Making some time here in this Agulhas Current. Making 11 knots. That’s some fast for this ol’ barko. Lots of ships to be seen headed for the Cape or away. Huge 1,200 foot long tankers with almost 200 foot beams. You could set this ship on deck athwartships and no bits would hang over the […]
Closed with coast of South Africa about midnight. Winds went from 25 to 30 knots out of the north to 10 to 20 knots out of the south west around about the same time in short order. Got into some lumpy seas. Hove to. About 0800 this morning got going again, conditions moderated near the
Here we are about 60 nautical miles off the coast of South Africa near Durban. Picton Castle is under shortened sail and it’s blowing hard. Sheets are some taut. Not quite a gale but 30 knots and more sustained wind than we have seen in our flying fish sailing over the last nine months since
Blowing pretty hard. We are 65 nautical miles off the coast. Under shortened sail. Expect it to blow a bit more before it lays down, maybe a bit over 30 knots. The gang is well briefed. Port and starboard watertight doors are shut on the cabin trunk. Everything pretty well snugged down. Double gaskets on
Set sail yesterday afternoon with wind making up out of the South with promises to back and fair. Seas a bit lumpy. Extra lashings going on here and there. Closing with the coast near Durban about 200 miles to the west. Supposed to blow strong out of the NE tomorrow. Cloudy. All good. Portholes getting
Making good time under power. Wind has filled in some from the SW, so we have fore and aft sails set. Wind might come back enough to set squares later, we will see. Meantime, no dilly-dallying on our way to the Cape. Workshop today will be “ship types and how to identify them”. We saw
The day came in calm so we fired up the main engine. Early we had 3-knot fair current despite the calm. No seas to speak of. Sunny and clear. Tammy and John making sails on the hatch. A new spanker and a new t’gallant almost done. Getting our spare spar timber out of where it
Nice sailing day at sea. Almost halfway across the Mozambique Channel. We had to send down the main royal yard. It cracked while bracing. The Mate led the gang of Jack and Anders aloft in a fine piece of seamanship getting that yard down the proper way. We are going to make a new one
A fine sailing day at sea. Seas diminished, wind faired, yards almost squared, sparkling seas and nothing but blue sky. In sailmaking, the new spanker is almost done with Tammy roping and John stitching cringles. Spot painting in the dry weather, easy sailing as we head across the Mozambique Channel. Excellent rices bought at Reunion
Sweet sailing day today as we head for southern Madagascar, painting, sailmaking, varnishing, steering, sail handling all part of the day. Seas smoother and winds lighter but all pretty nice. From: Reunion Towards: Cape Town, South Africa Date: Feb 1st, 2019 oon Position: 24° 28’S x 048°28’E Course + Speed: SEly + 5.5 kts Wind
