Current Position: 28 47.476’S 32 04.958’E; Timezone: UTC+2; SOG: 0; COG: N/A; TWS: ?; TWD: ?; Distance to Waypoint (Richards Bay): in a slip at ZYC; Total Miles Sailed: 15574 nm; Engine Hours: 314; Estimate Fuel: 60+15+50;
Comments: I woke up at 4:30. Not enough sleep. Will need to catch up before I leave Saturday. Stacey’s dog sitter flaked out and she has no other options for her “special needs” dog, so she won’t be joining me in Cape Town. That means I am not in any particular schedule. My plan is to push through to the South Atlantic as quickly as the weather will allow me. For now, that appears to be the 330 nm to East London on Saturday. Durban will be the only port to bail if the weather forecast changes. I am leaving early Saturday, which means I will need to make the call Saturday evening. Once committed, there will be no turning back. After that, it will be Port Elizabeth and then the south coast to Cape Town. I have a punch list of mostly minor repairs. I started out this morning by cutting out bad sections of rope and whipping ends to make shorter serviceable lines. I then “fixed” the line to raise the watervane. Thi will be the third “fix”. I tied double braid to it and it wore out in one short passage. I made a Dyneema pendant and attached it directly to the hole at the bottom of the blade and in chaffed through in half a passage. This time I have put a shackle through the hole and tied Dyneema-cored double-braid to it. Fingers crossed. All of my hats have mildew stains on them, so I soaked them in bleach water, which worked surprisingly well. One of the fiberglass support rods for the sailpack had poked through the end, even though I had reinforced it with leather. I managed to sew the hole shut with the Speedy Stitcher. Not sure how long it will last. I also sewed one of the baton pockets on the mainsail. It was one of the pockets I sewed with the Sailrite machine in Tahiti. This time I used whipping cord and the Speedy Stitcher. Unfortunately, I broke the needle. I thought I had a spare but cannot find it. It is 8:15 and it started to rain right when I finished up. The only other sewing project I have are the patches on the mainsail reefing grommets in the middle of the sail. They will be hard to get to. I need a heavy duty curved needle. It is 10:30 and I just checked the weather forecast. The wind is arriving earlier than expected, by tomorrow evening. I have changed my plans and will depart about 16:00 tomorrow. Most of my chores are done. I just filed an electronic flight plan for East London and I have filled in the physical paperwork for Richard’s Bay. After I drop the car off at 7:30 tomorrow, I am being picked up by Eric the taxi driver who will take me around to the three offices to get the paperwork stamped. It was a long day of washing, organizing, making repairs, and visiting the bank. I went to the bank twice today (total of 4h) and still don’t have access to my account. The last request was a utility bill from my residence. This after 12h this week sitting in an office telling them I don’t live in a house anymore. I gave up, collected my passports (they wanted my expired ones), my boat papers (that they requested), etc. Looks like they’re going to keep my 10,000 Rand. I stopped by the grocery store one last time (have enough fresh food to make it to Cape Town). It is 19:00 and I just checked the forecast. Nothing has changed, except the window seems even wider (to Tuesday afternoon rather than morning). My punch list is complete except for returning the rental car and getting the stamps in my flight plan, both of which will be done in the morning.
Comments: I woke up at 4:30. Not enough sleep. Will need to catch up before I leave Saturday. Stacey’s dog sitter flaked out and she has no other options for her “special needs” dog, so she won’t be joining me in Cape Town. That means I am not in any particular schedule. My plan is to push through to the South Atlantic as quickly as the weather will allow me. For now, that appears to be the 330 nm to East London on Saturday. Durban will be the only port to bail if the weather forecast changes. I am leaving early Saturday, which means I will need to make the call Saturday evening. Once committed, there will be no turning back. After that, it will be Port Elizabeth and then the south coast to Cape Town. I have a punch list of mostly minor repairs. I started out this morning by cutting out bad sections of rope and whipping ends to make shorter serviceable lines. I then “fixed” the line to raise the watervane. Thi will be the third “fix”. I tied double braid to it and it wore out in one short passage. I made a Dyneema pendant and attached it directly to the hole at the bottom of the blade and in chaffed through in half a passage. This time I have put a shackle through the hole and tied Dyneema-cored double-braid to it. Fingers crossed. All of my hats have mildew stains on them, so I soaked them in bleach water, which worked surprisingly well. One of the fiberglass support rods for the sailpack had poked through the end, even though I had reinforced it with leather. I managed to sew the hole shut with the Speedy Stitcher. Not sure how long it will last. I also sewed one of the baton pockets on the mainsail. It was one of the pockets I sewed with the Sailrite machine in Tahiti. This time I used whipping cord and the Speedy Stitcher. Unfortunately, I broke the needle. I thought I had a spare but cannot find it. It is 8:15 and it started to rain right when I finished up. The only other sewing project I have are the patches on the mainsail reefing grommets in the middle of the sail. They will be hard to get to. I need a heavy duty curved needle. It is 10:30 and I just checked the weather forecast. The wind is arriving earlier than expected, by tomorrow evening. I have changed my plans and will depart about 16:00 tomorrow. Most of my chores are done. I just filed an electronic flight plan for East London and I have filled in the physical paperwork for Richard’s Bay. After I drop the car off at 7:30 tomorrow, I am being picked up by Eric the taxi driver who will take me around to the three offices to get the paperwork stamped. It was a long day of washing, organizing, making repairs, and visiting the bank. I went to the bank twice today (total of 4h) and still don’t have access to my account. The last request was a utility bill from my residence. This after 12h this week sitting in an office telling them I don’t live in a house anymore. I gave up, collected my passports (they wanted my expired ones), my boat papers (that they requested), etc. Looks like they’re going to keep my 10,000 Rand. I stopped by the grocery store one last time (have enough fresh food to make it to Cape Town). It is 19:00 and I just checked the forecast. Nothing has changed, except the window seems even wider (to Tuesday afternoon rather than morning). My punch list is complete except for returning the rental car and getting the stamps in my flight plan, both of which will be done in the morning.