Richards Bay to Inhaca and back 22 March 2013 - 30 March 2013

We are back!  It is with mixed feelings that I say that.  We had an amazing trip to Inhaca and Santa Maria and whilst it is always nice to be home, we wish we were still there.

Our Crew

After drawing up shopping lists and shopping and re-drawing up shopping lists then more shopping, taking stock and doing more shopping, finally the boat was "provisioned".  Enough food to keep 7 of us (our crew were Us, Graeme and Michelle Weston, Dave Bennett, Renier Greyvenstein and Sonja Simak) from starving for 8 days and it was with astonishment and pride that we managed to stash everything in cupboards, holes and the fridge and freezer with space left over, the space on this yacht never fails to amaze us.  Strapped to the back were 7 x 25lt drums of water and stashed in the yacht yet another 50lt in 10, 5 & 1.5 lt bottles.  This was our drinking water as we do not yet have a water maker and the water in the tanks - +/-  800lt was to be used for washing dishes and showering.  

The tanks were filled with diesel - 230lt, and an additional 100lt in drums added to the overall weight, together with a Honda whisper generator kindly leant to us by Graeme and Michelle to compensate for our lack of solar energy, as the two small solar panels we have not yet managed to upgrade were not at all up to the job, accompanied by 85lt of petrol to power the generator and the two motors for the two tender boats - we took Renier's one too, our water line was looking rather strained.

Water and power consumption being a concern, meant this was no luxury sailing trip.  Showers were either taken outside under the rain water falling from the roof, ending in a rinse with water collected in the buckets, generally by the guys, or showers using salt water heated by the sun, in a camping solar shower bag, followed by a brief rinse off with fresh water.  The toaster was only used when the generator was working as it drains loads of power, the use of lights and chargers was kept to the bare minimum and fans taboo.  Our water consumption was so good that in the last days of our trip we were able to have proper showers on the yacht, most enjoyable.  

Clearing out of South Africa was a painless exercise thanks to the yacht club, they had organized that the water police, customs and immigration were here at the yacht club from 11:00 - 13:00 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Under the trees at the Jib and Anchor bar our passports were stamped, documentation verified and we were given the all OK to leave. A careful eye was kept on the weather and much discussion went on between the 15 or so yachts from Richards Bay that were heading up, as to when would be best to go.  Zeus were brave enough to take a small weather window on Wednesday evening 20 March 2013 and headed out around 22:00.  Whilst the rest of us were all hoping to leave any time from Thursday onwards, nature had other plans and the first decent weather window appeared again on Saturday 23 March.  At around 14:00 we heard that the front we were all planning to follow up the coast had passed Durban, heading our way, causing a flurry of activity in the club and especially on our yacht, getting the last things prepared and tied down, motors warmed, water tanks topped up, excitement under control and at 15:30 we were off.  We knew the waves would be quite choppy as the wind had been blowing 

Spirit of Adventure and Ingrid ahead
of us on the way out of harbor

Maranatha leaving
Richards Bay

constantly from the North for a few days and it would take a day or two for it to catch up with the change in wind direction, but we warned all on board and took the call to go anyway.  Spirit of Adventure, Us and Ingrid took the bit between our teeth and headed out.  

Ingrid pounding the waves

As predicted it was choppy indeed, lots of bobbing up and down in the swells, some rocking back and forth and all of us watching Ingrid, a large mono hull, bobbing all over the place and thanking our good choice in a catamaran.  The unsettled seas continued right through until Monday morning, causing some real sea sickness which was bravely fought and eventually conquered by those concerned.  At around 3am on Sunday morning we were surprised by a squall, the wind swinging round and going from dead calm to +/- 32knts in seconds, with waves breaking over the sugar scoops, causing a flurry of activity on deck to reef the main from 1 reef to 3 and furl in some of the genoa, restricting the sail area and thus depowering the sails.  An hour later and all was back to normal, 

Sodwana Bay

think this was made more stressful as it was dark, but yacht and crew handled it extremely well.  We passed Sodwana and waved at Eric of Tanjeera and Andre Slade who were on the beach cheering us on.  



