Around the Cape of Good Hope, pt.2
On March 19th at 4:35am we had crossed the equator in the following coordinates: 00.00.00N, 69.00.7E.
Everyone awaited this moment, I didn’t even have to wake anyone up except for Zenya, who seems to sleep the whole 24 hrs regardless whether he’s on watch or not. I put on a Neptune costume but the dark didn’t let us take photos nor record videos. I splashed a little whisky into the ocean, let the others have a sip, had some coffee with a caviar sandwich and fell asleep right on the deck for a couple hours. Lack of sleep, heat and general fatigue do take their toll.
On March 22nd, approximately at 10:30am a squall from W, WNW hit us so hard it blew off our smiles. We were thrown into broaching with only the genoa up. Having turned off the autopilot, I steered for about three hours while choosing the best course for wind strength. I didn’t really want to fall much to the south so I played on edge. I didn’t notice that the clowns had gone below deck to cook something with Zenya, which resulted in the following damages: the salon dining table broken, a broken coffeemaker. On deck: an unscrewed lanyard, a bent, almost broken solar battery mount. Last night the running lights broke except for the aft light. A little too many damages?
After noon we seemed to have finally caught the eastern trade winds. They’ll take us to Mauritius.
We started to cross the Cargados Carajos bank. In that same area, charts 15-20 years old showed an island called Albatross with two beacons to the north and south. Modern charts showed only a bank. Are we sinking gentlemen? I started to fish right in the morning. It’s a sin to miss a bank and not fish. In an hour I had caught three tunas.
There are 300 miles left until Mauritius. With this kind of speed - two days. If we keep this up, we’ll be sailing into Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, on the 29th.
...During my night watch there were six of us:
myself, the Southern Cross, Moon, Indian Ocean, Milky Way and the boat. I sang to them and they smiled back, lulling me in their embrace. They didn’t have claims toward my repertoire, nor my singing. We just felt good with each other, and we might have even fell in love... at such moments one wants to live forever!
Mauritius appeared around 1am ship time, 30 degrees to the left, where it was expected.
First, a yellow glow appeared above the horizon, and then the lights of civilization. As we were getting closer to the island the wind started to play up so I turned on the engine. We sailed the last 20-25 miles started to dock with dawn. At 8:00am we docked at the customs pier.
Part 1:
Everyone awaited this moment, I didn’t even have to wake anyone up except for Zenya, who seems to sleep the whole 24 hrs regardless whether he’s on watch or not. I put on a Neptune costume but the dark didn’t let us take photos nor record videos. I splashed a little whisky into the ocean, let the others have a sip, had some coffee with a caviar sandwich and fell asleep right on the deck for a couple hours. Lack of sleep, heat and general fatigue do take their toll.
On March 22nd, approximately at 10:30am a squall from W, WNW hit us so hard it blew off our smiles. We were thrown into broaching with only the genoa up. Having turned off the autopilot, I steered for about three hours while choosing the best course for wind strength. I didn’t really want to fall much to the south so I played on edge. I didn’t notice that the clowns had gone below deck to cook something with Zenya, which resulted in the following damages: the salon dining table broken, a broken coffeemaker. On deck: an unscrewed lanyard, a bent, almost broken solar battery mount. Last night the running lights broke except for the aft light. A little too many damages?
After noon we seemed to have finally caught the eastern trade winds. They’ll take us to Mauritius.
We started to cross the Cargados Carajos bank. In that same area, charts 15-20 years old showed an island called Albatross with two beacons to the north and south. Modern charts showed only a bank. Are we sinking gentlemen? I started to fish right in the morning. It’s a sin to miss a bank and not fish. In an hour I had caught three tunas.
There are 300 miles left until Mauritius. With this kind of speed - two days. If we keep this up, we’ll be sailing into Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, on the 29th.
...During my night watch there were six of us:
myself, the Southern Cross, Moon, Indian Ocean, Milky Way and the boat. I sang to them and they smiled back, lulling me in their embrace. They didn’t have claims toward my repertoire, nor my singing. We just felt good with each other, and we might have even fell in love... at such moments one wants to live forever!
Mauritius appeared around 1am ship time, 30 degrees to the left, where it was expected.
First, a yellow glow appeared above the horizon, and then the lights of civilization. As we were getting closer to the island the wind started to play up so I turned on the engine. We sailed the last 20-25 miles started to dock with dawn. At 8:00am we docked at the customs pier.
Click to viewPart 1: