Middle of everywhere.

Ahoy there

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 22:36:26 +0300

We’ve been at sea for nearly 3 days and are slowly making headway towards the Falklands, albeit in a slightly round about way. (We’re heading North West to try and catch some favorable winds to scoot us across the atlantic. So far there’s been a lot of motorsailing (sails up and engine running) because the winds haven’t really been that great.

Our current location is: (I hope this works)

http://maps.google.co.za/?ll=-32.068383,11.173667

That’s about 390 nautical miles (710km) away from Cape Town.

The first few days were spent with everyone getting their sea legs and getting accustomed to life on board. The first night’s sleep was tough but by the time the second night rolled around I was loving the not-always-so-gentle rocking motion. I am quite stiff from all the hard work. Sailing a boat this size without electric winches is a real chore and add to that the time I popped my shoulder while doing ballet in the bathroom as we hit a big wave, I feel a bit battered. I wouldn’t have it any other way though.

We’re working on a 4 hours on, 12 hours off shift plan. I’ll spare you the lengthy explanation but it works well and once you get used to forcing yourself to sleep a few hours before your watch it can be quite “nice” waking up at 2am and spending 4 hours in the eery glow of dimmed radar screens watching for passing ships and listening to the occasional crackle of some nondescript asian language on the radio. We even had a 5 minute session of Bollywood music being piped across the VHF. Not very good on the emergency channel but it does make for some interesting discussions.

Life at sea is an interesting set of chores, from going to the bathroom to making a cup of coffee, nothing is as simple as it is on land. A simple piddle requires a lever to be turned, a hand pump to be pumped (25 times) and then more levers to reverse etc, all while ballancing and trying not to faceplant the sink. I suspect between the winching in sheets (ropes attached to sails) and using the bathroom regularly I’m going to end up with some biceps.

Making a cup of coffee is very much the same as making it on land except for the fact that you have to strap your cup in with bungie cord and pour very carefully while the boat tries its best to make you pour scalding hot water all over yourself.

The food has been good and we all get stuck in with the preparation. I’ve taken a bit of a back seat (veggie chopper) because I’m really not sure what the heck to make with the limited options available.

This morning we caught a Tuna which in less than an hour was turned into something like sashimi made with lemon juice, coriander and soy sauce. That was the pre-lunch snack, lunch soon followed with fried tuna steaks served with a corgette and carrot salad and freshly baked bread. Dinner is going to be oven roasted, you guessed it, Tuna. Pelagic Australis doesn’t have a refrigerator because usually she’s nestled amongst the ice bergs and her forepeak (the pointy bit at the front) is not insulated and therefore makes for a great refrigerator. Unfortunately we’re no where near any ice bergs and as a result we have to check the veggies in the forepeak every morning looking for any that are on their way, which are then promptly eaten or if they’ve gone too far, thrown overboard.

Our most valuable resource at sea is fresh water. We don’t carry a lot because usually the boat is near enough to ice bergs to get fresh water run-off. This means that showering is a luxury left for every 3rd or so day and even then you probably only have the water running for about 30 seconds in total. We do have plenty to drink but you can’t wash your face in fruit juice.

Hopefully in the next day or two we’ll catch some favourable winds and make some serious headway. At the moment it’s gloriously hot, clear skies with gentle rolling seas for miles. Quite beautiful actually, just not what we need.

That’s it for the update.

Not sure what the GSM range is, but worth a shot.

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:23:51 +0300

Not sure what the GSM range is, but worth a shot.

Off into the sunset.

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:06:19 +0300

Off into the sunset.

More pics while I can.

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:05:01 +0300

More pics while I can.

Cheers, see you in 30 Days.

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:03:45 +0300

Cheers, see you in 30 Days.

Cheers Cape Town, see you in 30 days.

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:02:20 +0300

Cheers Cape Town, see you in 30 days.

Due to Diesel supply issues it looks like we will actually be...

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:29:01 +0300

Due to Diesel supply issues it looks like we will actually be sailing off into the sunset rather than 10am. Fun.

Cape Town port customs and immigration. I suspect Polsmoore is...

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:37:41 +0300

Cape Town port customs and immigration. I suspect Polsmoore is friendlier.

Home.

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 09:37:52 +0300

Home.

One more sleep.

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:45:00 +0300

There’s a good chance that I won’t be posting tomorrow simply due to the fact that we’ll be a bit busy so I figure that having a day 0 post is a good idea.

So, we are here on day 0.

Hopefully by this time tomorrow I’ll be at least 100 miles away.

The last two days have been spent running around getting all the last minute things sorted out; buying emergency wine gums, putting my car in storage, getting a hair cut etc etc. I’ll be up tomorrow at 05:30 doing one last recheck of my lists and then it’s off to the boat. Packing a bag for 30 days at sea is interesting. You’re constantly having this realisation that if you forget something, it really is forgotten… there are no shops along the way.

Just a little caveat. There is a chance that something will go wrong with the satellite coms while I’m at sea. If I never post or suddenly stop posting, please don’t worry. Occam’s razor etc.

I’ll leave you with this:

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!

- Goethe, W.H. Murray (It’s complicated)

Another boat picture before I leave.

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 19:37:45 +0300

Another boat picture before I leave.

Test sail.

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 16:07:44 +0300

Test sail.

Testing Tweeter Integration

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:14:14 +0300

Is this thing on? Follow my journey across the South Atlantic.

Getting ready.

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:30:47 +0300

The last few days have been spent getting all my gear together. We sail in 12 days and I still have a fair amount of preparation left to take care of. I’ve organised my flight home, leaving Stanley, Falklands on the 1st of October with some of the other crew. That’s 25 days after we leave Cape Town. Everyone is hoping that we make it in time as changing flights is expensive and, with only one flight a week off the island, it would a real hassle to be stuck there for a week. Most of the prep work has been foul weather gear. Emphasis on long socks and thermals and some sailing kit. My new camera (A Panasonic Lumix FT3) should arrive tomorrow and I still have to buy some memory cards for it. One of the most interesting debates is what snacks I should take. I figure biltong and wine gums are probably a good call ;). So I now have a bunch of gear piling up in the spare room. I’ll probably do a test pack on monday. Exciting times.

Approximate Route: 4300 nautical miles.

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 22:43:00 +0300

Approximate Route: 4300 nautical miles.

Hello World

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 01:36:03 +0300

This is me, testing the thing. We sail on the 7th of September. j.