We had lost sight of Maranatha and Sirroco who had come out of Richards Bay just behind us and stayed with us most of the journey, we later found out that due to various reasons, both yachts turned round and returned to Richards Bay at this point.  Spirit of Adventure had disappeared over the horizon and Nomad had caught up to us by then and together with Ingrid we continued up the coast, tacking hard due to the north east wind.  Sunday night was almost full moon and made the sailing almost romantic with the moonlight on the water, we sometimes sailed right into the moonlight reflection on the sea, what an experience.  The lines and bungees were out 
from the time we left Richards Bay harbor and between Sunday and Monday Graeme caught 3 barracuda, which we kept, one which we released as it was too small and a rock cod that we released immediately, our policy is game fish only.  The barracuda were filleted - one was baked, one was braaied and one packed in the fridge for later.

Raising the Mozambique flag

We arrived at Inhaca to find that Ingrid had beaten us there and Garuda had steamed past us in the night and were also already anchored.  We went past and headed on our waypoints to Santa Maria, a complex entry into the bay as it is so shallow in so many areas, fortunately we had been given GPS co-ordinates to follow by Steve and boy did they work.  We were met and welcomed by Jaco and Janet of Spirit of Adventure, already zooming around on their jet ski and when we got to the anchorage it was to the comment "welcome to paradise" from the back of Zeus, that was no exaggeration.

Hells Gate

Floating behind Maxscene

Santa Maria is a beautiful, unspoiled Nature Reserve, pristine beaches, crystal clear water and a huge current as the water rushes in and out of Hells Gate, a break in the land which allows access to and from the ocean, for those brave enough to attempt it in the right conditions.  We dropped anchor and spent the next 1.5 days chilling and enjoying peace and solitude.  There was a small rocky outcrop that Graeme, Dave and Michelle spent some time snorkeling  apparently there is a surprising number of fish and turtles here.  A favorite past time was floating in the warm water behind the yacht, foot through the floating ring to prevent being carried away by the current, pool noodle in the back, bliss.  The last barracuda was turned into a yummy fish curry, life is good.  We spent our time in the company of Zeus, Spirit of Adventure, Nomad and for a very short time Quazami.  

Spirit of Adventure & Zeus at Santa
Maria

Maxscene at Santa Maria

A near coming together with Nomad on the first night saw us up anchor and move and everyone spending the night 
on anchor watch duties, another lesson learned.

Nomad at Santa Maria

Inhaca Beach

Inhaca Island

Wednesday arrived far too soon and on the incoming tide we all headed off to Inhaca Island, some bottoming out on the sand and having to wait for more water before being able to continue.  Rounding the point toward Inhaca excited voices called out the names of yachts we recognized  those that had made it and chosen to stay at Inhaca, joy at those that had made it and sadness and concern over those that hadn't.  We anchored with everyone else, between Portugese Island and Inhaca in a sheltered bay, then made our way ashore to Lucas' Tavern for the race briefing and dinner. 

Anchored at Inhaca

A fun evening was had by all, fines were handed out to all yachts and some individuals for various offenses, monies going toward tips for staff and each yacht had to perform a "ditty" before receiving their shirts sponsored by Southern Ocean, thankfully we had Dave on board who did a fantastic rendition of a Monty Python skit, earning himself a bottle of Bells whiskey for his efforts.

Jack from Spirit of Adventure

A near damper on the evening, in fact the whole trip, was when little Jack - the Jack Russel from Spirit of Adventure - decided he had enough of waiting for his family to come home and after howling for hours he jumped in the water, heading for the beach where we had all gone, only it was really far and fortunately the crew of Zvedsda Mora, who left the function a little early, found him floundering in the water and rescued him.  He is now known as Midmar Jack!!!!!

