Praia, Ilha de Santiago, Cap Verdes Islands

We arrived in the Cap Verdes Islands on Tuesday evening on April 28, having covered 3800 miles since leaving Cape Town. We had very good wind and a fast passage initially in strong southerlies. The trades were a bit light and died to less than 10 kts approaching St Helena and we had to motor for a bit but we had a fast passage of less than ten days.
There were plenty of moorings available but still many cruising boats were there on their way to the Caribbean. We arrived on a calm day so we launched the dinghy and crossed the mooring field to the dinghy landing. Very difficult to do, due to the dozens of local boats.
There was little swell at the landing and we got ashore without problem. Clearing in was easy and convenient. I must say, the island was quite delightful and is well worth the visit. Jamestown has one of the last remaining examples of original Georgian architecture and has a fascinating history. The people are extremely friendly and have a most peculiar accent and way of speaking.
We did all the touristy things. We climbed Jacob's ladder and went on a tour of the island with Robert Peters in his rickety VW van. He is strongly recommended if you visit the island. We saw Napoleon's house and his tomb, the Governor's house and his giant tortoises. It was a very long day.
We got some laundry done and some fresh vegetables and fruit and some excellent yellowfin tuna. Fueling was also simple and efficient but quite expensive at about $1.75 /liter.
We left on Monday, April 13 in what was forecast to be strong trades but were in fact quite light. We proceeded under our double headed rig as we could not burn fuel until much later in the leg.
We had some very nice easy sailing even into the doldrums, the weather getting hotter every day. We did eventually have to motor in the calms, interspersed with line squalls and thunder showers. We had a problem with the watermaker. The high pressure pump would not start up intermittently and I suspect that the start capacitors are failing. On shutting the watermaker down the rinse cycle went on but then would not shut off. I serious problem as the watermaker was then dumping our freshly made water out through the sea water side of the watermaker. We took the solenoid that controls the rinse cycle apart and it was stuck in the open position. Some careful cleaning remedied the problem but spares are on their way to the Azores.
We got into a brief thunderstorm in the doldrums which lasted about 3 hours with winds in the 40 kt. range. A steel bolt on the mainsail traveler gave way and needed repair with some bits and pieces I had on board. Bad things usually happen in threes and the third thing happened soon after. The main sail out haul drive started to make a very bad noise and would only turn though one revolution and then stop. We suspect that there is a broken tooth in the gearbox that turns the mechanism. We are now in the process of taking the drive apart but it will probably require replacement.
Fortunately, we are able to unfurl the sail manually.
After the doldrums we got into the NE trades and as these were quite light, we were able to motor sail quite effectively for some of the time. Mostly though, it was motoring slowly into light headwinds and adverse current.
We got into Praia with 300 liters to spare.
This leg took just over 2 weeks and was quite tedious. In retrospect, it might have been better to swing out well west of the cap verdes and go straight on to the Azores but hindsight is always 20/20
Praia is much as expected. A desperately poor, third world country without much infrastructure.
We have the obligatory boat boy facilitator and even though I am paying him too much he has been helpful in getting the clear in process done and getting us 600 liters of fuel at a very good price. 70 cents a liter delivered by truck to the dock!. The process took all day and required a fair amount of trust. He took me by cab to a shell gas station where the posted price for diesel was $1/ liter and I paid cash for 600 liters ( about $420) and they told me the tanker truck would arrive at 1500 hours.
The boat boy, whose name is George by the way, said there might be a problem bringing the boat into the harbor as the dockmaster needed to do paperwork and charges would be involved. A $20 bribe made that go away. I'm not sure who the bribe went to or if I got shaken down again by George but we did tie up along side and the tanker truck did show up at about 1800H which is 1500H on local island time. Anyway the fueling got done with only minimal spillage and we were anchored up again as it was getting dark. The watermaker is again working well.
Taking the outhaul drive is proving a bit difficult but I am sure that Ron will prevail.
We are carefully looking at the weather around the Azores and note the low pressure systems marching eastward at regular intervals. With a bit of luck and planning we should be able to slide in between them.
Photos to follow.

Leaving Cape Town

RCYC Cape Town, SA

All formalities completed. Final computer glitches repaired and it looks like we can shove of within the hour. Let the fun begin!

V and A waterfront marina, Cape Town SA

Alas, the Admiral left for London on Tuesday and I am busy getting the boat ready to leave at the end of the month. I installed anew 26" TV in the aft cabin and on Wednesday numerous contractors showed up. The guy from Climma brought over a new PCB for the salon air conditioner which was burned up in the voltage spike last week. It was easily fitted and the A/C now is working  well. I decided to get the fuel tank cleaned and all the fuel polished and it was just as well I did as the fuel at the bottom of the tank was contaminated with water and algae growth and this treatment was long overdue. The process took most of the day and I would strongly recommend Western Cape Diesel Technology and Cedric Cooper very strongly. Last but by no means least the riggers came by to do a free mast and standing rigging check prior to departure. All was well with the rig except for the block on one of the external halyards on the mizzen that was easily replaced. The down side was that they managed to damage my starboard electric primary winch by getting an override and destroying the self tailer. Of course no parts are available in SA, but fortunately Ian has sourced and purchased them in the UK and will bring them out at the weekend.

