Christmas Greetings from Chaguaramas in Trinidad

Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Dear Friends,

 

Here we go again & another year is nearing its end.  It's been quite eventful, but so have been the last seven or so.  : - )

 

It doesn't look like Christmas here in the Caribbean at all, especially as it is tropically hot and humid all the time.  Fortunately our Dutch friends Arno & Peter lent us a small air-conditioner.  Otherwise we probably would have long gone crazy here "on the hard" at Powerboats.  We might be mad anyway.  Just the other day the boss here, Don Stollmeyer, said that he should get his head examined for building three boats.  I feel the same about people who have owned three boats.....

 

But I better start at the beginning. 

 

Last year this time we were still in Richards Bay, South Africa and couldn't leave there as we had a broken shroud.  When that was finally repaired, we went around the Cape of Good Hope, which was one of the most nerve wracking trips we have ever made.  Nothing really bad happened, but we were well aware that this could change in an instant.  The weather reports are no longer reliable and in the rough conditions there things break a lot more than elsewhere.  After the shroud we needed a new course computer, new steering cables, the rudder quadrant got damaged, the saildrive packed up and and and.  Whew! 

 

We were more than happy to be arriving in Hout Bay, which Liping soon renamed Howling Bay.   There are plenty of storms in the area, but in Hout Bay you have the added katabatic winds which quickly reach 60 knots and above quite often.  Pretty amazing to watch, really.  It was pretty damn cold as well, but we still liked it there. 

 

When we left, we were accompanied by numerous small albatrosses.  These guys are very cool fliers.  I never got tired watching them from the warmth of my survival suit which I had bought at a public auction in Whangarei.  For the first week or so, I almost constantly sat outside to look at them during my watch.  Then came an unexpected stop in St. Helena for a stud on our fresh-water automatic pressure pump had broken in the rough conditions and all our drinking water ended up in the bilge.  We only had emergency rations in jerry cans left. 

 

This time (and for the very first time ever) we sailed together with another boat.  Kirk on SALSA, a bright red Alberg 30, had left on the same day, albeit from a different harbor.  While we had an excellent sail with 25 knots right behind and only the genoa up, the little SALSA was rolling very badly, making life for Kirk more than a little miserable. 

 

St. Helena was pleasant enough, even though the anchorage was pretty much in the open ocean.  Just imagine if your dinghy outboard packs up at just that place, preferably at night.  Soon we were ready to continue to Brazil, with much the same conditions as the first leg of the trip.  Because of the abominable crime rate, we passed Salvador de Bahia right by and went straight to Itaparica, where crime is not quite that bad.  

 

We didn't stay very long over there either as we were eager to get our saildrive fixed.  The best place for that seemed to be Chaguaramas in Trinidad.  We went too far offshore (as we usually do) and were rewarded by a strong counter-current as well as a prolonged calm.  We were obviously in the doldrums or

Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ).  As a result the much smaller SALSA, which had stayed much closer to shore, arrived three days before us.  The end of our life as yachties was crowned by a 50 knot squall with plenty of rain and zero visibility amongst heavy traffic between Trinidad and Tobago. 

 

Some friends have left already, some are still here and some will be arriving soon.  By now Kirk is already in Cartagena and I have to agree with him on one thing.  The End of a circumnavigation is more than a bit anticlimactic.  One might even call it a major letdown.  It seemed as if the only one who was visibly happy for us seemed to be our old buddy Jörn Grote from Hamburg who has been living in Trinidad for ages and would like to do a circumnavigation himself.  The wife of our friend Capt'n Fatty had already warned us against the "post partum depression", but alas, it didn't really help.  "The way is the goal" (Confucius) is probably the best way to describe the whole endeavor. 

 

It feels pretty weird fixing the boat, just to sell it right after and we miss (Already!!!) Madagascar, Chagos, New Zealand, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, the Tuamotus, the Marquesas, all our friends over there and many yachties we might never see again.  And we are looking at pictures of the San Blas Islands.  I am almost tempted to disregard the voice of reason and simply continue sailing...  Cool was the fact that our very good friend Michael Herbst on TANOA got the coveted prize from Trans-Ocean this year for his circumnavigation and his voyage around the south of Australia and Tasmania.  Congratulations, Michael.  Well done! 

 

Costs have gone up considerably since we were in Trinidad in 2006.  It is no longer inexpensive here and repairs and the prices for spare parts are astronomical.  Looks like the Caribbean is not our cup of tea, just like Brazil.  However, our Dutch friends Arno & Peter did some wonderful work on our middle hull (nacelle) and our saildrives are in the shop getting new bearings, new drive-plates and so on.  Soon that will be finished and we can continue with antifouling and do the rest in the water.  US$ 30 per day on the hard gets to you after a while, especially if you have done nothing but spending money for the last seven years.  As soon as our boat looks reasonable again, we will start to seriously look for a buyer.  We are even contemplating a yacht broker, as we really should get on with our lives and start to earn some money again. 

