Going nowhere in particular
Gentle breeze, flat water, birds, whales. Living the life for a change.
Sailing
Maintenance, Sailing
Exhausted & Having Fun
I’ve spent several visits to ‘Blue, slowly working at getting the remaining bits of the exhaust out of the boat after the union disintegrated in the shipping lanes a while back. Forty years of use has the exhaust elbow really carboned-up and the remaining piece of the union still refuses to budge but slow and steady progress is being made. …
Life is good today!
Friday afternoon, 1330, and I’ve had more than my fill of work for the week. On the boat by 1400, mooring lines pared down to just the bare essentials, covers off, safety gear in place, motor warmed up. Now we wait for the crew to arrive. It’s blowing a steady 15-18kt SE’ly, gusting the odd 25kt on rare occasions. Sea …
You do know it’s blowing quite strongly out there?
The reply from Port Control is incredulous when I ask for permission to leave moorings and proceed into the bay. “You do know it’s blowing quite strongly out there?““Yes sir. We have two reefs in the main and are expecting 35kt gusts” we radio back.“Very well then. You may proceed” comes the reply, and off we go. The wind isn’t as …
An uneventful sunset sail
“Stay where you are!” barks Port Control when we request permission to drop moorings and head out into the bay. Apparently there’s a vessel docking at Repair Quay 3 and we can’t possible stand well clear…. And so we wait for the promised “I’ll contact you when you can leave” which, of course, never comes. Twenty minutes later I ask …
F8 to Hout Bay
A 40kt, Beaufort F8 gale is not for everybody. Add to that a lumpy sea on the beat and it’s downright miserable. To leeward we have the rocky shoreline, Vulcan Rock and it’s associated villains, waiting to tear the bottom out the boat. This coastline doesn’t tolerate fools and, in the calmer moments, I’m wondering if that’s not what we are? …
All at sea
There’s something about stopping to take photographs that robs one of the present moment, making one more an observer of the scene rather than part of the scene itself. And yet, it’s a worthwhile endeavour recording the scene, taking time out later to reflect on the moment. The photo’s never do the moment justice though, flattening the sea to mill pond …
As long as it’s fun
Like Lin & Larry said, “As long as it’s fun”. And Thursday’s sail most definitely was fun. It wasn’t epic when you compare to world circumnavigations but for us, a circumnavigation of Robben Island**, is the first step to cruising further afield up the west coast. We’d initially planned to sail earlier in the week but Tuesday’s 25 to 30kt …