Westward to Brazil

It took all three guys on deck and me at the helm to make

a sail change. As you can see, we were heeling a bit!

We would soon be back in the Americas! Throughout the world, we have been asked “where are you from” and we have replied: America. As we were approaching Brazil, it occurred to us that we need to say: The USA! Why? Because there are a lot of Americas. North American, Central America and South America. All the people of Brazil are Americans, too.

Since the crossing from St. Helena to Salvador, Brazil was 1900 nm, we had plenty of time to discuss this issue. We also discussed the various reactions to our Presidential election campaign and results. We have seen numerous political cartoons depicting other countries’ view of the USA. Frequently, we were asked whether Trump will survive four years or if the USA is going to collapse. It has been very apparent that the rest of the world has been caught up in the media – real or false news! We have been out of the fray out here.

John was our tactician and kept us in the lead the whole way.

Dennis had decided we were going to sail all the way so the guys spent a lot of time making changes to the sail plan. The options were: 1) main and genoa, 2) main and light air gennaker, 3) any of those alone, 4) medium duty gennaker alone, 5) main and medium duty gennaker, or 6) main, genoa AND the medium duty gennaker!

Medium duty asymmetrical

The last one was the winning combination. Trust me; they tried them all – and more than once each as the wind demanded diligence to keep Trillium moving toward the finish line in Salvador, Brazil. For two days, the wind was quite light as in 6-10 knots. S/V Trillium is a solidly built blue-water boat intended to give a safe comfortable ride in the big waves. The downside is that she is heavy and needs strong winds to make her fly.

Poling out the genoa to fly with the main.

The best days were when the wind was in the 12-25 range. Now we are sailing!                                                                          

Fortunately, the rest of the passage was made in those conditions. With clear skies and sunshine, strong steady winds and a great crew, we had the best sail of the whole circumnavigation! The South Atlantic crossing was the longest leg and topped them all! No seasickness; no medication. WOO HOO!

We sailed for six days and six nights with the main and genoa fully deployed plus the medium duty gennaker! Talk about a beautiful sail plan. And probably not one suggested in the Hallberg-Rassy Owner’s Manual either. We got what we were after: First Across the Line Honors AND First Place Overall for the Monohull Division! Hurrah! What a way to finish the last of the five oceans.

Our light air asymmetrical

We had a lot of support from the shore all around the world. Friends were reporting our YB Tracker position and positions of other boats coming behind us. We were getting all kinds of encouraging emails, including screen shots of positions. Thanks, everyone! It was fun to have your enthusiasm cheering for us. I normally am not into the racing thing, but this time I was actually clenching my teeth causing my jaw to ache. It looked like we stood a chance of winning this leg of the rally, but we knew there were two really fast racing boats coming up behind us.

Of course, having two experienced racers on our boat kept the energy level high. Dennis had turned the navigation and weather duties over to John, who was really into it. He brought his “equipment” to get up to date information and GRIB files. And his family sent midnight updates from the tracker. John and Colt race in the Port Huron to Mackinaw and Chicago to Mackinaw races on the Great Lakes annually on Colt’s boat, Weather Edge. They have been on the winners podium nine out of eleven of the races! Did we pick a great crew or what!

Oh, I forgot to mention that just before we left St. Helena, the freezer decided to quit working. We had just recharged the coolant in Cape Town. There was no one in St. Helena to look at it so we were looking at a 12-16 day passage without it. That meant I was throwing meat and other frozen food overboard after the first few days at sea. I lost about $300 worth of meat, but the worst part was all the time I had spent preparing it so it would make it easier in the galley. Delta. Alpha. Mike. November!

John caught this one. They are giving it a shot of rum to kill it.

Fortunately, my Captain is a good fisherman, too! He caught two huge Mahi-mahi with two more getting away as there was one on each line both times. Something really big took a lure again. We probably didn’t want to see that one up close anyway! Then he caught what we think was a young either blue fin or yellow fin tuna that weighed 20 pounds. By the end of the passage, I just wanted some good Brazilian beef. I could hardly wait for those famous Brazilian restaurant meals.