The welders workshop

Clearing in and out of Mozambique

On Thursday we were back at Lucas' with all our passports and paperwork, cleared out and were ready to go.  We were then guided, via the garden of the local hairdresser (wigs hanging from the trees), through a hole in the fence to the workshop of a local welder.  On Saturday night of our trip up the helm seat post had separated from its base, the welds breaking, depositing Graeme, who was sitting on it at the time, onto Kevin's lap.  Meant that all steering was then done standing up so we were most grateful that we could get it fixed for the trip home.  On our way back to the yacht we were stopped by the Maritime official who, it turned out, also wanted his pound of flesh, so back to Lucas' for everyone and an additional R700 had to be paid out for Maritime tax, an increase of R350 on last year apparently, quite a shocker but nothing was going to spoil our trip!

Dhows at Inhaca

Portugese Island

Thursday afternoon we re-anchored just off Portugese Island, there was a soccer match there in the afternoon - yachties versus locals, followed by a beach braai.  Turned out to be a pretty huge event and maybe not the best idea the night before the race back.  Friday morning and the last things were tied down or stashed away and at 7:30 we set off for the start line, an imaginary line out from the the two lighthouses on the shore.  Rounding the point of Portugese Island was like a surf launch at Sodwana Bay, there was lots of surf and the swells were massive, up to 3 meters.  Everybody hung around the start line until 10:00, the official start time then those of us in the 

Start of race

cruising category engaged our motors and off we went.  The 

Big swells at the start

poor racing boats bobbed up and down on the swells with no wind for a couple of hours before they eventually managed to get going. 

Modern technology vs tried and
tested charts

Our lines were out for the majority of the trip home but unfortunately no bites whatsoever.  Jaco on Spirit of Adventure caught and released his first marlin and he seems to have been the only lucky angler.  Apart from the swells the conditions on the way back were very favorable, no sea sickness and the trip back only took about 30 hours compared to 48 on the way up.  As we passed Sodwana Bay at around midnight, there was Eric on the beach and as we passed he lef off fireworks, what a supporter!  The majority of the winds were north/north easterly and we only encountered a south wester as we neared Richards Bay harbor.  Again we sailed into Richards Bay with Nomad, following Garuda.  We received a warm welcome from those who were already back and those waiting to welcome the racers home, what fun.

Sunday morning was clearing in at the Jib and Anchor bar again, just as painless on the return with no hidden extra costs here.  Then Graeme and Michelle headed back home to Pretoria and everyone else went their own ways and all of a sudden our home was empty, so weird.  Sunday night was the official end of the race and the prize giving.  We managed to scoop first prize for the best log book and third place in the cruising catamaran category.  Very proud of ourselves :-) 

What an incredible experience, our confidence in our abilities and our yachts capabilities has grown over and over.  We sailed with dolphins many times, playing in our wake and next to our yacht, you never get tired of dolphins.  

Can't wait to do a sailing trip again, hopefully soon.

Update Mid February to Mid March 2013 (Richards Bay)

Well it looks almost as though this is a monthly update, lets play that by beer and see how it goes :-)

Everyone will be very glad to hear that the hard top bimini (hard roof that goes over the saloon area where we sit outside), about which I have spoken ad nauseam because it has just taken so long to work on, is finally finished and up.  We have fibreglassed and gel-coated and fine-faringed til we are blue in the face, found out the hard way that not everything sticks to everything when dealing with fibreglass and that weather plays a huge role in when you can actually work with fibreglass.  Nonetheless, it is finally up and we now have a 2/3 shelter from the elements, requires a bit of hopping around when it rains, but that just adds to the fun of boat life, we are just trying to come up with a ditty to sing, something along the lines of you put your left half in, your left half out........

Original roof

 Originally we bought a second hand roof that was removed from another yacht as it was pretty much the correct size for ours and our canvas bimini cover was leaking and the stitching was frayed.  Also getting to the end of the boom was a problem as it required balancing on the poles under the canvas, praying that the wind didn't blow and throw you over the edge, a hard roof was necessary.  With the assistance of many people we placed the roof on the frame and it was just the wrong shape around the sides and really heavy.  Worried that we would be the cause of the boat doing wheelies we decided to scale the roof down a little, we sliced off the sides 

Sliced the sides off

and kept the centre section, then we epoxyed  it back together where it had been delaminating, fibreglassed all around the edge, fibreglassed pvc pipes on to the top to create channels which drain into pipes and ultimately into buckets - collecting rain water, then it was bolted into place and voila, we finally have a beautiful new roofish.  The next part of the plan is to attach canvas sides to the roof to cover the remainder of the saloon area, temporarily we are using shadenet while the canvas sides are being manufactured.

