May 1-16

Saturday, 1 May - Tuesday, 4 May 2004 -- Yachtmaster Ocean!!! At the end of the week I took the 31,415,926,535th* test of my life. A little astro, a little weather (monsoons are really really big sea breezes that overwhelm the coriolis effect driven trades...even more intimidation!), a bit of passage planning...a 97%. Gee, maybe I've thrown off the mantel of underachiever finally. [And, the GPS dork failed!]

Since Saturday it's been a couple of things: 1 wretched, horrible, overdone, drinking binge (never, ever, ever again!, or, flailing around trying to get ready to leave for Jersey. I still have wayyyyyyyyyyyy toooooooooo mmuuuuucccchhhh stttttuuuuuuffffffffffff! I'll send another huge box home tomorrow. Since I'm sending it home rather that lugging it myself, I can't get the VAT refunded. Oh well.

I took a room the last few days because.... well:

1) I can

2) 17 weeks on a boat and the next 6 or so...

3) Close proximity to the same people can get to be a bit much during busy times like these

4) NO MORE DRINKING BINGES - if they can't find me they can't fool me into thinking this is the night they'll actually be done at a reasonable hour!

The room is really an apartment that is rented for corporate visitors and the like... it has a laundry machine and dryer! I have done so much laundry in the last 3 days. I have to end here so I can go back and move stuff into the dryer.

It's been a good time here, especially in cape Town. I know I'll be back.

Jim

PS Thanks to all of you who responded to my Plaxo Update email. I'll be writing postcards for a long time!

* That's Pi * 10,000,000,000 folks. My Birthday "06-12-65" shows up in Pi as follows: The string 061265 was found at position 1,020,506 counting from the first digit after the decimal point. The 3 is not counted. The string and surrounding digits: 01056005608038022658 061265 52995362274865847396

See http://www.angio.net/pi/piquery for more fun.

Wednesday, 5 May - Thursday, 6 May -- Goodbye South Africa, Hello Jersey!!! A long day of tying up loose ends - packing, shipping, prepping... Finally on the plane and in the air. Getting to Jersey was a pain, but I made it in the end. Not a hard thing, just a long trip: 12 hours in the air from CPT --> LHR (I managed to sleep through most of it. 3 movies worth watching and I saw none of them....ZZZZzzzzzz); 1 hour on the bus LHR --> LGW; fight to use the lounge at the airport (in spite of promises from AA in Ft. Worth that I could, I was denied entry because I'm flying BA (BA8039) to Jersey... I squawked, escalated, and whinged enough to get in); 6 hours of sitting about; a cold shower (no hot water at all!) in the lounge; a brief flight to Jersey.

I made it to Jersey, UK. It's among the Channel Islands off the coast of France but part of Great Britain. I was met at the airport by my friend Rosie. She was great. Her husband Tony has headed off to Grenada to get their boat in the water. She showed me around the island. It's spring here so everything is lush and green. There are crocus farms aplenty (but the blooms have all fallen off), dairy farms, and potato farms as well. But the real beauty here is the seashore. The island is full of cliffs, a few beaches and has lots of rocky outcroppings and rocks awash near shore. And the wildest harbours....(more on that later). Pretty beautiful stuff. Certainly on par with Cape Breton and South Africa.

Rosie showed me her home; a building from 1634! It's in a row of houses and looks tiny. But inside is a maze of comfy rooms. Absoluetly charming. As was Rosie. She's been here since a girl and loves Jersey deeply. I see why. We had a cup of tea and set off to meet Richard and Fiona (boat owner and his wife) and Jonathon (fellow crew).

We kicked around the long way and the rest of the island was just as beautiful. Richard and Fiona live on Bandinel Farm which is this fantastic 1619 granite farmhouse. The place is really neat. It just oozes antiquity and is just loaded with charm.

We enjoyed a fine meal of mince (ground beef with veggies), Jersey potatoes (which all the locals were justifiably proud of) and a homemade raspberry sorbet for dessert. It was a fine evening. Rosie set off and we retired to the living room where the fire was cozy.