Here we are flying all our sails across the South Atlantic Ocean

 

And as the first boat across the Finish Line in Salvador, Brazil.

Ready to Sail West Again!

Farewell Cape Town! It was a grand time!

Our time in Cape Town and Africa was coming to a close as the World ARC Start for the Cape Town to Salvador, Brazil leg was scheduled for January 7, 2017. We had had a wonderful time in all of the places we visited – especially on our safari. Ringing in the New Year with the WARC family and our friends Ann, John and Johnnie Walton from home was fun. John was there to crew with us and his friend, Colt Weatherston, was arriving a few days before the start.

Ann, Johnny and John

This leg was a very long one. In fact, I think it was the longest of the whole around the world rally. It took us 21 days to sail across the Pacific Ocean from the Galapagos Islands to the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. This will take even longer not counting the 72 hour break in Saint Helena.

John had crewed with us on the WARC New Zealand Rally a couple of years prior and we welcomed him back. He and Colt race in the Mackinaw Races and have been on the podium something like nine out of eleven times! If there is a leg where we might stand a good chance of winning, we figured this was it and we wanted crew who knew a lot about sailing and sail plans! And Dennis turned the navigation and sail planning over to John and his technology.

Dennis made the decision that we were not going to motor at all on this leg. I wasn’t sure he would stick to it if the wind died and we were bobbing about the ocean. We had done so much motoring from Australia to Cape Town and we just wanted to sail! It seemed like we were always racing against weather or catching up due to various delays in departing with the fleet. So this was to be our big sail!

We actually missed the Start by one hour and 15 minutes due to the holiday work stoppage. Our relatively new B&G broadband radar had had a lightening hit, probably when it was on the hard in Mackay, AU last summer. It had not been working properly, but with AIS (Automatic Identification System) and regular weather reports, we felt comfortable not having a functioning radar. However, it was worth the time penalty to have it replaced where we had a good B&G dealer.

These photos show the approach to St. Helena.

The B&G representative was very good. Unfortunately, the holidays delayed the shipping of our radar so it did not arrive until the day we were leaving. We waited for the installation, stopped at the fuel dock as we were heading to the Start Line – albeit a bit late, but still there! We motored to the Start while raising the sails. Once we neared the Start Line, the engine went off and we  planned to never used it for propulsion during the leg! Even I was amazed!

We had perfect weather and sea conditions after the first two days, which were relatively rough and mal de mar got a couple of us. I won’t say who besides me, but it wasn’t the Captain. Once the swells off the coast of Africa settled down, it was the most beautiful crossing yet. We used every sail we have in some capacity. When sailing with racers, they think nothing of changing the sail plan often. When we are alone, we stick to an easy, but not most effective one.

A minefield of unlit boats at night makes entry tricky!

Unfortunately, the wind died about eight hours out of St. Helena which meant we were going to arrive at the anchorage in the dark. Our plan was to arrive right around sunset. In reality, we arrived near midnight! Once we had crossed the intermediary finish line at the northwest corner of the island, we were allowed to motor to the anchorage area without penalty.

Not a place to land a dinghy!

We were first greeted by a row of bright lights reaching from the ground up toward the sky. While impressive, it made getting a fix on any land objects difficult. Finding a mooring buoy was challenging as there were so many lights on shore that we couldn’t see the buoys on the black water. Just as we were deciding to spend the night holding off shore, the water taxi guy called us to say he would guide us in. Amen!

This is Jacob's Ladder in daylight. At night

it is a long row of lights and confusing. 

He was so helpful once we finally spotted him and could follow his light. He helped us tie up to the buoy and get everything shipshape so we could get some shuteye. It had been a 1700 nm passage and we were ready for a break in night watches. In the morning, we could see the mooring field and were so glad that help was waiting as one could have easily gotten tangled. There were at least fifty unlit boats moored on connecting lines. That could have been a real mess!


