Sail with Jenny in the fjords of Norway

Archive for February, 2014

St Helena

Tirsdag 21. januar om morgen klokken 02:30 var vi fast i bøyen etter å ha tilbakelagt 1784 nautiske mil fra Cape Town. som gir en snittfart på 7 knop (6,97). Feiret seilasen med et par timer kos og ankerdram i cockpiten mens vi så noen av Oyster Round The World Rally båtene komme inn.

St. Helena har enn så lenge ikke noen flyplass men den er under bygging. Transport til og fra Øya som har ca 5000 innbyggere skjer hver tredje uke med båt som tar 5 døgn til Cape Town. Sykehuset på øya er godt utstyrt og mesteparten av legene kommer fra Danmark. Øya er under engelsk styre med en guvenør som øverste myndighetsperson. Tre andre særegenheter er at det er ingen minibanktjeneste, ingen mobiltelefon og pengesedlene er øyas egne Britiske pund som kun kan brukes på St.Helena.

For å komme oss til land måtte vi bruke øyas fergebåt da det ikke er noen plass til joller og det er såpass store dønninger til enhver tid at en jollelanding ville være nokså hasardiøs.

Etter å ha sett oss litt rundt, besøkt banken og Jan Erik har fått ut litt energi med noen turer opp og ned trappene som kalles Jacobs Ladder og som forbinder sentrum av byen med den høyere delen hvor det ligger en del boliger leier vi en drosje og tar turen til øyas eget destilleri hvor vi får handlet litt og blir fortalt at øya her ingen lovgivning for alkoholproduksjon!

Dag 2 på øya blir brukt på sight seeing på lasteplanet av en gammel Nissan pick up og vi besøker husene hvor Napoleon ble holdt fanget før han døde 5.mai 1821.
St Helena er utrolig vakker og vild øy med fantastiske fjell, utrolig utsiktspunkter og v-formete daler. Mens vi ligger der er det også en mengde hvalhai rundt båtene og en hunhai blir for først gang merket med transponder av vitenskaps personer som er på øya for denne årlige samlingen av hvalhai.

Men Jenny må videre da det fortsatt er langt til Brasil og vi er ikke sikker på om Sidsel og Jan Erik vil nå flyet sitt hjem til Norge.

23. januar  sjekket vi ut og satte kursen nordvestover mot Cabedelo i Brasil.

Day 1: 23.01 – Variable wind

All sails set and we are saying good bye to St.Helena after lunch on Thursday 23rd January 2014 with the course set for Cabedelo in Brazil. 1770 nm have to be sailed within the next two weeks. The wind is variable and changing a lot in direction which probably is caused by the wind shadow of St.Helena. Sometimes we are doing nicely 8 knots and in the next moment we are rolling and sails are slamming doing only 5 knots

Day 2: 23.01 – Dolphins

After a noisy night with unsettled sea and wind with some showers did the day come with more or less the same conditions. This kind ov weather where you in one minute are doing good speed in the right direction and in the next does not know what way to head can sometimes be very frustrating. It is to early in the passage to start thinking about starting the engine when you have more than 1600 nm to go. We found our day rhythm fast due to the short stay at St.Helena. The radio station on St.Helena must have a very good VHF radio as we sill can hear it 200nm from the island.

In the afternoon a large school of dolphins came for a visit and they put on a nice jumping show for us and as always yu do feel happy after such a nice performance by wild animals.

Day 3: 24.01 – Dark nights

It has been a very dark night, the moon has hid itself behind some clouds and there is less light as the moon is now only half. However there is plenty stars to be seen between the clouds and the Milky way looks like a broad path with millions of stars. The Stellarium PC program helps us identify the stars and it is interesting to find the different Star constellations.