 

Aurora Ulani is in 4th grade in Calvert School and she is still a very good student.  She really doesn't like practicing, though.  On top of that she has to deal with German Pusteblume 3 as well as Chinese reading and writing.  Just recently I found out that I have now lost my permanent residence (PARC) in Taiwan for sure and would have to start the whole process from scratch again.  I have no work-permit and I can't even simply extend my Taiwan drivers license.  And for Liping it is very much the same in Germany.  No matter where we go, it means back to square one and a whole mountain of paperwork.  Right now it looks as if Germany is out for financial reasons, so we will probably soon be teaching children in Taiwan again.  Many of our old students are married by now. 

 

I contacted two yacht brokers already and was told that times are singularly bad for selling a boat now and the location isn't much better.  I might have much better chances elsewhere, particularly Australia.  We will only entertain that notion if we can't get any reasonable offers here.  But who knows, we might still get to visit the San Blas Island and to meet a few of our old friends again.  : - ) 

 

Now we wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Hope all is well with you and yours! 

 

Cheers!

 

Holger, Liping & Aurora Ulani Jacobsen

Catamaran DHARMA BUM III

HolgPhone:   +18683995675

LipingPhone: +18683325494

Powerboats, Chaguaramas, Trinidad, 10°40'51.70"N 061°38'02.71"W

Position:  http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=WDC7641

Circumnavigation completed - DHARMA BUM III in Chaguaramas, Trinidad again

Circumnavigation completed - DHARMA BUM III in Chaguaramas, Trinidad again

Friday, 19 October 2012

 

We left Itaparica together with SALSA and PARPAR.  While both Henry and Kirk stayed kind of close to the coast, we went far offshore.  In the beginning we were zooming along with the steady trade winds, but then the winds died and at the same time we were hit by a strong counter-current and plenty of squalls.  Doldrums.  Kirk realized what was happening and went SE in order not to get into the same situation.  He went close to shore, got light winds, which SALSA likes very much.  We remained stuck out there.  So SALSA arrived in Trinidad about three days before us.  Henry was going to Suriname and later French Guyana. 

 

While out in the Atlantic the long-distance sailing was fun as usual, but things changed when we were between Trinidad and Tobago.  There were ships going all over the place (no reaction on VHF channel 16 or to my strong halogen searchlight), we had to deal with the current once more and then we were hit by a 50-knot squall, which damaged our Bimini some more.  Yet another job for after our arrival. 

 

On the positive side there was a big school of large dolphins which were following us for a long time.  There is all kinds of wildlife here.  Iguanas, needle fish (about three feet long as well as tiny babies), gigantic moths, howler monkeys, different kinds of frigate birds and birds of prey – the list is sheer endless.  Perfect for Aurora Ulani. 

 

 

When I realized that we were going to go through the narrow gap between Monos Island and Trinidad proper during my off-watch, I speeded things up a bit.  Normally we don't go in anywhere in the dark, but with all the ships, current, squalls and since we had spent seven months here in 2006, I decided this time it would be OK.  We dropped the hook an hour after midnight and fell exhausted into our bunks. 

 

When we woke up again, we looked around us and found the green hills of Trinidad, which remind us very much of Taiwan.  Almost feels like home.  I must admit, it also felt pretty good to actually have completed the circumnavigation.  So many people had doubted us again and again - but here we were.  For me, it is one of my lifetime achievements, although lots of people have done it in the past.  I recommend doing it first and then start talking about how easy it is.  : – )  

 

One thing we didn't like was the fact that we were surrounded by big commercial ships.  There was nothing to be done about it at that moment, though.  We had to clear in and we did that as soon as we could.  It was no problem whatsoever.  They told us to come back before 1 January 2013 to extend our permit and that was that.  We got a ride with a Swedish fisherman to the next functioning ATM machine and found out that prices had gone up drastically in our absence.  It reminded us that we were now in the Caribbean after all and that means expensive.  It also means a totally different brand of yachties. 

 

We went to the supermarket to get a few things and after that we met SALSA-Kirk, who came to our boat for a chat.  When we were there, we noticed a big military-looking boat anchored very close to us.  That turned out to be a problem as around midnight we hit that boat.  Fortunately Johann and his wife had been watching things and had their fenders ready.  The boat was an old Dutch mine-sweeper, built entirely of six inch teak.  We chatted for a while waiting for the crazy currents to change.  I had almost forgotten that.  It was the pilot, who had told Johann to anchor there and now he was exactly above my chain and anchor. 

 

 

In the morning I heaved the anchor up which seemed excessively heavy.  The reason was a heavy piece of iron pipe which had entangled itself around my anchor.  It was so heavy that it took me about two hours to get rid of it.  All the time  sweat was pouring off me and once again I was swearing like a trooper. 

