feeding Pelicans

Fed these Pelicans this morning, but the fish were still abit frozen so we'll feed the rest when we leave tomorrow. It will take us about 6 days to get to St Helena. I do hope that I will be able to stransmit at sea. Otherewise I will update the blogg in St Helena again.

A big thanks to Peter who is doing the blogg for me when I send the SSB emails.

Map of our progress

Made this map for those of you who don't know where we are. Its from our route book so I had to 'rub' out the other routes and put in ours. I will post it occasionally.

Swakopmund

Rob And Krasni in a Swakopmund street, note the sand dunes in the background! Lovely wide roads and architecture. A really cute town.

This is the view from the road between Swakop and Walvis bay...just sand one side and the sea the other.

Day 6

Siting in Walvis Bay on a swing mooring near the Yacht club.

 Its great to be in calm waters, I feel 'normal' again. 

We filled the 75 small 27l plastic containers and the 

460l bladder tank with Diesel. Quite a mission but soon 

they were all packed away and the spiled Diesel 

washed away. We averaged 1 liter per naut. mile for 

the trip up of 676nm which is what Rob had calculated. 

Ave speed was 8 knotts. The engines are changed 

every 6 hours which means the couple not on duty 

can sleep peacefully.
Watched the movie 'Australia' last night, great movie, 

enjoyed by all.
Went to see the salt works which stretch for miles, 

with huge trucks carting the sparkly white salt. 

Lots of bird life along the way with many Flamingos.

 Also went to Dune 7 where we chatted about all the 

Desert Run tours we did to here. Krazni did the best 

and walked the highest up the dune...not far.
Its still cloudy and cool. Tomorrow we hit Swakopmund 

for a good German breakfast!

yellowtail!

There's the great Yellowtail that Krasni caught. Great shot of him 'flying' onto the boat.

This Seal came to visit the boat as soon as we stopped. The local tour boats encourage them to jump onto their boats for the tourists. He got a stern talking to and did not try again. Ah shame I hear you say...well they make a terrible mess apparently.

Here I am watering my tiny herbs, think they should be ready for eating by the time we get to Cuba! Note the dull Walvis weather!

photos

Loading fuel in the harbour! a slow dirty job but with all hands on deck it was soon done.

These huge Pelicans keep coming to the boat incase there are any bits for them. They are so graceful and really huge. These live near the Yacht club and we could walk very close to them..abit intimidating.

This 'box' is a floating boat garage. It houses a 42ft Cranchi on an airbirth. Its moored at the yacht club and is totally protected from the elements.

Day 5 Arrive Namibia

Tried to send the mail last night and disaster, 

as I tuned the SSB radio it blew the Auto pilot

(the machine the steers the boat on a preset course). 

The boat turned side-on to the swell and we rocked severely. 

The men were up on deck immediately to straighten 

the boat..thank heavens they got the auto-pilot 

working again. Rob just removed the fuse and 

reinserted it and it was working. It would have been

 horrid to steer manually as the wind had given a good chop.
This morning we had flat seas with mist. We were greeted by 

hundreds of Seals and some Dolphins near Walvis Bay.

 It was good to go on land and we had a great chap from 

the Yacht club, Ari, take us to Customs and a car hire company. 

Rob saw a butcher and we were in buying Biltong! After a 

burger with great slap chips we returned to the boat. 

Tomorrow we look for Diesel.

Day 4 sailing off Luderitz

More of the same...lots of sea but with a cold wind behind 

us today. It was interesting to see how the sea life 

increased off Luderitz. We were still far off shore but we 

had seals and even a lonely Gannet with us for awhile. 

Its 19h30, just had great Woolies steak pie! gps reading 

25,13S 14,27E We tried playing Rummikub and only 

managed two games before we felt sea sick.
My shift is 21h00 to midnight. Quite peaceful with 

the moon out. Tomorrow we are on land again!

Day 2

Yepee caught a nice Yellowtail today, 3kg. Enough for 2 meals. 

Sea Wolff is powering along at 8 to 9 knotts and all crew are 

well. Rob is a bit green. Mince on rice with veg for supper 

just now. A few seagulls about, nothing else but sea. 

We are 20 miles off shore. Sea temp 20C. 31,42S  16,57E. 

Cant believe I can sleep soo much.

Chat soon, Nadene and crew.

Table mountain

The last view of the wonderful Table Mountain! What a wonder it is seen from sea. It looks like an island as we go further away, one can only imagine the surprise sailors got as they approached the Cape in the 1600's.

