Fenix in St. Helena

[fenixrises]

Hi all,

Even though it isn't the New Year yet I decided to start a new thread. New ocean and new hemishere and all that.

Fenix and I left Simon Town on Saturday morning November 15th at about 6:15 AM. My stay in Simon Town was good. The people and the yacht club were great. The only problem is that Simon Town is kind of off by itself and its touristy, so most of the eateries are geared to the tourists and so are the prices.

Once again it became a waiting game with the weather. The Cape Town area is well known for strong winds, especially in the southern summer. And that is of course the time when most of the yachties come through. Boats were stacking up all along the coast back to Richard's Bay waiting for a softening of the easterlies which predominate in the summer. During my three weeks in Simon Town I would say the wind blew from the east or southwest at 30+ knots for three out of five days.

Of course I had to do some provisioning and a few minor jobs on the boat so it was not a total loss of time. I had hoped to be in Brazil before Xmas but any chance of that was gone as my trip down the coast took more time than I thought. To top it off I had a real nightmare getting my final clearance from Cape Town. I won't regale you with the details except to say that it took FIVE trips to one office and getting stuck in an elevator for 2 & 1/2 hours to finally sort it all out. PLEASE....just let me go!

The two days before I left it was blowing 35+ knots from the SE. That's right into False Bay which lies in a N-S direction generally. I was hoping that it would ease off to say 25 or so. That way I could make the 12 miles to the south in order to get around Cape Point, the end of the Cape of Good Hope. That is the one bad part of going to Simon Town. While it is far more pleasant than the yacht club and marina in Cape Town it can be a real challange to get out of the bay and around the corner.

When we left it was blowing 20~25K and occasionally gusting a bit more but the weather report was good so I decided to head out. I let the folks at the marina talk me into staying a few extra days so I could celibrate my 60th birthday with them, rather than being at sea by myself. All in all that proved to be worthwhile as everyone went above and beyond to help me enjoy myself. But now another week had passed and it was time to go.

Rather than lose anything to leeward I tacked a few times just outside of the breakwater in order to clear south of Roman Rocks. Once past that obstacle I was able to sail a long str'b tack across the bay. I hoped then to be able to go on a port tack and pass safely to the south of Cape Point. But I didn't quite make it so tacked a few more times once across the bay on the west side. To the SE, S and SW of Cape Point there are some shallow spots and the sea often breaks heavily in those areas. Definitely to be avoided. By this time the wind had eased and it turned into a glorious day to be sailing. Bright sunshine, sorta warm breeze at 12~15 K from the south and seas not too big, just about perfect conditions.

During my sail back across the bay I had a dolphin escort for a bit and saw many seals and sea birds. And a first for me I saw a seal eating a sea gull! He had it in his mouth and was flipping it all around trying to tear off bit size chunks. Never thought that seals ate sea gulls. But maybe it is revenge by the seals. False Bay is the only place known in the world where great white sharks breach and they do it while chasing baby seals. False Bay is also a birthing ground for whales. Upto 1,500 whales visit every year. And in season the sailors at the club often find it difficult on their weekend races in the bay to avoid hitting the numerous whales.

We passed the last of the dangers about 2:30 PM and then eased the sheets a bit and started heading off shore. This is easy to do as the coast dips back to east after Cape Town and the course was generally NW. The first couple of days a watchful eye is needed as the main shipping route around the Cape and up the south Atlantic was right where I was going. Next WP A04. That's 30*S x 14* 20 E. Throught the rest of the day the fine sail continues. On Sunday the wind is up a bit and more SW. Now we are really flying.

Sunday to Monday, 146 miles. Later on Monday the wind goes SSE-SE and increases a bit more to 25K. By Tuesday I am flying the Yankee off the boom and the s'sail off the pole, just about DDW. The seas are building to 4~5 meters and Fenix is zooming. Sometimes she catches a wave just right and surfs for a 100 feet or so. The bow wake is as high as the upper lifelines and peaks just aft of the lower shrouds. Monday to Tuesday, 154 miles. And the wind increases a bit more late Tuesday so time to drop the Yankee. Tuesday to Wednesday, 155 miles, 18 of the 24 hours with no more than the s'sail. Wow at this rate I'll reach St. Helena in 12 days. But of course as we go further north the wind eases. By Wednesday night its softer and the seas are down and the ride is gentle. Only 110 miles for the next 24 hours.

Now we enter the area between the SW'erlies and the SE trades. The going is quite light. I dig out the drifter and this keeps Fenix moving along in the gentle sea and light breeze. These conditions continue for a few days, I just wish it would warm up a bit. We are now under drifter and assym and right on the edge of the tropics at 24*S. Then the winds dies altogether. Volvo to the rescue. Over the next couple of days I am trying all different combinations of sails to keep moving. By Thanksgiving we are gaining again, 122 miles. And we cross the Prime Meridian. Back in the western hemisphere after two years.

For the rest of the passage the conditions remain pretty good. No more 150 mile days but nice trade wind sailing. I notice however that the wind is constantly shifting. It ranges from SSE to ENE and seems to swing throughout the day in a cycle. This means that every three hours or so I must trim the sails and reset the vane to keep on course. By Sunday night the 30th of Nov I think I see the outline of St Helena off under the clouds about 40 miles distant.

At 7 AM Monday morning the hook is down. 16 days for the 1,800 miles trip, not too bad for my little Cape Dory 28.

While early I am not the first of this season's cruisers. There are six other boats already anchored when I arrive but I notice four still have up their Q flags so have arrived sometime just before me, possibly Sat or Sun. Then later in the afternoon another arrives. Of course the big herd is still to come, mostly in January.

Check in was simple and I met Pelican Express again. We first met in Simon Town. They left the Tuesday after me and just beat me by less than a day to St. Helena. Way to go Fenix. Oh! Pelican Express is a Sun Deer 60'.

Take care,
Fred

[Jerry Hammernik]

Fred,

Good to hear from you again. We've been wondering how you have been doing. Glad the passage went well. Nice job vs. the Sun Deer 60.

And Happy Birthday as well. However, we are the ones getting a gift as we "crew" for you in cyber space.

Well Done Fenix!

[John Vigor]

Hi Fred:

You sure have been getting a move on. Did you get stuck in Port Elizabeth or Mossel Bay? I used to live in Simonstown.

Have you climbed Jacob's Ladder yet, and scoped out the sexiest curator in the world at the Jamestown museum? Say hello to Donny's for me, and Anne's Place, too.

Where to next? Ascension? Fernando?

Fair winds and good landfalls.

John Vigor

[chase]

Hey Fred, Happy belated 60th! Hope you have a great time in St. Helena.

Chase

[paul marko]

Fred,

happy birthday , and congratulations on the safe and fast passage to St. Helena.

I hope you are able to visit North East Brazil, Fortaliza is a real nice place, I worked there for a couple of months ,the coast and people are great.

I sure like reading these reports

Paul

[fenixrises]

Hi all,

Fenix and I arrived at Ascension at midnight on Thursday the 11th.

The 7 and a 1/2 day passage was easy with generally light winds in the 8~10 knot range. The first 4~5 hours out of St H there was a very confused sea in the lee. A lumpy, bumpy, choppy, chunky ride and not much wind.

There was a lot of clouds for three days or so and then I got mostly clear sky. The spin and drifter saw a lot of use. For about two days I went along with the spin and poled s'sail. Only had to adjust the vane every 6 or so hours for the cyclical breeze.

I saw Asc. from about 40 miles out at 13:00 so knew it would be another night time approach. Fortunatly the coast is clear of dangers and the wind increased a bit for the last 6 hours.

There is a floating mooring in Clarence Bay for unloading fuel. This is attached to a long floating hose that goes to shore. It had no light on it but there was a full moon and clear sky so I was able to see it from about 100 yards away. What a heck of a thing to go bump in the night with!

Check in was easy and only took minutes and 11Pounds at the police station. No one lives permenately on Ascension they are all contract workers or military personal.

This is a quick stop over to break up the trip to Brazil. I will leave on Sunday the 14th, should make it in time for New Year's eve.