Trial run before final touches

New roof!!

Cat scan before final touches

Some really good news for the month was that we found a fabulous home for little Lady, our stow away cat.  A lovely couple have taken her and they all seem to be fitting in well together, hopefully she will have a much happier rest of her life.  

Preparations for Inhaca are now on in earnest as it is a mere three weeks away.  All the jobs left are being prioritized and the good news is that currently there is nothing that needs to be done that will prevent us from setting sail, thank goodness.  We were assisted in this goal by Graeme and Michelle who arrived at the end of February to give us a much needed hand to get the last of the important things done.  The steering pulley that had seized has now been replaced, Bongani (autopilot) is now fully operational and happily helping steering when we are out sailing, big relief.  We replaced the leaking port light so we should be pretty waterproof ;-)

The new toilet was installed and curtains and mozzie nets made for all windows, finally starting to feel like home around here.  We finally tested out our onboard showers and are just sorry we didn't do so before, they work brilliantly, another tick in the box.

Even managed to find a little time to do some sailing and test fishing skills, we are going to be relying on those for food on the way to Inhaca, hopefully that trip will be more successful than this weekend was! 

Provisioning is proving to be fun, we have 7 people on board for our trip to Inhaca, currently we are planning to depart from Richards Bay on 22 March and the official Inhaca to Richards Bay race sees us returning on 29 March, this is all weather dependent but very exciting.  Finding places to stash stores and figuring how long bread and water will last and where to stash the booze is proving to be most entertaining.

On that happy note, I think the next communication will be after we return from Inhaca.
Cheers for now...

Update from December 2012 to mid-February 2013 (Richards Bay)

Hello all,

Well finally I am here, blogging.  We tried a couple of different options for building a website and eventually this is the result.  This blog will now replace the old news letters and will hopefully be updated a little more regularly.

Finally we are starting to feel like we have reached the summit and begun heading downhill at speed as far as getting our boat ready to go sailing.  One of the main targets was December holidays as we were going to be inundated with family and friends and the boat needed to be looking and working ship shape.  

We hauled the boat out of the water to redo the anti-fouling paint on the hull, usually needs replacing every two to three years, we replaced all the through hull fittings, serviced the sail drive and ended up replacing the rudder bushes.  We managed to get it all done in record time and were back in the water within 5 days, 2 day delay due to rudder bush manufacture!  Also passed our hull and safety inspection so we officially have our category A now which means our yacht is now certified to cross oceans.



Pikkie made a trip down for a week and it was wonderful to see him and to be able to show him what we are up to, unfortunately for him it was the same week that Graeme arrived with his "Tim the Toolman" hat on, ready to help make everything work or new or fixed, so welcome to a working holiday!  

Portable fridge installed

Kylie also arrived and was a huge help, still trying to convince her to come live with us but apparently school is too much fun :-)  To date we have installed blinds in the saloon, installed a new Isotherm fridge and freezer (my year was made with this), 

Freezer

Fridge

we have replaced another 3 port lights and all the hatches, fitted the portable fridge into the cabinet, installed new Raymarine instruments (E7D Chartplotter and I7 display for anyone who might be interested), found and fixed the problem with the autopilot - we now have a third helmsman and apparently it is customary to give it a South African name so ours is now called Bongani (Sipho and Philemon were already taken) and many little things that seem to take up so much time.  In between we managed to get some sailing and cruising in....


Once Michelle and the girls arrived all work stopped and the holiday began in earnest.  Kevin and Graeme experimented with the new fishing tackle - bungie and rod, successfully catching a small tuna which made awesome rolls for lunch.  Vernon and Vanessa and the boys came to visit for a day and we did a nice harbor cruise and swim in the sea,

Crystal seemed to really enjoy herself in her own private pool in the cockpit area.  Then the Westons left for a cruise on a much bigger boat, to Mauritius and back for 11 days and my mom, Leanne and Kylie (again) arrived.  