Also, one of the freezers is not working well. A refer tech came by yesterday and spent an hour or so yesterday but did not resolve the problem and returned today and spent 5 hours and hopefully it's fixed. Time will tell. So it's been been 3 steps forwards and 2 steps back but i'm sure all will resolve itself by next week. 

before photo of rudder. Heavy growth and  not much anode left. No blisters though

prop was in sorry shape. much better now

sample of fuel from the bottom of the tank

under surface of the keel. All growth was removed and the keel ground down to bare metal and then primed and epoxied prior to bottom paint

crud at the bottom of the tank. Problem waiting to happen

more crud. All clean now

V and A Waterfront Marina

After seeing nobody here in Cape Town for months we have been suddenly inundated with visitors, My friend Len and Kathy's son David came by on Sunday and my Brother and girlfriend Sharon came to stay in Capetown on Saturday and crew Ron arrived this morning. It going to be non stop work with getting the boat ready to leave next week.

David and the Admiral and I

Haulout

on the slipway

Autoprop overhauled with all new bearings, propspeed and new anode

coming out on the slipway

busy making pre-made meals

Royal Cape Yacht Club, Cape Town, SA

Lots has happened since my last post. Some good and some not so much. The good includes the return of the Admiral last week for a brief sojourn until we leave South Africa. We have now both completed our dental programs and all went well.
The not so good occurred last week when there was a 380 Volt spike from the shore power through the boat. We have had damage to both battery chargers, the lap top charger and one of the printed circuit boards on the main air conditioner. This sort of thing always happens when we are getting ready to leave causing a mad scramble to get everything sorted before we go.
There are no 24V battery chargers in stock in SA so fortunately, Ron will bring them out next week when he leaves from the US.
Callisto has been on the hard since Monday. The crane in the yard was deemed too small to lift Callisto so we were hauled out on a slipway. All went well but since the boat is sitting on her keel it will be difficult to get at the bottom of the keel to prep and paint it. We will try to do some of it and then place blocks on the prepped part and do the rest then.
The autoprop has been serviced and the poles and black trim have been repainted and the topsides buffed out. Hopefully all will be completed for a splashdown on Friday afternoon and then back to the V and A.
Ron arrives next week, as does my brother and girlfriend so it should be non stop until our departure at the end of the month.
Photos to follow.

V and A Waterfront Marina, Capetown, SA

I have been very lazy since my last post but will try to make up for some lost time here. We were unable to renew our South African visas when we came back from Namibia so we decided to go back to England on February 12^th to celebrate my brother's 60^th birthday and also to see the new baby. We could have gone back to Namibia but that would not have guaranteed us a full 90 days.

I had also intended to go back to the US for two days to get my annual stamp on my passport.

Well, the visit was very good. Even the weather wasn't too bad. We went to north London and I left all my travel documents at some US dollars at my brother's flat in a suitcase in a closet where I thought they would be safe and off we went to the New Forest for his birthday.

We had an excellent time with family and on Sunday we went to see the new baby. All well until a phone call on Sunday night informed us that my brother's flat had been burgled and all my travel documents were stolen. The Admiral had put hers in a jacket pocket and fortunately, these had been overlooked by the thieves.

So much for my plans to go to the US. I had to cancel that and spent my time getting a new passport in London and once obtained I went back to Capetown on the February 19^th. The Admiral will stay until March 12 and help me to get ready for the Atlantic run back to the UK.

I have been a dental tourist and had some crowns made here in Capetown and have been doing boat chores, the weather has been mostly excellent.

I also spent some time with the Kilkea's who were busy getting their boat ready to leave for the West Indies with their crew, Ray and Brenda.

My old medical school friend, Martin and his wife Guida came to visit from London for a few days and we did the usual touristy things, Cape Point, Stellenbosch, Franschoek etc. again.

We had a very good time and I've been spending my days wandering about and binge watching Breaking Bad and not really doing much at all.

That is until on Sunday night, I had a major power surge on the dock and I'm having trouble with some of the AC systems on the boat. One of the air conditioners won't work and the watermaker is also not right. So no more lazy days until I get them fixed.

All the dental work is now completed and I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Admiral on Thursday. Callisto is getting hauled out next week to have her bum painted and some other maintenance work done.

here is a photo of Sydney and new baby Genevieve