SAILING AROUND THE WORLD ( Presently about to leave Cape Town )
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Sun 9 Jan 2011 08:13
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SATURDAY 8th
JANUARY 2011
05.45 Skipper crawled
out of the bunk and decided to survey the local area , so went for a long walk
around the harbour area,
there were plenty of people about and the weather
looked good, clear blue skies, but it looks asa if there is a fog bank outsaide
the harbour.
We leave Cape Town today heading to St Helena first
and from there onto Salvador in Brazil. Total distance of 3600 miles. But
first
we must get fuel and then head south to Haut Baay,
where this leg begins, ( the race start.)
07.30hrs we untied all the lines again and
slipped away from the marina, We radioed the harbour master on ch 71 and got
them to open
both bridges to let us through and into the
outer harbour where we moored alongside the fuel berth, we took on board 625L of
diesel
before heading off in dense fog towards Haut Baay.
a distance of approx. 17 miles.
There was little or no wind , so we motored the
whole way and arrived at the start line just 15 minutes before the start of leg
21.
The wind filled from a NW direction for the start ,
which ment we had a beat over the line and this is always slow and tricky on a
cutter
as the geneo has to be walked around as we tack,
But, but , we had a good start and headed out west for a couple of miles and
just
as we were about to tack northwards , the wind
shifted to SW and we were the first to get the new breeze ( 20 knots ) and as a
result
we left the fleet well behind .
There was no fog in the harbour, but as soon as 2
miles out we were back in the fog. We set a course for St. Helena and
settled down to
a nice cup of " Barry's Tea",
ahhhhhh sure the cat thinks she is the queen. visability was just
about 200m so we
had to keep a close eye on the radar while the cats
were purring.
The wind stabalised at about 24 knots, so we
had a beam reach on a port tack and were sailing along at an average 8+
knots.!
Back to Christmas again, On Sunday 12th Aileen and
Skipper drove back up to dublin again as Aileen had to visit the " Bons Hosp "
to have
some work done on her hands and have a rest.
meanwhile Skipper stayed at Leah's House again on Sunday night,
On Monday 13th Skipper met one of the hunting and
shooting friends for lunch, Brendan Curtis, and later met Bro,Alfred, Peter
Redden
and Ian Mc Millan, friends from long
ago.
Tuesday, 14th Skipper drove back to Cork and spent
some time in the office, trying to get used to the place again and file away
a mountain of paperwork. later skipper met Brian
Archer and had a few pints in the pub next door. " The Glue Pot " well
named.
Wednesday 15th , skipper spent more time in
the office and had some other meetings during the day as well, but they had to
be done,
That evening , Skipper had dinner with our son
Paul, his wife Christine, and grandchildren Emily, Rachel, and the baby Annabel
who
skipper had not yet met before untill today,,
We had a gread Irish / American meal .. yum yum....
thursday, Aileen returned from Dublin and we cooked
dinner at home on the banks of the river lee,
Friday saw us back in Dublin again , on our way to
Navan for a wedding on Saturday,
saturday , all the girls were up early and off to
the hairdressor to have the hair done before we left for Aileens neice's
wedding,
This was a great day out despite the cold and
Susanne Coghlan ( the bride ) looked a million dollars, A great
family occasion.
we spent the night there in the hotel, but had to
travel down the road a few miles to watch " Munster" being
defeated.
Sunday , skipper returned to Cork with daughter
Sarah and husband Paul, while Aileen remained in Dublin. all whacked
out.
Back to the boat again, the fog cleared away
around 15.00 hrs and this made for perfect sailing,
18.00hrs, most boats made radio contact, and it
seems that we are well out in front of the fleet. mind you , some of the
faster boats
are either taking part in the Cape Town / Rio race
or are still waiting for Brazilian visas.so the competition is
slack.
Emily cooked a glazed loin of Gammon, and it was
delicious, along with creamed potatoes and mustard mixed into them plus
spinach
with a cream/ cheese sauce, This was followed with
christmas cake and coffee. We should call the cockpit the " Calorie Shop "
24.00hrs, we had covered 100 miles since leaving
Haut Baay. great sailing, and the milky way looked great as
always.
Night watches, :-
Aileen...............................22.00hrs /
24.00hrs
Skipper.............................00.00hrs / 02.00
hrs
Sham................................02.00hrs
/ 04.00hrs
Emily................................04.00hrs /
06.00hrs
Aileen...............................06.00hrs /
08.00hrs
Thats it for now,
Signed :- Stephen
Hyde ( Skipper )
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