance sailed San Diego to Bergen (not counting a few hundred miles of day-sailing/side trips and assuming shortest route between each data point):  32 286 nautical miles (29 224 nm solo)
Total time:  2 years, 132 days
Time at sea:  318 days, 10 hours (285 days solo)
Average speed:  4.22 knots

Best 24-hour run: 169 nm, 00:00 31/01/2013 to 00:00 01/02/2013, (2nd day out of Cape Town on passage to St. Helena) with some help from Benguela Current. 

Longest passage: both by time and distance was the first one from San Diego to Nuku Hiva: 2931 nm and 27 days 9 hours--Also the hardest passage (though weather-wise, very gentle). The second longest time-wise was also the slowest: Darwin to Cocos Keeling: 2022 nm in 26 days 12 h. One of the easiest passages. 

Fastest passage (speed-wise):  St. Helena to Recife: 1778 nm in 13 days 19 h = 5.68 knots average speed.










5 comments:

  1. I like the new masthead (the name plate, not the ships mast).

    This sounds very exciting. Any plans to do some blogging while sailing on Imvubu?

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    1. Roger that. I will post updates on this blog as Imvubu sails to Antarctica.

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  3. Hei Lars!
    Tusen takk for sist (Bay of Islands, mars 2012). Det var kjempekjekt å treffa på dåkke, og den plassen kjem vi aldri til å gløyma! Skal helsa frå Andy og sei at vi saknar seilbåten, og ikkje minst jolla! ^^

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    1. Hei Hilde. Hyggelig å høre fra deg. Desverre ble jolla stjålet i Vanuatu. Nå har jeg noe enda bedre--en oppblåsbar kajakk.

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