 

The next few days we had to reanchor numerous times.  No free moorings available and everything mega-crowded.  In the mooring field the depth is around ten meters but right next to it is a deep channel for big ships where it drops to 30 meters and more.  Not exactly ideal conditions for anchoring.  On top of that the pilot boat chases you away when a big ship or even bigger barge (transporting parts of a naphtha cracker to Venezuela) comes in and you are not in the designated area.  What is infinitely worse is what happens when you are not aboard at that time.  The tugboat will simply drag you away which means that your anchor won't hold any more.  Since you are not there to remedy the situation, your boat is at the mercy of the fates....

 

Fortunately a YSATT mooring became available and Jeff of SELAH (I had first met him in Langkawi) helped me to move DHARMA BUM III over there.  Not so easy on a catamaran with only one functioning engine/saildrive.  While going forward, you only have steering way when the boat speed is up.  Going backwards, it is all but impossible.  We made it no problem and the next step was to check on things ashore.  I talked to Don, the boss of Powerboats, where our boat is supposed to be hauled out.  I contacted our old mechanic Raymond, who is going to overhaul the engines, our old Indian friend Scooby, who will do the hatches and the Baco brothers Arno and Peter.  These catamaran specialists were here in 2006 too and had built a 55 1/2 foot luxury catamaran since then.  The boat should get launched in about two weeks and then they have to test it in the water.  They will do the fiberglass work on the nacelle (a kind of middle hull typical for Privilege catamarans).  Unfortunately that won't start until the middle of November, so it makes no sense to haul out until then.  Also, there are good friends of my old mate Roy Starkey on SEA LOONE (currently in Madagascar) as well as of SULA-Ron, whom we had just visited in Itaparica and who is a good friend of Roy as well.  Somehow the world of yachties is very small after all, no matter how far they are apart. 

 

When all the work has been completed our boat will be in very good shape indeed.  Kind of strange to have all the work done only to sell the boat.  We ran into many other friends, not only the ones we knew from our last time here.  Jörn Grote, who used to run First Mate and is now doing his captain's license in Fort Lauderdale and Henry, who used to be the stage-manager for Elton John, assorted wives and children went to the island Gaspar Grande for a "cooler lime" as Jörn called it.  It was very good to catch up with old friends.

 

 

Peter Laine, who had also built a big catamaran in our absence unfortunately is as busy as always.  Alwin, which we had met in New Zealand, had just bought himself a Fountain-Pajot Venezia catamaran.  If he hadn't bought a boat already, he would have bought our boat on the spot.  Selling a boat in the Caribbean is far from easy.  Repairing things over here is difficult enough, but selling it most resembles an emotional roller-coaster.  Our old friend Douglas Billings, who manufactured KISS wind generators, has sold his company.  Most of the people here seem little changed and pretty much the same as when we were last here. 

 

Apart from the boat, there is our new life to consider.  We still want to give Germany a shot, although almost everybody tells us that it is a bad idea.  It isn't easy to even get the paperwork done.  It looks as if we have to go through the whole process of applying for a long-term visa all over again and this time Liping even has to prove her German language talents before a visa is actually issued.  Bummer! 

 

Depending on how long all this takes, we might even meet up with Roy and our old friends Schelmi & Isabelle from the 46 foot Wharram Tiki catamaran WAKATAITEA (they had built it while we were in New Zealand) again.  That would be very nice!  Also Karl and Libu might come here in ROSINANTE very soon.  They are the yachtie friends which I have known the longest.  Just like Roy, they built and launched their boat in the early 70s and have lived on it ever since.  They did their circumnavigation and home-schooled their two children all the way through high school.  If that works out, we can look forward to culinary delicacies, as Libu is just as much a chef as Liping. 

 

Should be a pleasant end to our yachtie lifestyle. 

 

http://mail.im.tku.edu.tw/~jacobsen/

 

Holger, Liping & Aurora Ulani Jacobsen

Catamaran DHARMA BUM III

HolgPhone:   +18683995675

LipingPhone: +18683325494

Chaguaramas, Trinidad

Itaparica near Salvador de Bahia in Brazil - 12°53.22'S 038°41.31'W

Thursday, 2 August 2012

 

Hello from Brazil!  And merry Full Moon parties! 

 

 

By now our clocks and watches are at UTC-3 hours.  The trip across the South Atlantic was one of the most pleasant ones we've ever had.  Only the trip from Chagos to Mauritius can compare.  The wind was mostly around 25 knots from behind, so that we didn't even unpack the mainsail at all and did everything with the genoa.  So glad to be on a multihull!  One of our friends was rolling so badly that he mostly had three reefs in the main and even at anchor his boat was rolling like mad.  Once upon a time I was considering getting myself a small monohull - but I am definitely not going to do that now.  Much rather a Wharram or a little trimaran. 