Tonight we sleep at Dassen island (off Yzerfontein) and we leave for the high seas tomorrow at sunrise. Hope to be in Walwis Bay on Thursday afternoon.

Chat again then. If i can operated the computer at sea without feeling too grim there will be an update sooner...

Leaving CT

Rob and Krasni starting the voyage as co-skippers....

Day 1 Leaving Cape Town

We are happy to have Mashelle and Krasni Sutic as experienced crew. Here we are ready to leave. It was an emotional farewell to good friends on the shore and then we were off. Hooters sounded as we passed friends on other vessels. We were escorted out by Anthony and family on Le Beaut, thanks guys it was great having you there.

Day 0 Day 0

We have had 2 weeks of hectic planning, buying and working to get ready to leave SA and tommorrow is the big day. At last. The motors have been serviced and the props replaced as they were totally eaten away by the electrical current in the marina waters. The new anodes are on. Its amazing what we have learnt in the last year of preparation. My lastest study is the SSB (single side band) radio. We will use this to talk to other yachts and we can send small emails on 'sail mail'. Its not an exact science and I have not yet managed to connect to Maputo, our closest station, as there is too much interference in the Marina. This will also supply a weather forcast on request. So as we leave tomorrow I will be at the radio, 'playing', thats if I can read while sailing? Our good friend Peter will update the blog with the emails he recieves from the boat.

Our first stop is Dassen Island, just to stop and relax abit before the 24/7 sailing starts. Then off to Walwis Bay, Namibia, we should be there by midday Thursday.

There is the first soccer match taking place at our beautiful stadium at present. We can hear the Vuvazelas from here! I have mixed feelings about not being in CT for the world cup, but I hope you all enjoy the experience.

Mad fishermen

We went for a cruise up the Langebaan lagoon yesterday and passed the very popular windsurfing beach. The wind was rather strong so they were out in full force. Its the first time I have seen these avid fisherman, waist deep in 17C water in the howling wind...fishing. They were so far into the channel to get closer to deep water. I do hope they caught something, it was 5.30 and the wind was cold. . I couldnt resist taking a photo as their gear was so colourful. Not the best clarity as shooting from the boat in windy conditions is not ideal.

Back to Kraal Bay

This morning was a warm, calm, sunny morning....the saying 'calm before the storm' is so true as the weather predictions for Thursday are big sea and strong wind. This would mean sailing in these conditions, not fun. We decided to leave the West Coast cruise and return to Kraal Bay.

On the way a Humpback whale jumped right out of the sea about 30 meters in front of our boat!!!!! Its Roberts biggest worry that they will land on the boat. It was an amazing site. They then swam slowly past us, quite eerie.

Searenity leads race

The multi hulls started first and our friends 'Searenity' crossed the start line with full sails, looking very good. It was very exciting watching from our good vantage point. They won the race but the handicaps would still need to be calculated. We all moored in Stompneus bay for the night in a howling South Easter. After dragging anchor once we decided to stay aboard and not go ashore for the social braai. Had Thai green curry so all were very happy. It was a busy night as the wind did not drop and a few smaller yachts kept dragging anchor. A bit nervy when your moored amoungst so many yachts.

Surfing

We were asked to help with the West Coast cruise race. After positioning the bouys for the race we drove back to the start to act as a start bouy. The yachts had to pass between us and a bouy. On the way back Glenn enjoyed a surf behind the boat. He said it was 'fantastic'. He is an excellent surfer so made it all look so easy.

Leaving Port Owen marina

The Port Owen Marina in on the Great Berg River and one has to drive up river to get into the Marina. This is a slow process as the water has some nasty shallow spots.

Port Owen

We have had 2 wonderful days in Port Owen. On the way in we stopped at a fishing harbour and bought fresh Snoek from the boats. R30.00 and it fed 8 people, really tasty done on the Braai with sweet chilli, mustard, olive oil mix basting.

Today we start the 'West Coast Cruise' organized by the Yacht club here. There are 37 yachts entered and 60% are from outside Port Owen.

First leg is to Stompneus Bay (not far) with a course of bouys to be completed first.

Catching Birds!!

The lines went out as we left Saldahna and a Gannet flew into the line. The guys managed to free him but Glenn kept a rag near his beak for him to bit while Rob untangled the line. No harm done.

Kraal Bay

We spent 3 windy days in Kraal Bay, Langebaan Lagoon. It was full moon and the sun sets were wonderful. We befriended the owners of

'IZA' who have 2 young children on board. Glenn caught our first fish, a 'stinky' ...thats its name! So at last we have caught a fish from our boat.