After the break of day the wind has become more favorable and after a couple of jib’s have we got Jenny pointing towards Cabedelo. The sun has today stayed behind light clouds and that has been good as the heat is strong in the cockpit without sun shade. We normally find the best shade under the sails on the foredeck but in the middle of the day the shadow is small as the sun is more or less just straight above us. Also today have we had Dolphin visitors and the “VHF voice of St.Helena” has disappeared
Today we have also started reading us up on Cabedelo, Trinidad and Tobago to be prepared for what we will meet the next few months, hence the discussions have been around what we can do in the time we have available. It is strange to think it is less than a year till we are home. Definitely a reality we have to take in over us.

Day 4 25.01 – 50.000 nm

An overcast night with rain showers has given us fine sailing conditions and the “squalls” has not been to windy and we have not had to reef down during the nights. Not often that we find night squalls favorable!

Normal days without to much excitements have come to us onboard Jenny and that feels good. The only excitement today was a kind of blue marlin that we nearly got onboard, not nearly as big as the one we got in Solomon, probably only around 50 kg. It was however a bit wild as we got it alongside Jenny and just as we were to gaff it did the hook come loose. May be just as well because the it had quite a long spike and the would have been difficult to control without the chance of getting injured. I believe even the skipper was pleased it got away and wegot some pictures of it in the water.

Last night Jenny logged 50000 nm since she started her voyage to Holland to get rigged in 2004 and we celebrated with a a little beer in the cockpit before the sun went down. I believe there will be a bigger celebration when we arrive in Brazil as we then also has crossed our track from 2009 which means we have circumnavigated the earth. It is strange to think it is 18 years since we started planning the building of Jenny and that we now has gone around the world and that we soon ar home again. It has been a long project that certainly has given us a lot of joy.

Day 5 26.01 – Fishing is expensive

Another overcast night with nice breeze and a small rain shower. The watches are short when there is 4 of us onboard and our travel westwards makes the light change every day and it is soon time to set the clock back another hour. From Cape Town to St.Helena there was a change of 2 hours and by the time we reach Brazil we have to move it back another 3 hours.
Sunbading and reading has been the pastime today as the wind has been steady and good and many miles has been cowered as the speed has been 8-10 knots. The fishing line was also out today and we got a large fish hooked on. We had however to high speed and before we managed to stop the boat all we could see was some big splashes far behind us and when most of the line (500m)was out it broke. There is now a large fish swimming around with a lure and a couple of hundred meter gut behind him. They say the fish shake it of pretty quickly

Dag 6: 27.01 – Reading day

Dark night with a few showers apart from that calm and comfortable. This passage from Cape Town has been the most enjoyable since we left Singapore in August 2013. Things are so much easier when the wind is on our side and the wear and tear on the boat is mush easier. We have now had the Yankee boomed out for tree days and that gives us some concern for wear on the sheet and we have also found another crack in the main boom, but we believe that is from the Indian Ocean.
The day has been hot and most of the day has been spent on deck with a book. In the afternoon we had less than 1000nm to go and a GT appeared in the cockpit before dinner.

Dag 8: 17.01 – Loose nut on deck

Another calm night but some slamming of the main sail and a few squals which has washed away some salt and that is good.

The bread store in the freezer is gone and today will be my first attempt on baking bread without an owen. Sidsel baked it on her morning watch after I prepared it in a round cake baking form which was placed on top of a BBQ griddle with two layers of aluminum foil and a lid on top. Taste was good but the shape was a little flat.

When the boys were on deck for a sail adjustment they found a nut which the skipper quickly determined came from the main boom gooseneck where the also the bolt was almost out. And within a few minutes they had it back together before the boom (120 Kg) could fall off and do serious damage to the mast, kick, skylight or deck.
Even in good weather there is a lot of movement in the boat and we have experienced before that nuts are coming loose. Normally we do an inspection tour on deck before darkness every day but so far on this leg we have not done so due to the good weather hence from now it is on again

The day was event less apart from another small Dorado was caught, more sun and fish cakes being made in the galley. Sundowner in the cockpit as there is only 500nm left to go before St. Helena and we have today also passed the 0 longitude from east to west.

Day 9: 18.01 – Super night and a lacy day

Full moon and a bright sky full of stars made the night watch a joy to do. We have not seen any other ships for a few days and there is very little bird life only a school of flying fish now and then. One managed even to fly all the way down into the galley and was quickly put in the frying pan…. no it was actually thrown bak into the sea… wander what it thought afterwards, that is if actually can think?

