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Tuesday, 23 March 2004 -- Study, study, study... Jim spent Tuesday and Wednesday studying hard and prepping for Thursday's exam... We study Coastal Skipper theory relentlessly. Tidal stream vectors, fog sounds, day shapes and lights all become ingrained in my brain. Meteorology can't find room and leaves... Thursday, 25 March 2004 -- Yet Another Move... We sit for the Coastal Skipper exam. The lights, sounds, shapes and similar questions are a breeze. I ace that portion of the exam. The meteorology piece was a complete cockup. The chartwork portion results are not known yet. We roll down to Cape Town in the kombi. On arrival we're put in a stinky (literally) L34. There is great grumbling and grousing. I think that's an understatement - 6 of them living on an L34. I got a phone call - there was a lot of venting being done! 6 people on a 34 foot boat is pretty cramped.... Jim was not a happy camper... Friday, 26 March 2004 -- On the water again... Pete and I discuss our concerns with Phil, the head instructor. While not patronizing, he does little to make us feel that big changes will happen. Lionel, our new instructor, makes an appearance. A nice guy but a short timer -- we'll be his last group before he parts with OSA and heads to the UK. We spend the afternoon doing man overboard work in Table Bay. We're actually pretty good at it!! Saturday, 27 March 2004 -- MOB... We spend the day doing more exercises in Table Bay. At the end of the day we head off to the pub to watch the final match of the 6 Nations Rugby tourney. France beats England; the boys are gloomy and morose. Sunday, 28 March 2004 -- Sailing South... We set sail for Hout Bay. Yours truly is Skip O' the Day. Favorable winds allow us to run down there under twin headsails. We make about 6.5kts comfortably. A few hours later we're sipping beers in Hout Bay. Monday, 29 March 2004 -- Sailing North... We set sail early to take full advantage of an 180 degree swing in the wind. Now we're running at 6.5kts NORTH with twin headsails! We made great time to Langebaan -- arriving in time to get dinner. The boys went to the bar, I went to bed.
(Jim mentioned that it was COLD sailing north, he made some smart comment about penguins?!?! Obviously it wasn't too cold for Peter - he's wearing shorts!) Tuesday, 30 March 2004 -- Exercises under sail... We filled the day with docking and mooring under sail exercises. It really isn't all that tough. You dump the headsail and completely luff the main. Then, as you need power, you grab a handful of the mainsheet and pull the sail in (not the same as sheeting it in). Well, it's easy until the breeze kicks up the 35+kts... then it's a back breaker to haul in that main. I'm still stiff from it! Wednesday, 31 March 2004 -- Motor sailing is okay too... We motor sailed alllll the way back to Cape Town. 5kts into a 10kt wind on the nose. The air is dramatically cooled by the 12oC water. When the sun is hidden, BRRRRRRRRRRR!! I wear a hat, gloves, long johns and my sea boots (damn glad to have those boots!!). I see penguins. Suddenly I get the correlation: penguins means COLD!! |
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