Jonathan is 18 and from Yorkshire. He's just finished the same zero to hero type of 17 week class as I. He did his on the Hamble River which flows into the Solent near Cowes. The area is the heart and soul of British sailing. The first America's Cup was held there in 1858. He's a good kid. I know he's a far better sailor than I as he has spent his youth kicking about on dinghies. But all that means is I get to learn from two good helmsmen.

I tucked myself into bed, exhausted, at a reasonable hour. Sleep came quickly and easily.

Friday, 7 May -- SY Beaucastel - BEAUTIFUL!!! We were up for a quick breakfast and a run down to the boat. SY Beaucastel is as beautiful as I had hoped. She's roomy and light; kitted out with electric winches, a windlass, and furling man and head sails! A wonderful boat. And named for Chateau Beucastel, a very very fine producer of Chateauneuf du Pape wine! I've been assigned the vee berth (very front) and Jonathon has taken the portside twin bert. Had I arrived first I would have jumped all over the vee birth so everybody is happy! (www.hallberg-rassy.se/hr46/hr46.shtml)

We spent the morning cleaning and attending to things. Jon and I polished a bit of stainless steel, we gave her a good hosing, and tried to fire up the new DVD player. All went well except the DVD. I now officially feel old because I let a youngster do all the a/v work!

Lunch at the St. Helier Yacht Club (one of four Richard belongs to: Royal Jersey, Ocean Cruising Club, and royal Cruising Club being the other 3.) was a nice chance for us all to chat. I'm feeling pretty good about this. We all seem to get on just fine. It's fun to have such an age span (62 - 38 - 18) and different backgrounds. A run to the fuel dock, a bit more tidying and we called it a day.

The harbors here are so wild: many dry at low tide! There are boats standing in the mud on their keels, using legs (two long boards attached to the sides at the beam) or in cradles that float and then settle on the mud as the water recedes. Absolutely funky to see. Beaucastel is berthed in the Elizabeth Marina, which does not dry. It has a sill that keeps 3.4 meters of water in it at low tide. But outside the sill is a mud flat. Come in or exit on the tide or else you can't enter or exit

Friday night is pub night so off we went. There we met Richard's good friend Jimmy. He's a fellow sailor and has done many deliveries with Richard. They regaled us with sea stories while we enjoyed pints of Director's Bitters.

Fiona, who is a lovely and friendly woman, had stayed behind to cook up a wonderful spaghetti Bolognese. We enjoyed that with a nice Burgundy and some local bread. A selection of good cheeses (Shropshire and Oxford blues and a Cheddar) left me quite happy. A few more minutes in front of the fire and it was time for bed.

Saturday, 8 May - Sunday, 9 May -- Prepping and ready to go... By Sunday we were fully prepped and ready to go; now it's just up to waiting for good weather. A busy few days provisioning, prepping and getting to know each other.

This link has a dynamic map - you can scroll around to see exactly where Jim is... http://encarta.msn.com/map_701512318/English_Channel.html

Monday, 10 May - Sunday, 16 May -- We're off... Waited for high tide, 1000Z and we set sail. Well, got motoring! Made it to France Monday and anchored at Tréguier. This shot was taken as we entered the harbour at Tréguier. I have to say, French food is amazing!

Tuesday morning we got underway at 0900 in thick fog. Visibility less than 1/2 nm. No real fun with low vis! Tuesday night we stayed in L'Aberwrac'h.

Wednesday was more of the same, motor sailing with light winds and better vis. We stopped at Camaret-sur-Mer to do some light provisioning and get a good rest before tackling the Bay of Biscay.

Underway Thursday morning at 1000. A nice broad reach into the fog, me at the helm....

We sailed non-stop from Thursday morning to the wee hours of Sunday morning. Weather was okay - force5-force7 with 0-3m seas the entire crossing. Just after midnight Saturday, we headed into the Ria de Muros e Noia to find a slip at Muros. They had no slips and no good anchorage so we headed across the Ria to Portosin. 0300 I docked the boat - first time docking and in the dark!!

We slept until noon on Sunday and I went in search of internet access. No luck. We'll be here overnite tonight and possibly leave tomorrow, depends on whether we can do some provisioning due to the local holiday. Almost dinner time - the food is great here as well!!

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Last modification: 04 September 2004 13:26:44 -0700