 

An amazing thing were the many whales following us, for hours and hours, sometimes for days.  We think they were finback whales.  They were surfing just a couple of meters from us, regarding us with one eye and turning their flukes sideways so that they looked like giant dorsal fins.  The first time that happened, it gave Liping quite a fright!  Fortunately we didn't hit one of them, as happened to ADIO.  Apparently the whale got quite angry, for he rammed them full power in the side, so that they now have giant dent in their boat.  Which is fortunately made of metal. 

 

 

Our arrival was just as peaceful.  While almost all the other boats head for the marina in Salvador de Bahia, we decided to bypass that horrible city altogether and sailed on to the island of Itaparica.  Much more peace and quiet and also much safer.  Salvador has one of the worst reputations anywhere and people here call it The Black Hole.  Not only because of the predominant skin color of the population, but because everything disappears there on an astronomical scale.  Post office, customs, theft, robbery, muggings - you name it.  We were told that they had to move the Cape Town race back to Rio de Janeiro after only three years here, because about 80% of the sailors got mugged in the first few days, often right between the two marinas.  But that must surely be exaggerated!

 

By now we even can take showers in the cockpit again, because it finally got a bit warmer.  Only in the daytime, though.  At night temperatures fall to 27°C or even lower.  Right now it is winter and the rainy season, so we can expect rain for weeks on end and squalls of up to 40 knots.  Hmmm...

 

Just before our arrival here, Aurora was so excited that she couldn't sleep any more.  She tried it on the sofa in the salon and that seemed to work.  You don't miss any excitement there, see.  One day before our arrival, the clouds were lit up all over the horizon from the lights of Salvador.  Amazing how much electricity we humans waste.  The closer we got, the more I got reminded of Belem in the Amazon delta.  One skyscraper standing next to the other.  Apparently everything is falling into ruin and is very dirty and neglected. 

 

Here in Itaparica there is a more village-like atmosphere of a small tourist attraction.  I was reminded of Soure in Marajó where my brother Birger and I went on DHARMA BUM I together with Dede and Riton on the VILLE DE SAINT NAZAIRE in 1989.  Hard to describe, same architecture and flat land.  Typically Brazilian. 

 

Right after arrival I launched and pumped up the dinghy, put on the outboard and went to visit Reinhart & Marlene on ADIO from Cuxhafen.  We met before in Mauritius and they are good friends of Michael on TANOA, who is by now back in Germany.  The next day we went to visit the German boat UI, as there were  two little girls for Ulani to play with.  They swim like fish and climb like monkeys, very independent minded.  Their father is working in Germany while the mother is staying here with the children. 

 

Many boats here come from Europe and are new to the Yachtie lifestyle.  We managed to get cash out of a machine and buy a cucumber for Hamsti.  Back home we had the good instant noodles Made in Taiwan.  Unfortunately our supplies are dwindling.  Next project was WiFi and Internet.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and if it does, it is excruciatingly slow.  Still can do eMails once in a while, which is very nice indeed. 

 

Through my long-time friend Roy Starkey on SEALOONE (we met 1989 in Kourou) we got to know Ron Llewellyn, who lives in a house right here at the anchorage.  Ex-Special Forces in Australia, specialized in "High Altitude, Low Opening" parachute jumps with oxygen and special gear.  You only open up the chute when it is almost too late.  Often at night, as the idea is to penetrate enemy lines this way.  He did that for ten years, cross-trained and instructed Americans, the Brits and the like.  After that he quit and opened up his own sky-diving school.  Did that for many years and then went sailing.  After the first circumnavigation he thought it might be a good idea to sail from New Zealand non-stop and single-handed around Cape  Horn. 

 

There he got caught by a big storm.  The military observatory at Cape Horn measured wind velocities at 120 knots.  My God!  He was under bare poles, capsized, a Norseman terminal broke and that was that.  The mast came down and trapped the forward hatch in the open position.  Ron was only wearing a T-shirt and some kind of jumpsuit pants.  He stood on the ceiling and thought that this was most likely going to be the end, as SULA didn't seem to want to right herself again.  Fortunately she did after all and he could make it on deck and to that hatch crawling on his stomach.  But no way to do anything, as the broken mast was way too heavy.  Every wave put in many liters of 5°C cold water into SULA.  If he didn't fix the problem, she would surely sink.  He managed to destroy the hinges and wired the hatch into place.  Then back inside.  That's when he realized that he was now just about to die of hypothermia.  This was the second time he thought he wasn't going to make it.  Everything was wet, cold, full of diesel - an unbelievable mess.  I've seen the pictures.  He put on all the stuff he could find, so that he looked somewhat like the Michelin man. 

 

Then it took him two days to get the engine started.  Next was the radio and an emergency antenna.  The Chilean navy treated him very badly.  Heavy duty fines and it looked pretty sure that he would never get his boat out again if he took it to the military outpost in Puerto Williams.  Finally Ron had it and went under engine, just as the boat was, around the Horn to Ushuaia in Argentina.  His life was one big adventure.  Now he lives here with his young Brazilian wife Marli and baby Ronzinho. 

 

Life here can be very inexpensive.  A full meal with chicken, rice, noodles, beans, fruit-juice and a cafezinho is less than US$ 2!   

 

 

The other day we all had a barbecue on SEUTE DEERN from Cape Town.  Hans (72) hails from Hamburg and SangHee Lee from Korea.  Our friends Henry (Oz) and Tuk (Thailand) from PARPAR had bought three lobsters from a boat  that morning and the three Asian "girls" all cooked specialties from their country.  Delicious!  We had beer, red wine, Caipirinhas and good conversation.  Hans left Germany around 40 years ago and Henry always has excellent stories to tell from his life as a field geologist in remote areas all over the planet. 

 

By now Aurora Ulani is in the 4th grade of Calvert School, which alone means 6 1/2 hours of school every day.  Add to that Chinese and German lessons and you can imagine how busy we are.  At least it looks as if we will not have any visa-troubles for once.  As long as Liping is listed as crew on the boat, she gets pretty much the same deal as Ulani and I in Trinidad.  That is important as everybody told us it is not a good idea at all to attempt major repairs while here.  Spare parts never arrive, everything is always slow, late and costs more money than originally agreed on.  So we won't be staying all that long.  Got to get DHARMA BUM III back to the Caribbean - and after we have sold her, our sailing lifestyle will have come to an end.  Whether we can sell her up there or have to go to Australia or elsewhere is a different chapter again.  : - )

 

Here is the updated position tracker:

 

http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=WDC7641

 

All the best, cheers and ciao! 

 

Holger, Liping & Aurora Ulani Jacobsen

Catamaran DHARMA BUM III

Itaparica, Brazil, 12°53.22'S 038°41.31'W

HolgPhone +557197039908 

GloriaPhone +557183422235 (Data)

South Africa to Saint Helena - 5 July 2012 - 15°55.04'S 005°43.14'W

 

After three weeks our time in Saint Helena is coming quickly to an end.  For us, the trip from Cape Town was one of the best we ever had.  Both the wind - mostly around 25 knots - and the swell were coming from behind, so that after the first day we took down the main completely and were moving as if on tracks.  No fuss whatsoever.  The story was very different for a friend of us, who was sailing at the same time.  A 30 foot long keeled boat apparently behaves very differently in these kind of conditions and he was having a miserable time of it with three reefs in the main and constant rolling.  Even here at the anchorage he was still rolling like crazy.  Shows again that it very much depends on what kind of boat you are on. 

 

 

 

The big swell outside of Hout Bay did cause one problem on our boat as well.  My spare battery took off, smashed into the automatic water pump and broke off a nozzle.  Since the pump is well lower than the tank, we lost all our drinking water.  Not exactly a life-threatening situation as we had bottled water and all kinds of other liquids on board.  Still, while in a pinch, I might be content to drink only "homebrew", I don't much like it for taking showers or washing my hair.  And the best of all women will get positively grumpy in this kind of situation.  I had to get water quick.  The next source was in Jamestown, Saint Helena though.  Originally we had planned to pass this island close by and sail directly to Brazil. 

 

After 16 days of sailing we arrived.  The last night we were drifting, as we didn't want to arrive in the dark.  As friends had already told us, it was a rolly anchorage in very deep water.  Not quite as bad as the one in front of Betio, Tarawa, Kiribati, but here the swell was coming from the side.   

 

After a short time we were together with old friends and acquaintances.  Just in time for my 52nd birthday party.   Henry & Tuk from  PARPAR, Kirk from SALSA, Neil from FULL MOON, as well as Bill & Melissa from RELIANT showed up. 

 

Most of the time here, I had to deal with the water-system.  I had connected a smaller spare pump, put water in the tank, nada.  Even the foot pump in the galley didn't work any more.  I had to take apart half the salon to get at the tank and open it up.  I fixed the old, stronger pump and when finally I managed to get water, it was so filthy that I had to dump it overboard.  The foot pump still wouldn't work at all and by this time I was losing my temper on a regular basis, with the slightest provocation and at ever shorter intervals. 

 

That's when I decided to change tack.  I sent my girls ashore without me, so that I could concentrate on my work.  There was another reason, though.  By this time the swell had become considerable, so that I didn't really dare to anchor my dinghy that close to the rocks.  I simply didn't trust the small anchor I had bought for the dinghy in Fiji.  If the anchor doesn't hold, you can write off dinghy and outboard motor.  Kirk did it anyway and lost his diving mask and snorkel.  He also holed his dinghy, so that it always fills with water now.  His anchor, on the other hand, held so well that he had to dive with a crowbar to retrieve it.  The joys of going to out-of-the-way places. 

 

Finally l decided that I had massive amounts of air in my water system.  I didn't help to pour in water at the top, as the back pressure was too big.   I took a powerful manual bilge pump for the dinghy and used it to push water in instead of sucking water out.  At the same time Liping operated the foot pump in the kitchen.  That finally did the trick and everything was working once more as it should. 

 

Except that I now noticed a leak in my water tank...   After a lot of swearing and two more days of work, that problem was fixed as well.  Man!  PARPAR & FULL MOON had taken off for Ascension just after my birthday and soon RELIANT was on its way too.  Kirk had quite a few problems with his windvane self-steering and was busy fixing things as well.  And as we heard later, both FULL MOON and RELIANT had problems with the SSB radios.  Only PARPAR didn't report any problems. 

 

We still had time for a  trip around the island where we had a look at the houses of Napoleon Bonaparte, his tomb, the giant tortoises, the Jacob's ladder and many other interesting sights.  Unfortunately we were sitting in the back of a pickup-truck which my back didn't like at all.  Liping and Aurora Ulani went to a barbecue picnic at Sandy Bay but I couldn't go as I had picked up some kind of virus and suffered from neck- and headaches for about three weeks. 

 

 

 

Aurora Ulani and I took her little fishing net and tried to catch some sea creatures.  She enjoys this kind of activity tremendously.  Just like her father.  After a little while we had caught some starfish, a crab and various other creatures.  The fish were too fast and the sea urchins were too well entrenched in their holes in the rocks.  Unfortunately for the crab, it was gobbled up by the starfish. 

 

The "Royal Mail Ship" RMS ST. HELENA came by.  We watched how they offloaded three containers at a time onto barges which are powered by some gigantic kind of outboard engine, which looked like heavy duty construction machinery. 

 

Then there was the big discussion whether we should go and watch the hatching sea turtle on Ascension. We had tried at Ashmore Reef between Australia and Indonesia, but were not successful.  We really would like to watch this!  However, our friends had told us that it is often impossible to go ashore there as the swell is even more of a problem.  Also, Ascension would mean quite a detour and from there to Salvador de Bahia the wind would not be on such a propitious angle compared to leaving directly from here.  Even today, when we are about to set sail, we haven't made a decision yet. 

 

 

No matter what, we have a longish time at sea ahead of us which suits us quite well.  It'll get warmer all the time, the moon will accompany us at the beginning of the trip and we are well in the trade-wind area now.   

 

Our position:  http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=WDC7641

Tomorrow will have a good-bye party and weather permitting we will leave for Brazil pretty soon.

Tomorrow we will have a good-bye party and weather permitting we will leave for Brazil pretty soon. Winter is coming and weather windows are getting fewer and fewer. We'll probably bypass St. Helena and go straight for Salvador de Bahia. Should take us quite a while to get there....

Cheers!

Holger, Liping & Aurora Ulani
Catamaran DHARMA BUM III
Hout Bay Marina, Berth No. 90
Cape Town, South Africa
34°03.02'S 018°20.85'E
Phone 1: +27719749347 Holger
Phone 2: +27719284443 Liping

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Winter is coming to Cape Town

Monday, 30 April 2012

 

Not many of the long-distance yachtie boats are left here in Hout Bay near Cape Town, South Africa.  Most have gone across the Atlantic by now and are in South America, the Caribbean or even farther away.  It is getting noticeably colder, the frequency of storms has gone up drastically – as I write, it is blowing 52,5 knots (Force 10) – and most of us are huddling inside.  One storm is following another, so that we will have a respite of only one day before the next one starts this time.  Outside the bay, there are recorded wave heights of up to 17 meters.  Except for the residents there are only very few people left, as almost all the ones which haven't sailed, have flown away to see their families and left their boats behind for the time being. 

 

 

 

We had intended to be long gone as well.  We had waited for seven weeks for the mechanic Charles to start working on our saildrive.  Then he decided to tell us that he really didn't have the time to do the job.  We don't have enough time on our visas to go through the same routine twice and so we will head for Brazil with only one functioning saildrive.  Doesn't really matter as we use the engine only to get in and out of harbors anyway.  We were toying with the idea of leaving the boat here and visiting my family for three months.  My mother is suffering from cancer of the lymphatic system and is receiving chemotherapy.  Also, it wouldn't have been half bad to spend June/July/August in Germany to resume our trip when the winter here is over.  The school in our little village had already agreed to take Aurora Ulani in so that she could get used to the German school system.  Unfortunately all our plans fell through. 

 

We had applied for a South African visa-extension as soon as we got to Hout Bay more than two months ago.  We still haven't got it.  Things are going very slow around here and if it weren't for the approaching winter, we wouldn't mind at all.  It is a friendly little yacht club and marina here, and it is a busy fishing harbor as well.  We've befriended a few of the locals and we have met lots of people from Taiwan.  They have become very good friends by now.  These guys seem to make our life sometimes like a fairytale and they treat us like kings.  Thanks so much, guys! 

