The Adventure Begins 23 February 2022

It is the expectation of the human race that once one has left school, one has to get on the treadmill of life. The tedious cycle of life is work, earning money, paying bills, buying food, cooking food, marriage, children, the list goes on.

However, when one has the opportunity to break that cycle, to do something so out of the ordinary it is terrifying, does one sit on the couch and wish that it had been done, continuing to live vicariously through others who were brave enough, or does one grab that opportunity with both hands, and leap?

We leapt, both feet, body and soul. Andrew, Laura and I leapt even though it is terrifying. We packed up our house, put things into storage, gave what we could to Matt for his new house and moved onto a 43 foot Montevideo monohull, called Calypso.

This bold move might sound impulsive, however this has been a dream of ours for many years. We started with small boats and as our confidence grew, so did the size of our boats. We bought Calypso, our cruising boat, and spent five years practicing, fixing and changing things to suit our needs, before we were ready to leap.

We were unsure of the exact date of our departure. We wanted to leave around the same time as our buddy boat, Rev de Lune, skipper Dave Oppermann and his crew, Justen Osborne. But then, the day was decided. The weather looked good, wind in the right direction, no rain in the forecast. February 23, 2022 was D-Day.

Goodbye Cape Town

One would think that we were not preparing for this day for at least a month prior to departure, the way we were scurrying around, doing last minute prep. We had as much food (and wine) as I thought necessary. I had spent the Monday before we left cooking meals at Matt's house, for the first few days of our trip.

We checked out with customs and immigration and then tried to get some foreign currency. The lady was very skeptical. We were leaving on a boat, no airplane ticket?? She eventually got permission to give us some pounds, which Andrew almost lost at the yacht club. The packet fell out his pocket. Thank goodness there are some honest people in the world. It was handed in at the front office and we got it back!!

After spending Tuesday evening with friends and family, saying goodbye, having Matt spend Wednesday with us was very special. Kay came through to see us and say goodbye. Matt was such a help on the boat. He sorted our Iridium Go, helped tie up the spare jerry cans of water and diesel, and entertained us with arb facts to take our minds off the fact that we were leaving. At about 4:45, we were ready to go. Dave had left about 3 hours before us, so we had some catching up to do. I don’t like saying goodbye. I didn’t want to let go of my son, whose hugs are the best. We waved until we couldn’t see him anymore.

We set the sails, reefed the main, and headed West

The next 24 hours were the best sailing we have had in a long time. The strong wind pushed us further and further away from Cape Town. We had a bit of marine traffic during the night in the form of fishing vessels going to Saldanha Bay but no bigger ships. In fact we didn't see any big ships for a number of days.

First sunset

Calypso is a solid boat. She enjoys strong winds on the aft quarter. She does not enjoy light winds or wind directly on the stern. We spent many days of the crossing with the wind behind us.

First of many early morning views

For the next 13 days we had a variety of conditions. Rain squalls, albeit only about 5 or 10 minutes long, left us wet but strangely, not cold. As we sailed further north west it got warmer. We no longer needed our foul weather jackets, or a second pair of long pants at night. The wind picked up to 30 knots when the squalls hit. Two reefs in the main sail and at least two reefs in the Genoa, were a necessity at night. The wind often picked up at around 5pm, whipping up the waves to a churning frenzy. 

Pole out

After sailing for a few days without seeing any other boats, we saw Dave on AIS and made contact. He had left a few hours before us with another boat, The Kraken, skipper Elric. Dave had been buddy boating with Elric but had lost him a few days in. Elric had reported that he had problems with his autopilot. We weren’t sure if he had continued on or turned back and headed for Walvis.

Dave ended up behind us, so we slowed down and waited for him to catch up. It was a beautiful day with a clear blue sky and deep blue water. We slowed the boats down, threw a line in the water and jumped in for a swim. It was a bit bumpy so Laura didn’t go in, much to her disappointment. We were worried she wouldn’t be able to get back on the boat.

Swimming in the middle of the Atlantic

Can you see Justen in the water?