The first unique experience in St. Helena was the water taxi! It is too dangerous to take your dinghy to the break wall and there is no beach on which to land. So the procedure is to call for a water taxi on the VHF and it comes when it comes.

Actually, they were pretty good about coming to get you. Getting back to the boat was a different story. Instead of running a group out as we congregated, the skipper stuck to his schedule of 8 PM and 10 PM and midnight. As a result, there were a lot of us on the pier hoping to get on the boat first. Otherwise, we had to wait a couple of hours. He finally started taking a second and third boat loads after realizing we were not all night owls.

The biggest challenge was landing on the ferry dock and disembarking the boat! The surf kept the ferry bouncing up and down and into the quay. The trick was to grab one of the large ropes hanging at the edge of the wharf and swing upon onto the landing area! Not my favorite move. Getting off was somewhat the reverse, except this time you had to step down into the bouncing ferry and let go before you got jerked back. You just never know what skills you can develop out of necessity! Usually there were others on board to grab you as you landed.

The worst ride was when he loaded twenty of us into the ferry after a night of partying on shore. It was dark and one of the guys was ridiculously drunk. When some of the people realized his condition and they had experienced his actions before, they hopped back off onto the quay. We were on the far side of the boat so we had to ride with him! He kept leaning over the side as people were trying to keep him onboard. Fortunately, the ferry captain took him to his boat first and then went back to the quay to get the others. That made for a much safer ride even though we were still overloaded.

A beautiful airport sitting unused. Hopefully it will open soon.

The crossing from Cape Town to Brazil was nearly 3700 nautical miles as the seagull flies. We were allowed a 72 hour stop in the little British island of St. Helena near the mid-point of the crossing. Not many people get to St. Helena as the only way to get there is by boat! Twice a year one sails between England and St. Helena. Or you take a four-day cruise on the HMS St. Helena to Cape Town and fly out of there. This makes it very challenging for anyone needing medical treatments not available on the island. Even then, it would be a rough ride on the boats to get to hospitals in the UK or South Africa!

Last year they completed the airport so people could get onto and off the island more easily. However, there is some challenging issues regarding wind shear and landing there. After the first several flights, they stopped all arrivals and departures. We took a ride way up the mountain to see the beautiful new airport and caught up on the local commentary as to the situation. It looks like it will become operational again within the next year or so. I am betting there will be times when it will shut down due to the wind.

This is the beginning of the walk to the grave. Note the

elevation and that the gravesite is at the bottom of the

valley to the left. It was a long way down and back up.

Now for some more adventures on this quaint little British island. Located in the South Atlantic, we had sailed approximately 1700nm from Cape Town, South Africa to reach this remote British colony. It is a little like going back in time. Santa Helena is an island of volcanic origin, 14 million years old in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and has an interesting history.

Napoleon Bonaparte selected a beautiful spot that is in a

valley with a view of the ocean - not that he could see it!

Originally discovered in 1502 by the Portuguese navigator João da Nova, St Helena is Britain’s second oldest colony which held strategic importance for ships sailing from the Far East to Europe. It was seen as a place of refuge for liberated African slaves and since 1815 was used as a location of exiles, most notably for Napoleon Bonaparte where he died in 1821.


Stay tuned for more of the island tour. We only have 72 hours to see everything. Then it is off to Brazil!

Now For the Tough One!

We spent a lot of time in their neighborhood!

It was time to bite the bullet and finish crossing the last quarter of the Indian Ocean. We enjoyed our time in Reunion, although the marina was not located close to anything. Our tour with the WARC was great and we got to see the rest of the island with Elizabeth and Martin. But it isn't one of our favorite places.

