02 Nov. 09
I usually have a great sense of humour, but the business that I am in has stolen my sense of humour, I’m hoping it returns once I have rid myself of this terrible beast of burden. Unfortunately the business has not been easy to sell as it appears that nobody has money at this time due to the recession or who knows. After reading the Handbook of Offshore Cruising it appears that the anchor we bought drags when the wind changes direction and is difficult to loosen in mud. Well that’s just great as it seems that the wind at the Vaal always changes direction, and the bottom of the dam can only be mud, just my luck at the moment or perhaps my own stupidity for not reading the manual first before buying the anchor, well I suppose we will have to write this off to school fees, or perhaps the supplier will refund me if I take the anchor back.
05 Nov. 09
Thursday again, the day before Friday, have a whole sailing weekend ahead to look forward to, great. Went to CCMA on Tuesday for an ex employee that was dismissed because he absconded from work, and guess what, the twat failed to arrive, thus wasting everyone’s time, no surprise really the twat absconded from work in the first place why would he bother to arrive at the CCMA even though he summoned us to go there because he believes that he should not be fired for not coming to work.
09 Nov. 09
Monday again the weekends are definitely too short and could do with an extra day at least. The weather on Friday afternoon and Saturday was cold and miserable so we worked a little on our dingy and then just stayed on the boat in the marina and read a bit more of Still Cruising. On Sunday the weather cleared so we motored out of the marina to test the depth finder which seems to have a mind of its own, it starts of by saying that the marina is 8 metres deep then after a short while it just runs a simulation from 3 till 20 metres, we then reset the thing and select simulation off which then fixes the problem for a short while and then the cycle is repeated again, perhaps we don’t know how to set it up so we are going to look for a manual on the net but my opinion is that it probably looses signal and then goes into simulation mode. After motoring around in the bay next to the marina for a few minutes we decided to give up on the depth finder and head back in. We had some things at home to still do so we decided to call it a day and headed back home. Even though Sunday turned out to have the most awesome sailing weather of the year so far we missed it.
25 Nov. 09
Looking forward to Amy coming over today she will be away for a while on Matric vacation so will not see her for a while. Work has definitely been affected by the economic crises as we seem to only have little repairs to do as opposed to big jobs, which makes me panic as this may delay our plans even further into the future. Bought some fibreglass matt and resin yesterday and will start building a mould today, or tomorrow, for the missing board on our tender. Some guy at the hardware store told me to use floor polish on the mould to prevent the fibreglass from getting stuck to the mould, hope this method works but we will know soon enough. I haven’t even opened the packet yet but started to itch the moment the fibreglass packet was in my hand so looking forward to that as well.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Anchoring or not...
15 Oct. 09
Managing to get to the boat every second weekend at the moment which is better than nothing, but have some other commitments and it seems to work out. Once we start cruising these commitments should no longer exist and even if they do we won’t be able to stick to our commitments. Wow always wanted to say that sorry but I won’t be able to commit to that for the next 10 years or so, so you may have to wait a bit.
Had a really rough sail the other day we went out in the morning with quite a strong wind but didn’t expect the conditions to get worse. As we let go the ropes in the marina and I reversed out of our slip the wind got hold of our boat and Lola and Rauen had to jump to the starboard side of the boat to stop us from crashing into the boat next door to ours. At this time we should have known, but against our better judgement we motored out of the marina and into the dam. Sailing downwind towards the dam wall was pleasant enough but as the conditions started to get worse and worse we decided to turn back toward home, at this point we opted to sail with only a small head sail but discovered that this is not the best idea as our boat had huge weather helm and would not turn into the wind to allow us to tack. The waves were breaking over the bow as we attempted to motor sail back to the marina but got stuck between villains point and the island, after two hours of wet struggle and turning towards the island in an attempt to hide in the lee in order to get an angle upwind to pass villains point, we managed to get back. Whew scary but also fun.
19 Oct. 09
Friday was not a good day, and no sailing this weekend past due to work commitments. Today we took our world map and our Africa map and with the use of prestick stuck them on our dining room wall. We find that because our plans are still so far away in the future that the maps help to keep the dream alive. Nearly everyday we attempt to find ways to move the dates closer but to no avail. We have drawn the trade wind directions on the maps and have decided that we are first going to take a shake down cruise up the Mozambique channel and around Madagascar and see the sites on the east coast of Africa before heading down to Cape town and on to St Helena using the trade winds.
26 Oct. 09
Managed to get away this weekend and arrived at the marina early on Friday afternoon, the plan was to try out our new anchor. So we studied the map of the dam and went out looking for a suitable spot to drop the anchor. After about 2 hours of excellent sailing the wind suddenly turned around and started howling in the opposite direction catching us completely of guard with full sails flying, both Lola and I panicked as we thought the boat was going to capsize, but we managed to pull in the head sail and turned back towards the marina with only the main sail up and sailed back so no anchoring yet. The next day we started out again and had an almost repeat of the previous day but this time we weren’t caught of guard as we were sailing along in almost perfect weather when the wind changed direction. This time we knew what was next so we studied the water and saw the gust coming across towards us and rolled in the head sail just before the wind arrived. This changing of wind direction is making the anchoring out seem very difficult as we may have to move the boat in the middle of the night if the wind decides to change direction.
There doesn’t appear to be an anchorage that is protected from all sides, or at least from the two sides that the wind normally comes from. Well this is in the part of the dam that we have seen so far. We also bought a rigid tender this weekend and rowed across to Axel’s spot for a quick visit on Sunday morning to wish Peta a happy birthday.
