Picton Castle is now alongside the long narrow dock in the small port town of Luderitz, Nambia. Nice old wooden fishing vessels of the North Sea model, big stern trawlers, a massive and complicated looking diamond dredging ship, a small tug and few yachts, with sea gulls laying low in the strong winds. At the pilot station at 1730. Got alongside about 1800 yesterday evening. Blew hard on the way in. Winds kept picking up all afternoon to a full gale then increased. As the Picton Castle came around Diaz Point (where Bartholomew Diaz made landfall in 1488 (I think)) winds increased to 45 even 50. Down to storm staysails but full power, the land provided some lee from the seas anyway. Once in the approach channel the wind, as hard as it was, was on the nose as we brought her into the dock. Wind being right ahead is better than astern or from a side when docking anyway. The docking was smooth. The crew did a good job. And soon enough we were cleared in by customs and immigration ready to take in this interesting old port.
Date: March 10, 2019
From:
Cape Town, South Africa
To:
Luderitz, Namibia
Noon
position: 26-38S x 015-09E