Everyone was watching the weather and having daily discussions regarding it. There was a major concern about a gale that would greet us as we approached the east coast of Africa. Since we have to sail across a very fast southerly Aguhlas Current, our route had to take us north of the entrance to Richards Bay so we wouldn't be carried past the it. The Aguhlas Current is somewhat like the Gulf Stream off the east coast of the USA, except this one flows south instead of north.

Are we going the wrong way on a one-way street?

After a fleet discussion on the weather, it was decided that we needed to ask the WARC officials for an earlier than planned start for this leg. No one was looking forward to this leg of the journey in the first place. Secondly, no one wanted to encounter a gale at the end of it. It would normally take 8-12 days to sail this downwind course. The WARC agreed and moved the start up by 24 hours.

On Friday morning, the boats began pulling out one by one since we could only have one boat in the marina entrance at a time. It was called a Gate Start where we went out on our own, put up sails and marked our time when we crossed the Start Line.

The sea was settling and the sun was setting. Good!

We were still waiting for the delivery of our Watt & Sea part which we learned had been sitting in Customs for a week and no one had notified us. Victor, our WARC Yellow Shirt, used his native tongue of French to get the part delivered within an hour of his call. Thank you once again, Victor and WARC. He had also spoken to the company in France earlier to get the part sent to us.

Once the package was in hand and having had the autopilot repaired - actually it was only a loose bus connection, we were ready to head off to South Africa. The engine was warming up and Dennis was casting off the lines when I realized there was no navigational data on the chart plotter! YIKES! Stop, stop, stop was my call.

We sought out the electronics technician who had worked on the autopilot. He came right away and check everything until he found that the NEMA connection was not firmly seated. It felt snug when we checked it but obviously we didn't know that it wasn't in all of the way. So we were finally ready to leave but we were three hours behind most of the fleet.

The first 36 hours of the passage were awful: strong winds after we got away from land, high swells and lots of chop. Passage Diet time again! Fortunately, after the first 36 hours, it settle down enough to have a good sail for a while.

Then we hit the doldrums: no wind! The sea had settled down some, but we couldn't sail so on went the motor. We ended up motor sailing most of the way to South Africa over the eight days at sea. We could have sailed at a very slow pace, but there was the gale looming at the end. It was essential to be in the harbor before 1800 on Saturday. Therefore, we put the pedal to the metal.

When the wind is too light for us on a downwind course, we just motor. When it is behind the beam, we need at least a steady 12 knots to move. When it is dead behind us like this passage, the sails just slap as the swells move the boat around and we lose whatever air they can hold. After a few hours of beating up the sails, we took them down and turned on the Iron Jenny! No prizes this time! Who cares; the goal was to get there before the storm.

And there was a lot of shipping traffic as once again we were crossing the main shipping channel between Africa and Asia. At times the screen was covered with ships converging on the same area. We managed to safely dodge them and always gave way even when we had the right of way. We prefer to be at least 1.5 nm away from them, especially at night. A couple of times we were as close as three-quarters of a mile. The skippers were very nice when we called them on the VHF to determine how they wanted to cross our path and what course we should take.

A lot of traffic night and day!

All in all, the passage was much easier than we had anticipated. It became challenging on the day and night before we crossed the Agulhas Current and seasickness struck again. Once that system blew through, we were prepared to make our way across the 4-5 knot current north of the harbor and hoped we could hold to our waypoints. The harbor entrance was a welcoming sight!

Tricks and Treats in Reunion

I was a pirate and Dennis was my captive.

The Dodo Café held a Halloween Party that was great fun. Creative costumes were the theme of the night and yachties rose to the occasion! From future tellers, island girls, witches, pirates, Disney characters to who knows what they were, people were in the mood for a party. A great band and dinner completed the evening.

The real treat: Since La Port is not a very interesting marina and there are few amenities, I was very happy when our friends Elizabeth and Martin on S/Y Caduceus invited me to ride along to town several times. Of course, we were dealing with another public holiday so most things were closed on one of the trips, but I was able to get to the supermarket and to the boulangerie for fresh bread and fruits and vegetables. I would go one more time before we depart for South Africa.