Thinking and reading is what I believe most of us have done today as the boat heas been very quiet. School books has also been out. Our boat speed is also low due to the light conditions and today’s run was only 140nm

Day 10: 19.01 – Another lacy day

Another night with little wind but overcast all night. Only a few shower far away could be seen on the radar.
Today is Sunday according to the calendar and I hav to find something special for the crew and that is a challenge when I have no owen.

The sun never came out today and the crew has mostly stayed under deck reading. Still very light wind and all sort of sail combinations has been tried to sop the mainsail slamming when the boat rolls.
Dinner ended up as fried chicken and the crew was satisfied and no whispering of mutiny as far as can hear

Day 11: 20.01 – St. Helena rising out of the sea

Better wind tonight and les noise from the sails . at least on my watch.

In the afternoon we spoke to St.Helea on the VHF and was given Mooring buoy no 25 St. Helena radio operates 24/7 and their VHF has an incredible range. We have also seen a few other sailing boats around us heading the same way and we guess they are all part of the Oyster World Rally.

Before it got dark we could see the contours of St.Helena but it is still some hours to go. Sidsel felt these last miles have taken very long and is restless and exited about getting to this exotic place and does not manage to sleep before 0145 which was just minutes before I had to wake the rest of the crew to help with the mooring rope to the bouy –
12 boats were already there and we had to search through yhe entire area before we found our no 25.
With engine off, the sails stowed the quietness of the night surrounds us as we have a small celebration in the cockpit before we hit the sack.

St. Helena
After a few good hours sleep did we get up to find a very dramatic coastline with vertical mountain sides next to the boat. Customs, Immigration and Port Control all came onboard around 9 o’clock and cleared us in very efficient and gave us a warm welcome.

A small ferryboat which run back and forth between the yachts and the local work boats every hour then picked us up for our first venture to shore. There can be very large swell in the harbour and nobody uses their own dinghy and there is no place to leave it either as there is no breakwater protecting the harbour.
Ashore are we met by the Tourist office which has moved their office to the wharf due to the large number of Oyster yachts expected within the next few days.

We ended up booking a tour to the local distillery today and a guided tour tomorrow. The capitol of St.Helena, Jamestown, lays in a narrow valley and completely different from what we expected. There is only room for two main streets where the town houses are.

After we had our local money withdrawn from the bank (there are no ATM’s on the Island and they do not use credit card) was the first priority to find out what kind of fresh vegetables and fruit could be bought and we found some apples, and some basic veg.
The trip to the distillery became a success and several boxes left with us. They made their own cactus spirit, local gin from their own juniper, rum, and their own coffee liquor from coffee grown on th island

As we were to take the ferryboat back to Jenny were a few large fins spotted a hundred meter from the shore and we learned that there was a big population of Whale sharks there at he moment. Some of the people had snorkeled with them and eve caught a lift by holding on to their fins. Tour with local boats were arranged but we did not find the time for that this time.

The next day the weather had cleared up a bit and our tour guide took us on the back of his old pick up to see the house where Napoleon lived from 1815 to his death in 1821 at the age of 52. It was a very nice house and did not look at all like a prison. They told us that there were guards outside the hose but he was allowed to ride around on the island and both his family and some of his admirals was with him.

Thee people of the island are very welcoming and all greets you and wish you welcome with a large smile. In 2016 St,Helena will be more accessible as they are building a full size airport on the east side of the Island
This will ofcourse be of great benefit for the people but the island will certainly change character and we are very happy to have been there before the firs plane has landed.

Thursday morning did we clear out the paperwork and did our last shopping for the last leg towards Brazil. It takes some time to shop in a place kike this as we found grapes in one shop, apples in another, and bananas in the third and so on. Eggs which I saw yesterday was all gone which is typical I should by now have learned that when you see something you need buy it. Also managed to find 5 brown bread that made me happy as we never had time to have someone help us with fixing he owen, it was more important to see the island.