 

 

 

We did get a few things done and that is mostly thanks to the efforts of other people.  Steve Meeks, one of the sail makers of North Sails (Cape Town) has been very good from the beginning.  For a brand-new fully battened mainsail of 52 square meters, the repairs of the old main, the genoa, and the stackpack/lazyjacks he charged us less than US$ 1,900!  Even our local sailor friends find that price amazingly low.  We haven't been able to see whether it all fits properly, as the wind has simply been too strong.  According to Steve, he used the best cloth that North Sails (New York) had to offer. 

 

We have applied for a visa for Brazil and Wednesday Liping is going to apply for a new Taiwan-passport.  Don't want to get caught in the wrong place without one.  We've already had that happen twice with our German passports.  The first time it took four months and the second time it took about two months to get a new one.  Here it is supposedly only taking three weeks and since we have to wait for the visa for Brazil anyway, it makes sense to get it here. 

 

 

 

 

We got Aurora Ulani's Calvert School materials for 4th grade, which she will start in the beginning of August.  It was quite an act to get them as they were held by customs and they neglected to inform anybody.  Also, Cape Mail is in the middle of nowhere in Epping so that I was very happy indeed when our friend Anna offered me a ride in her car.  Things are moving along slowly and I fear that it may well be June and the beginning of winter when we finally get on our way.  We will try to go due north to take advantage of the Benguela current, although that means it will be cold and foggy for a long part of the trip.  The next update will probably from Brazil or the Caribbean, depending on how things go.  You can always see where we are at http://pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=WDC7641 . 

 

OK, ciao for now and cheers!

 

Holger, Liping & Aurora Ulani
Catamaran DHARMA BUM III
Hout Bay Marina, Berth No. 90

Cape Town, South Africa

34°03.02'S 018°20.85'E
Phone 1: +27719749347 Holger

Phone 2: +27719284443 Liping

Three Months South Africa

3/3/2012

Hi guys,

 

It's about time I wrote something in here again.  After all, we have been in this country for almost three months now.  Things in Richards Bay took an abominably long time as everything comes to a standstill at the beginning of December and it stayed that way until almost the middle of January.  Finally we were able to get a new shroud, which set us back about one "boat unit" of € 1,000 (US$ 1,250).  We used the waiting time to visit several national parks together with our friends Michael and his wife Sylvia from TANOA.  We saw lions, elephants, giraffes, cape buffalo, rhinos, hippos, crocodiles and a lot of other animals in the wild.  Cheetahs and leopards were conspicuously absent, though.  When Sylvia left for Hamburg, Edmund came with the same plane which took her away.  We had known Edmund on his own catamaran FELICITAS while we were in New Zealand.  Now he planned to sail with Michael all the way back home. 

 

Finally all was ready, the weather forecast was favorable and we took off.  First the Raymarine autopilot died.  The starboard engine stopped running as there seemed to be air in the system.  I replaced the linear drive of the autopilot, all the time being quite seasick, unfortunately to no avail.  We had to go into Durban to get this stuff fixed and we had to hand-steer until we got there.  Then, already inside the harbor, I started to go a bit slower - and the other engine died as well.  I had no choice, but to drop the anchor, which pleased port control no end. 

 

After Michael and Edmund had a quick look, I decided to get professional help.  The mechanic Jonathan quickly diagnosed and solved the engine problem, so that both 40 horse Volvos were working properly again.  One more time (hopefully the last) the main problem was caused by the incompetent mechanic in Thailand.  The autopilot was another matter.  I needed a new course computer, which cost another € 2,700 (US$ 3,375).  Bummer!  Finally we could clear out once more and when we were barely outside the harbor, I had to steer innumerable circles to align the compass of the new course computer and then had to complete the "auto-learn" feature, which entailed a rather long zigzag course.  By that time TANOA wasn't even to be seen any more.  They'd had their own nasty experience before, because they had sailed 300 miles for nothing, as the weather forced them to turn back to Durban.  Michael is a professional seaman and has a captains license for ships, so you can guess what conditions were like.  The "Wild Coast" is really not the right place to fool around in during bad weather. 

 

Of course the inclement weather was just waiting for us.  We all had to seek shelter in Port Elisabeth.  Gerold on his MOMO was in the marina, but since we wanted to avoid the endless paperwork, we decided to anchor outside the harbor.  I switched off the autopilot – and immediately lost all our steering.  I had to use the emergency tiller and the auto pilot again.  Both steering cables had snapped.  Poor Edmund spent hours in our engine room, as he had done in New Zealand.  Port Control wanted us in the marina, but I strictly refused.  We got permission to enter the harbor by dinghy the next day.  Gerold, Edmund and I got the new cables and then Edmund and Michael worked like maniacs to install everything, as they planned to leave that very evening.  When the wind plays ball here, you must make every effort to take advantage of it. 