The sea was the most amazing blue. It was hard to explain it to people back home.

Cooking in the galley became a balancing act, holding on with one hand, backside wedged against the engine room doors, cutting and stirring with the other. My pressure cooker became my best friend. Everything was cooked in it, saving me from boiling water spills.

Gourmet supper will be served soon

It was nice to have Rev de Lune close by. We kept in radio contact and even came close enough to shout at each other across the water. Comparing weather, sea state, and course became a twice daily communication. Sometimes a call to the other boat was made just to chat.

Reve de Lune - aka buddy boat

Communication with the rest of the world, family and friends was done with Iridium Go. It was quite refreshing not having to keep up with the goings on in the world, but the news about the war in the Ukraine, and the death of Shane Warne soon reached us via friends and family. I felt quite detached from the outside world. My main worry was what would I cook for supper and did we have enough food. Many hours were spent gazing at the passing ocean, thinking about things past and present.

Reading my book

After 12 nights at sea, on watch for two, three hour stretches, the darkness was a little less intimidating. The sound of the boat crashing through the waves is amplified at night. Or did the wind really pick up and our speed increase after dark? Knowing Andrew was down below, just a call away, made me feel a lot more confident.

There is a lot of down time on a passage when you have time to think. Andrew says he remembered things from when he was a child. I had time to think about a lot of things from missing Matt and my family, to my parents, especially my dad who passed away suddenly in July last year.

Laura's best time of the day

The stars filling the night sky stretched across the wide expanse of inky black canvas. The moon, in its waning phase, only presented itself for a few nights. After that it rose close to sunrise, leaving the night sky very dark. 

During the early hours one morning I noticed a bright light behind us. I checked on the chart plotter, not finding any sign of another ship. Looking again the light seemed higher in the sky and eerily like a ghost ship, as nothing else was visible. I kept a close eye on the approaching vessel, only to realise that the light was in fact a planet. Venus became a welcome sight every night after that.

The beauty of the palette of colours that sunrise and sunset offers spreads across the horizon. Laura’s new found interest in all things celestial kept her up later at night. She could often be found sitting with Andrew in the cockpit, in the early hours of the morning, watching the rising sun.

Sunrise, her other best time

Sunsets and sunrises were the highlight of the day, watching for the elusive green flash. Occasionally we would have a pod of dolphins join us, swimming on the bow for ages.

Endless sea and sky stretched for miles

Andrew hanging washing

Washing, a necessary chore, was done in the galley and hung on the back of the boat. We had to choose the calm, sunny days so that we could hang it without falling overboard.

Chill time

Our trusty skipper had the route planned and checked the tracker often. We checked in with Dave a few times a day to ensure we were both on the same course.

Checking the Gribs

We struggled with battery management all the way over, even though the batteries were brand new. Many emails were exchanged between Andrew and Deon at Seaport, but there was nothing much we could do. We had to turn the fridges off overnight and towards the end we were running the motor three times a day, usually while I was cooking or sleeping!! Amazing what one gets used to. 

Thanks to Jean-Louis’ good teaching, I managed to make a few loaves of bread which kept us going for lunches and egg on toast for breakfast.  

We tried the scrubber but found it made more of a mess than necessary so we washed on the back of the boat when it was calm. 

Laura's turn to do the washing

Rinsing clothes

Boredom Busters!

   

Music and games

Laura amazed us daily. None of us got seasick, not even at the start of the passage, but Laura would go down below, read, write in her journal, watch movies, and play on her iPad with no problems.

Finally, after 13 days at sea, we spot land

St Helena

As we got closer to St Helena the waves got bumpier and bumpier, with the main sail flogging which meant we had to change course slightly to prevent it.  We finally spotted the land overshadowed by a huge cloud. We watched the little island get bigger and bigger as we - what felt like to us - slowly made our way to the mooring field. Finally, after 13 long, sometimes boring days at sea, we had arrived in St Helena.

In the next installment, we explore the beautiful island of St Helena.