Day 3: 12.01 – More wind

We have had more wind and sea today, we have tried different sail setting but it never worked very good because of the wind direction – we are getting to far east. The first part of the day has been very cloudy but after lunch the sun came through and we enjoyed some sun in the cockpit.
A reef was taken before dark to make it easier for the crew, we do not want to wake up people if we do not have to.

Day 4: 13.01 – Good crew
After a slightly noisy night with rain and Squalls and the noise from the Staysail running back and forth on the deck track and held the crew in the forward cabins awake are they in the morning just as smiley and in good mood for a new day. When Sidsel came on watch did the ladies decide enough was enough and went forward and dropped the Staysail.
It was a very gray forenoon which the crew used to catch some extra sleep but as soon as the sun was out in the afternoon were they on deck to worship the sun.
It makes a big difference to have a good crew on such a long ocean crossing who takes responsibility for necessary work on board – it makes life so much easier for all.

The boat is kept tidy and we all get time to relax between the watches, and I get plenty of time for my studies. Sidsel og Jan-Erik are super crew and we are having a good time together onboard but so far we have not had any big feasts on this leg, have to see what we can do to celebrate half way in a few days. This voyage is about 3500nm before we reach Brazil and we may have a wee dram when we reach St. Helena although that is not even half way

So far the gods of weather has been on our side and we have sailed over 190 nm a day in the first three days. Hence we have started talking about what to do when we reach St. Helena, it will be exiting to see where Napoleon lived.

Dag 5: 14.01 – Wind dropping

We have had a quiet night and good steady breeze and calm sea which made the crew off watch sleep well. Jan-Erik has his watch from 00:00 to 03:00 then I (Eli) take over to 00:06. Due to our fast traveling westwards do I not have any light when I get off in the morning so I will ask the skipper today if we should change the clock back one hour. The reason for keeping the time as it was in South Africa is that we keep radio contact at 08:00 with the German boat Moin heading for St.Helena and the British boat Jacaranda heading for Rio, and it is on the off watch for the skipper who operates the radio byt also needs his beauty sleep.

Today also has been a gray day to around 14:00 before the sun shone through and the wind has gradually dropped all day and gone more SE. The sea has been calm and today we have managed a quick shower and that felt very good, Finished off with a sundowner in the cockpit celebrating half way to St. Helena.

Dag 6: 15.01 – Wind dropping more

Very noisy night with sails slamming and boat speed down to around 5 knots. Time is now 04:00 in the morning and it is still a couple of hours before daylight. However there is almost full moon and not so dark.
To shorten the time I will bake some bread for breakfast and I know that will please the crew.

After a good breakfast with newly baked rolls and Salmon from Norway the light asymmetric spinnaker was set but there was so much movement in tha boat from “old sea” that it would not work. Hence working sails were set and course changed such that we were reaching with new wind hitting the sails. Not steering just the way we want but keeping the boat moving.
Have also today moved the clock back one hour as we are out of sync with daylight as we are moving so much westward.
We have also had a very annoying breakdown today as our electric owen stopped working and the next few days will show if we will manage to make some kind of bread.
The skipper was more pleased with today’s happenings as he pulled up a small Dorado and hence secured the dinner for tomorrow.

Dag 7: 16.01 – More fish and a little more wind

The night has been calm with a light breeze but we not so fare had to use the engine.
We also feel that the temperature is rising especially during the night watches. No more fleece and long trousers.
During the day we can also see that the skin colour is changing from red-brown to brown, unless you look at the skipper who is as usual just red even after using thick layers of sun block. Actually it has been overcast all morning and all is happy with a break from from the sun, but when the sun came out in the afternoon the ladies were out on deck.
A slight increase in wind has given us a daily run (noon to noon) of 132nm which is very slow for Jenny. However life is very relaxing at this sort of speed.

The last two days we have had our dinner (fried Dorado) at the cockpit table which has not happened on passage since the Pacific.
The skipper also hauled onboard another small Dorado today which is nice as long as it is not to big.