 

The plan was to go around Cape Agulhas, which is in actual fact the southernmost cape in Africa, and not the Cape of Good Hope as many erroneously believe.  French sailing legend (and my and Elis inspiration) Bernard Moitessier called Cape Agulhas "one of the three great capes".  The local fisherman seem to agree with that assessment.  TANOA, having a wider variety of sails and being generally faster than us, actually made it around on the fist go, but we got caught by the weather again.  We tacked in all morning to Struisbaai only to find out that there was pretty much no shelter from the wind.  Also, there is a wreck which is shown incorrectly on the chart.  After the worst wind had died down a bit, we left again in the evening and rounded Cape Agulhas at 8:00 pm. 

 

We had intended to go right around the Cape of Good Hope, which is also sometimes called the Cape of Storms.  They say that every year there are 100 days of Force 11 (56 knots or more) or even higher winds around there.  I sure as hell don't want to sail around there during the worst time of the year!  Once again the radio told us about bad weather coming our way.  The weather forecasts were very often wrong, but you ignore them at your peril.  We decided to head for Hermanus, which again took the whole morning of tacking.  When we arrived we saw lots of rock, kelp, seals and a truly tiny harbor.  Nowhere to anchor really.  As nobody answered on the VHF, I anchored in the entrance and put the dinghy in the water.  Nada.  I was getting pretty frantic at the time and even considered to head out into the weather.  The radio upgraded the situation into a "gale warning" with "Very Rough Seas".  You can actually hear the capital letters.  Perfect! 

 

Suddenly Cape Town Radio was on the line and after a seemingly interminable interview they promised that they would call the Hermanus people on the phone.  Nothing happened for several hours.  The promised official didn't show up.  By then I had decided to go into the harbor, one engine or no.  The wind had picked up quite a bit already when suddenly a big RIB of "Sea Rescue" showed up.  I definitely had not asked for those guys, but nonetheless I was more than happy to have them there.  Henk with his powerful engines could tow me wherever he wanted, while the other two guys in the RIB were taking up slack and making sure that all went well.   Still, it took about an hour, until we were finally tied up to a huge mooring there. 

 

All was not well, as the mooring balls were connected by chains which acted like a hacksaw and proceeded to cut into my freshly painted boat.  There was not much we could do, as the wind was getting stronger and the whole next day we huddled inside.  When it died down a bit I went ashore in the dinghy where I met Boet Scheun, who originally comes from Namibia and even speaks German.  He runs a commercial diving school and when I asked him about directions to the next supermarket, he immediately offered to drive us all there.  The mooring problem had meanwhile been solved, but now one of the hard mooring balls kept slamming into our side.  I winched it up, but it wasn't really satisfactory.  When Liping had bought about one cubic meter of provisions, we called Boet who promptly picked us up.  Then he showed me pictures of a big storm, where the whole harbor had been under water and several ships sunk.  To show our appreciation for all his troubles, we invited him and Francois on board for a "sundowner".  As far as we are concerned, the friendliness and willingness to help is the best part of South Africa for us. 

 

The morning after we finally made it around the Cape of Good Hope.  We drifted the whole night in the vicinity, as we didn't want to arrive at our destination in Houtbaai in the dark.  Our friends Kirk of SALSA and Lars of LUNA were waiting at the dock when we arrived.  As before, the starboard engine was running, but it provided no thrust whatsoever.  Something is probably broken in the gearbox.  The mechanic is supposed to come next week, all our sails and the sail-cover are with the sail maker and we have already applied for a three-month visa extension.  Joshua Lin from the "unofficial Taiwan consulate" drove us all over the place so that Liping could buy Chinese foodstuffs, which are essential for good cooking.  We have already ordered the materials for 4th grade from Calvert School as Aurora Ulani is going to finish 3rd grade around the end of June or in July. 

 

Next on the agenda is the visa for Brazil.  Liping has to to appear in person at the consulate.  Trinidad & Tobago have made it clear that she can only apply for a visa in her home country, which means we have to send the passport by courier service to Taiwan and back again.  Very expensive and time consuming.  TANOA is taking off to Namibia today, while LUNA is on the hard in Cape Town.  SALSA, MOMO & DAKOTA are still here as well as many other new friends. 

 

Last night we went to a party on land and were told by one artist there, that she had never heard somebody talk so much about an eight-year-old child.  (Kirk? Lars? Who?)  She seems to be getting quite a reputation among the yachties!  Fortunately there was a black cat, she got a present of a book about cats and then there was Tuk from Thailand which she knew since Mauritius.  We learned a lot of new things about this country and had a very interesting evening. 

 

Today DAKOTA-Peter invited us into a posh fish restaurant here, in order to thank us for the numerous computer jobs.  All is well on board, our daughter is playing with two kids from the boat next to us and for me and Liping there is always enough to do.  Boredom is certainly not one of the problems here. 

 

Cheers!

 

Holger, Liping & Aurora Ulani
Catamaran DHARMA BUM III
Hout Bay Marina, Berth No. 90

South Africa

34°03.02'S 018°20.85'E
Phone 1: +27719749347 Holger

Phone 2: +27719284443 Liping