Elizabeth and Martin with Dennis planning our route.

They also invited Dennis and I to join them on an excursion which turned out to be a drive around the whole island seeing various new sites pointed out by the tour guide from the WARC tour. We saw beautiful seascapes, the lava fields, lush vegetation and much more.

The area has suffered from several major eruptions and lava flows on the southeast end of the island. Unlike the lava fields of Kilauea in Hawaii, the lava is more textured instead of the smooth asphalt-looking lava in Hawaii. It is amazing how the plants manage to rejuvenate themselves in the lava, which is obvious rich in nutrients, but tough growing conditions.

Beautiful waterfalls ...

While we had not intended to drive all the way around, by the time we got to the lava fields in the southeast section of the island, we were three-fifths of the way around so we kept going. This was a treat for us since the car rentals were out of vehicles as it was not only a holiday, but also the beginning of their tourist season. We would not have been able to explore on our own. And it was a real treat for us to get out of the marina for a day. 

And seascapes all over the island.

Our friends Paul and Susie on S/Y Firefly arrived from Mauritius and were rafted to us when we returned. I figured they were tired and probably low on food, so I had invited them and Elizabeth and Martin over for dinner. The three of us had started the circumnavigation together in January 2014 and they had all gone to New Zealand with us and then they went on to Indonesia while we went to Australia. Brizo had also started with us, but they have five on their boat and I couldn’t fit all of us around the saloon table.

Everyone was carefully watching the weather for the passage from Reunion to South Africa. This leg and the trip around the Cape of Africa are two of the toughest passages to plan - and navigate. It is a long way across the final quarter of the Indian Ocean and you have to go around the bottom of Madagascar. This is an area of turbulent seas and unsteady weather. This is the one I have been dreading the most. Although, I have been surprised that so far the Indian Ocean has not been any worse than going south in the North Atlantic Ocean in November.

The lava fields are immense and very rugged.

Due to a possible gale that may hit the Richards Bay, South Africa shore about the time we were scheduled to arrive, the fleet decided we needed to leave a day earlier than the WARC schedule. Victor sent a request to World Cruising Club asking to move the schedule up a day so a Friday departure was announced. Several of the smaller and slower boats left three days ahead of the fleet.

We were all set to leave with the fleet on Friday morning, but we were still waiting for our package from France. We found out it had been there for a week, but no one had reached the marina office to tell us that we needed to sign some papers. The same thing happened in New Caledonia - I should have thought of that! We finally received the package about an hour after the fleet had left the starting gate.

Amazingly, vegetation manages to push its way to the sun.

Just as we fired up the engine and began to release the dock lines, I realized the chart plotter in the cockpit was not showing any information! Yikes! This is our key chart plotter. The one below on the navigation station was working just fine. Dennis quickly got the French electronics guy back on board to check it out. After checking every connection, he discovered that the NEMA cord was not fully engaged in the connector. WHEW! All was okay - or so we hoped.

We thanked him and tossed the lines. We were a couple of hours behind the fleet and the wind was light so we motored for a while to catch both the fleet and the breeze. Once we were away from the island, we had a very stiff breeze and it was time to hoist the sails. We were off! South Africa here we come!

The lava fields flow right into the sea.

Dennis has always said that if we land softly on South Africa, we will be adequate sailors. And we will have had over 36,000 nautical miles behind us. So I am planning on a soft landing at the Zululand Yacht Club in Richards Bay, SA.

A Special Mauritian Farewell

The Mauritians surely know how to host an event. From the welcome bags and fresh fruit trays to the prize-giving dinner to the final event: the Blessing of the Fleet, they were wonderful hosts! We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Caudan Basin close to shopping and restaurants – and good Internet! Many curious onlookers asked about our event and journey. They like taking photos of the boats and some were even invited aboard to see inside the yachts.