Since I do not do much walking these days I was not about to climb the monsterous stair case John. I'm afraid I'm not much of a tourist and can't really afford to rent cars and such. If I can't get there on my bicycle I do not go, generally speaking.

But I did go to Ann's place and walked around a bit in the lower town but not much more. Only stayed for 4 days. Got some water and a small amount of food then set out again.

Take care all and have a good Ho-Ho or whatever,
Fred

[John Vigor]

Nice going, Fred, you're making good time. I don't blame you for not climbing Jacob's Ladder. I didn't try either.

Depending on where in Brazil you're going, Fernando da Noronha is a very pretty island to visit. Great ancient fort with cannons and free fruit trees. Incredible white beaches framed with green palm trees. Home of the rare spiralling dolphin. They have a dolphin nursery there. Good anchorage. No harbor, though, you have to land your dinghy through surf. At least that's how it was 20 years ago! And fairly expensive as everything has to be flown in from the mainland. They have regular air connection to the Brazilian mainland.

Incidentally, I've always thought the South Atlantic should be called the Pacific, since the Pacific is a lot rougher in many places and doesn't live up to its name.

Good luck with the doldrums and the lightning storms. And give the mouth of the Amazon a wide berth if you can. Lots of whole floating trees many miles out to sea. I once saw brown fresh water 200 miles out to sea off the mouth of the river. And miles of lines of ripples where the fresh water meets salt water.

If you go near Fernando, watch for the underwater pyrotechnics, big discs of flashing phosphorescent lights. Darwin saw them and had no explanation. I saw them too. Quite fascinating.

Fair winds, good landfalls, Fred.

Cheers,

John V.

http://www.johnvigor.com

[mike ritenour]

Having made port calls on Ascension Is and worked in Brazil your ports of call are bringing back fond old memories.

Happy Holidays and Fair Winds,
Rit

[fenixrises]

Hi all,

After a brief stop in Ascension we were off to Brasil. This is the third leg of a pretty long passage from South Africa. 1,800 miles to St Helena, 700miles to Ascension and another 1,500 to Salvador, Brasil. A total of 4,000 miles. Whew! And about that far to get back to Florida, so I am 7/8TH's of the way around the world. Yeah! I expect to arrive sometime in mid April, according to plan.

The trip from Ascension to Brasil was in mostly good to great conditions. I was concerned that it would be light going after the run from StH to ASC was filled with 8~10 winds for the most part. The very first hours were a bit slow so we ran off on a port tack under main and spin. By the afternoon, once out of the lee of ASC, the wind was up to a very pleasant 15 K or so. So down the spin and up the genny.

The next day, Monday, conditions continued to be good. Around noon a very large pod of dolphins came to play. There were over 20 maybe 30 in the group. This was the largest pod I had ever seen. And they stayed with Fenix and I for over an hour. I have some videos of this. Delightful and quite fascinating to watch them swim in the bow wave. Off aft on the port side some of them were jumping straight up out of the water and doing spins in the air. Fantastic!! To top it off we had a 130 mile first day.

Tuesday the wind gets up a bit more and I double reef the main. Another 130 miles. Conditions over the next number of days are very similar and Fenix is in her element. 133 miles, 131 miles, 132 miles and about 9PM this day (Fri 19th) we are already half way. The clouds increase and decrease through the day and night cycle and the wind shifts I experienced earlier also continue. Then the wind eases a bit and speed drops to 125, then it goes even lighter so only 99 miles the next day. Now it's the solstice, the first day of summer for us folks down here in the southern half of the world. Fred is in his element. The temp is 75~80 all day and night but I still use a light blankky to sleep under as the breeze has a bit of cool in it after the sun goes down.

By Monday I have reset the onboard time to GMT-2 hours. We have crossed 30 degrees west and the breeze is still light so only 101 miles this 24 hours. On Tuesday I am pretty sure we will make Brasil by Friday the 26th and to help us along the wind is up again so we make 122 miles. By now the wind is staying in the NE which I think is a bit strange seeing as how this is supposed to be the area of SE trades. I'm thinking it must be a coastal thing. But it concerns me 'cause after Salvador I have to go back NNE and sure do not want to be plagued by 100's of miles of contrary wind AND current. Time will tell.

Wednesday things ease again so only 108 miles then up again on XMas day to 119 miles. By 6PM I am less than 100 miles away so should make it sometime early afternoon on Friday. At 11PM I can see the loom of the lights along the coast and that's from nearly 70 miles at sea. At least it means that the south American continent is still there. I'm thinking that by sunrise I should be able to see land. I can't! Because of the coastal haze the land is obscured but I can smell it. A sweet flowery fragrance fills the air as we draw nearer the land. A couple of hours out the wind has gone light and I start the motor to assist. Do not want to sit out here all day rolling around but in an hour or two the nice breeze fills in again and our last day at sea ends in a good run of 126 miles. By 1PM we are in the bay and looking for the right place to go. I'm thinking that it is the day after XMas so the federales and such are probably not too hard at work.

Eventually I go to Bahia Marina and get a slip. Short term only as it is very expensive. A very pleasant young man at the marina office helps me with some of the paper work and calls the Federal Police. By now it is about 4PM so no go with immigration. Do it tomorrow. The first evening in town I want to treat the cook to a meal but the restaraunts down here by the marina are expensive and not to my taste. So I take a cab ride, expensive, to the local shopping mall to look around and also to find the super mercado. The next morning I get a cab, still expensive, and just manage to catch immigration but customs is closed and I need its form to clear with the port captain. Oh well I'll do the rest on Monday.

Take care,
Fred

[Warren Kaplan]

All I can say Fred is WOW!!!

Its early morning here and you've made my day already!!!!

Hey Fred. Summer in Brasil. Stay away from the beaches. The sights there may convince you to postpone your trip north until winter!!! We wanna' see you in April!!

[Russell]

Fred, any plans for stops in any of the eastern caribbean islands on your way home? Would love to buy you a beer or two or more!

[fenixrises]

Hi Russell,

General plan is to go to Trinidad/Tobago then up the eastern islands, Windward, Leeward groups. Then across towards Puerto Rico and north of Cuba to the west coast of Fla. As always this general plan is subject to change on my whim of the moment.

Also since Fenix is for sale it is possible that I will be delivering her to new owners as part of my return passage.

The only pressing part is to return b4 the start of hurricane season. I want to be a bit earlier than that so I can get well situated with the boat.

One of my nieces who lives in Pa is a teachers aid. She has had me adopted by her entire class, her youngest is one of the class. So I am "Uncle Fred" to a whole group of youngsters. She has promised them that I will be there b4 the end of the school year so's I can tell them about my trip. I am looking forward to it, should be great fun.

I will probably leave Salvador in a week or so and go to Fortaleza next, then on to T/T.

Take care,
Fred

[Russell]

Fred, I am in the Windwards now, but heading north after new years and will be in Purto Rico (Culebra) by feb, perhaps I can catch you as you pass through.

If you need any recent and up to date info on the eastern caribbean, I will be happy to help, I know these islands very well at this point. As you get closer we can arrange to chat on SSB.

[paul marko]

Todo Bien,

as they say there in NE brazil. I wonder sometimes ,given your speed across the Atlantic , if your CD 28 doesn't have a jet engine attached.

I hope you plan to spend a little down time on the West side of Florida. I have found it to be one of the most convenient and non-threating sailing areas available to US sailers. I make this comparison after sailing about 30 years on the East and West coasts of the US and 6 years on the North coast of Africa.

I would enjoy seeing you and fenix on the Gulf if our paths should cross.

Paul Marko

[fenixrises]

Hi Russell,

I would be great to talk by radio. 8108MHz worked pretty well from Roy on the Peri Peri net. Of course it always depends on conditions. Here in the marina my radio is near usless because of the background noise. Lots of static from discharge lighting and such. Think about what would work for you and I will give a try once I leave here.

Hi Paul,

Western FLA is great. One of my nieces has a house in the
Tampa area and mine is in Gaineseville.

But the area is still subject to getting pasted bad. In '04 SW FLA was hit by 2~3 pretty heavy hurricanes, Boca Raton and Punta Gorda come to mind. Even in Gainesville two pased over my house.
So I want to be well secured if I am there.

Take care,
Fred