The heat was sweltering, Richards Bay is apparently about 4 degrees hotter than Durban and we really suffered, up to 40 degrees of humid heat, wow.  Lots of sailing and swimming in the sea and pool definitely helped, we managed a lovely trip up to St Lucia and on the way back Kevin caught a big Dorado on his bungie.  That fed all of us for two days and wow was it scrumptious, Kevin sure knows how to cook fresh fish.  We mistakenly attempted the game reserve on the 30th of December, turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year.  After 3 hours we decided we had tortured ourselves enough and we turned to leave.  On the way out of the park Kevin spotted an elephant in the trees, we stopped to look and the next thing Kylie was out of the car running across the road and throwing up into the bushes, never seen that kind of reaction to an elephant before, glad it didn't take exception and charge!

New Years ended up being blown and rained out, causing a very quiet affair, at least the fireworks were also hampered by the weather.  By 4 January we were on our own again and back to working on the boat.  Our next focus is Inhaca, there is an annual race that takes place from Inhaca to Richards Bay over Easter and we have been trying to take part for the last 3 years, this time we will make it, probably in the Rally section tho.  Our plans were drawn up as to what we were going to achieve before 21/22 March 2013 which is when we would leave Richards Bay to head to Inhaca and all of a sudden we were handed a penalty.  During a Wednesday night inter-club race we were t-boned by another yacht, causing quite a bit of damage to our mid-port hull, two holes and a crack, fortunately all above the water line and double fortunately no one was injured in the incident which could have been so much worse in so many ways.  The other yacht was completely to blame and have agreed to cover the costs for the damage, which we have had repaired, but unfortunately our yacht just doesn't quite look the same anymore :-(  

Damage to outside

Damage to outside

Damage on inside

As a result, we no longer partake in Wednesday night racing at the club and unfortunately we are now two weeks behind on our schedule for the Inhaca trip so one or two things will not be done before we go.  This incident has however given us a baptism of fire into fibreglass work and we seem to have a bit of a clue now which is most helpful as we are busy modifying a fibreglass roof to install over our cockpit to replace the old and fast deteriorating canvas one that is currently there.  

Sam starting the repairs

Repaired outside

Repaired inside need to paint

Shortly after this we were asked to be the bridge boat for the Optimist Sailing Regatta, so after putting black plastic bandaids over the holes we spent two days anchored in the bay watching kids of all ages sailing boats of different sizes.  We had a great time and learnt a lot from Steve Martin who was the Race Officiator.

We have also ended up with a little stow away, a two year old ginger cat called Lady.  Unfortunately for her, her lowlife owners departed the yacht club on their yacht nearly three weeks ago, leaving her on the shore to fend for herself.  She has basically moved in on our boat but sadly she is more a boat yard cat than a boat cat, she is very social, loves to help the fishermen fish, but as soon as the boat moves or the motors start she heads for the hills so we will not be able to take her with us.  I am trying desperately to find her a home, so difficult as she is really bad with other cats, dogs and sometimes kids, hasn't had the best upbringing and she needs space, so tall order indeed.

I have officially had my first experience with fire coral - this apparently has the same effect on people as jelly fish stings, oooowwwwww.  Karl took his boat, Destiny, out to do the anti-fouling, don't think his had been done for years as he had an entire reef growing on the bottom of it.  I helped him scraping off the barnacles and coral and old anti fouling and for my sins that night I sat up all night with the most intense itching, like chicken pox, and when I scratched it it burned terribly.  Nothing fixed it, not vinegar, water, skin calm cream, aqueous cream, you name it I tried it all, eventually anti-histamines brought a little relief from the itching.  On reading up about it, it appears that washing with fresh water makes it worse, seems sea water is the best cure!  Karl also had no sleep that night, he even wrapped himself in wet towels, poor thing.  I guess if we had known we would have spent the night floating in the sea comparing welts.  Fortunately it didn't last long by the next night we were itch free.

I think this pretty much brings you all up to date on our doings thus far