The prize-giving dinner on our last night was extra special. A number of local authorities spoke and thanked us for stopping at their island. The event was held on the quay and gave us a sample of local entertainment. There were dancers and musicians as well Mauritian cuisine.

Much to our surprise we came in third for the Monohull Division! It is always a surprise when we win as we seem like the little kid who is always trying to keep up with the big kids! We are not the smallest or slowest boat in the fleet; it is just that we don't sail fast downwind. Give us a good wind forward of the beam and we can keep up with the best of them.

The morning of our departure for La Reunion, the leaders of the four main religions led the service for the Blessing of the Fleet. They represented the Christian, Chinese, Islamic and Hindu religions. Each said a special prayer in his or her own language. The Anglican priest then finished the service in English and came around to the boats to bless them with Holy Water and words of blessing for a safe passage. The Chinese set off loud and smoky fireworks to chase away the evil spirits. It was a very nice event.

Chinese, Anglican, Hindu and Islam peacefully living

together in this diverse country with mutual respect.

The Start Line was the same as the Finish Line so just before the 1400 Start, we all left the Caudan Basin to make our way out of the harbor. Jockeying for position while putting up sails in tight quarters is always interesting. This time we also had the tide with which to deal, but all was well and the Start was clean, as they say.

It was only 130 nm to La Reunion so it was an overnight sail so we could arrive in daylight. All was well at the Start as the fleet began to spread out over several miles. Of course, the bigger and faster boats were soon well ahead on the horizon. The wind was good, but the swells coming around the island were somewhat confused making for a lumpy ride.

The blessing of S/V Trillium

Just before sunset and evening roll call, our autopilot began sending error messages that it could not find the compass computer! That means it could not steer the course! Which then means, we had to hand steer and we still had over 100 nm to go! Delta, Alpha, Mike, November!

The Dragon Dance

On the SSB radio call at 1900, I advised the fleet of the situation and asked them not to get too close to us as hand steering the confused swells made it difficult for us to maintain a steady course. Several boats agreed to stay in contact all night to make sure we were doing okay and several who sail at the same rate were on standby for assistance.

Fortunately, we did not need any assistance during the passage, but we were exhausted by the time we reached port. We still don’t know what caused it. We reset the system several times during the night and it would hold for a while and then send an error message and put itself into standby mode. That meant we would go off course with the wind and swells until we grabbed the wheel and went back to steering by compass.

The Dragon Dancers had fun getting close and personal

with the yachties-even chasing the young girls!

Of course, hand steering by compass is the way sailors have navigated for centuries. With modern technology, we are spoiled by setting the autopilot and letting it do its job. The greater challenge is handling the swells. If it were just the strong wind, then you balance the sails and hold the course. With large and erratic swells, the waves lift the bow one way or the stern the other way and sets it down off course so you must steer back to the course.

The fleet leaving Mauritius for La Reunion. We are the

black boat symbol and did well keeping up with the others.

After we arrived in port, others told how funny it looked on their AIS as we were pointing in all different directions at times, including the opposite way we were supposed to be heading! Some thought we were doing several different sail changes trying to win. Little did they know that we were just trying to sail in a relatively straight line!

Since hand steering in the dark requires focusing on the helm compass, it is hard to keep watch on the chart plotter or the sea. Due to this situation, we did six hour watches so we overlapped, keeping two people in the cockpit at all times to help keep watch and to relieve the helmsman from time to time. And to go below to reset the system occasionally. It made for a very long night and by the time we arrived in port we looked like the wreck of the Hesperus!

Next Port of Call: La Port, Reunion

By the end of this passage, I began to believe that either the blessing didn’t work or that the smoke from the fireworks that blew across the Caudan Basin into our portholes trapped the evil spirits in Trillium’s electronics! Fortunately, we arrived in La Port, La Reunion safe and somewhat sound!

Next step: figure out what is going on in the autopilot system! There is probably a loose bus somewhere in the system, but at sea in the dark is not the time to look for it!