Managing to get to the boat every second weekend at the moment which is better than nothing, but have some other commitments and it seems to work out. Once we start cruising these commitments should no longer exist and even if they do we won’t be able to stick to our commitments. Wow always wanted to say that sorry but I won’t be able to commit to that for the next 10 years or so, so you may have to wait a bit.
Had a really rough sail the other day we went out in the morning with quite a strong wind but didn’t expect the conditions to get worse. As we let go the ropes in the marina and I reversed out of our slip the wind got hold of our boat and Lola and Rauen had to jump to the starboard side of the boat to stop us from crashing into the boat next door to ours. At this time we should have known, but against our better judgement we motored out of the marina and into the dam. Sailing downwind towards the dam wall was pleasant enough but as the conditions started to get worse and worse we decided to turn back toward home, at this point we opted to sail with only a small head sail but discovered that this is not the best idea as our boat had huge weather helm and would not turn into the wind to allow us to tack. The waves were breaking over the bow as we attempted to motor sail back to the marina but got stuck between villains point and the island, after two hours of wet struggle and turning towards the island in an attempt to hide in the lee in order to get an angle upwind to pass villains point, we managed to get back. Whew scary but also fun.
19 Oct. 09
Friday was not a good day, and no sailing this weekend past due to work commitments. Today we took our world map and our Africa map and with the use of prestick stuck them on our dining room wall. We find that because our plans are still so far away in the future that the maps help to keep the dream alive. Nearly everyday we attempt to find ways to move the dates closer but to no avail. We have drawn the trade wind directions on the maps and have decided that we are first going to take a shake down cruise up the Mozambique channel and around Madagascar and see the sites on the east coast of Africa before heading down to Cape town and on to St Helena using the trade winds.
26 Oct. 09
Managed to get away this weekend and arrived at the marina early on Friday afternoon, the plan was to try out our new anchor. So we studied the map of the dam and went out looking for a suitable spot to drop the anchor. After about 2 hours of excellent sailing the wind suddenly turned around and started howling in the opposite direction catching us completely of guard with full sails flying, both Lola and I panicked as we thought the boat was going to capsize, but we managed to pull in the head sail and turned back towards the marina with only the main sail up and sailed back so no anchoring yet. The next day we started out again and had an almost repeat of the previous day but this time we weren’t caught of guard as we were sailing along in almost perfect weather when the wind changed direction. This time we knew what was next so we studied the water and saw the gust coming across towards us and rolled in the head sail just before the wind arrived. This changing of wind direction is making the anchoring out seem very difficult as we may have to move the boat in the middle of the night if the wind decides to change direction.
There doesn’t appear to be an anchorage that is protected from all sides, or at least from the two sides that the wind normally comes from. Well this is in the part of the dam that we have seen so far. We also bought a rigid tender this weekend and rowed across to Axel’s spot for a quick visit on Sunday morning to wish Peta a happy birthday.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
9/11 and the wild sailing
09 Sep. 09
Hoisted Greg up the mast to install my new wind indicator. This task looks quite scary and Greg being and old salt at the game obviously has a lot more faith in the winches than I have. He had his assistant do the winching and I tailed the halyard and watched as he was hoisted and clambered up to the top. Once he got to the top we took another halyard and attached a bucket with all the necessary drills and screws required and hoisted that up to him. Standing watching him from the relative safety of the deck I started to imagine having to perform this function out on a rough ocean with the mast swinging around and having to hold on for dear life, something to look forward to or not. With the new windex fitted we set sail across the dam to test the working and sadly there was not enough wind to really sail so after drifting about for a couple of hours we decided to call it a day and motored back to the marina. On Tuesday morning when I was washing the dishes I looked out of my kitchen window and seen that the top of the trees were blowing in the wind so we decided to bunk work and headed for the dam with two of my managers for a team building day. This turned out to be a great decision as the sailing was absolutely fantastic with just the right amount of wind to allow for a great sail. Neither one of the managers had sailed before but by the end of the day they both wanted to know if the boat will become a company boat for them to use once we set sail around the world, ha ha. I believe the bug has bitten.
14 Sep. 09
Had a really good weekend, Tammy and Jason on Friday night for Tammy’s nine eleven birthday party. I call this the nine eleven because her birthday is September eleven and afterwards it feels as if the twin towers collapsed on you. We were set to take my Mom and Stepdad sailing on Saturday morning but could not get up under the rubble until after midday. Lola myself and the kids did manage to get to the dam in the late afternoon as we also had arrangements with Axel and Peta for a braai that afternoon at four. At five when we eventually arrived we apologised for the lateness and the state we were in. The evening braai was good with good company, myself excluded, but here by eight we called it a night and went down to the marina got on the boat and slept. Now normally the bed is a bit uncomfortable but that night it was pure bliss being rocked to sleep gently. Sunday morning with a strong westerly wind blowing we left the marina and did some wild sailing. I call it wild because even though its just the dam the wind was howling and the boat was heeling over far enough to almost touch the water whilst standing in the cockpit. Now with my limited sailing experience we decided to reef the main sail and the Jib in order to get a less of a wild sailing experience. Whilst hove to Lola and Rauen did the main sail reefing one reef only as our sail only has one reef, and Lola reefed the jib with five rolls. The sailing was less wild and I believe just as fast and all in all made for great day out on the water.
Hoisted Greg up the mast to install my new wind indicator. This task looks quite scary and Greg being and old salt at the game obviously has a lot more faith in the winches than I have. He had his assistant do the winching and I tailed the halyard and watched as he was hoisted and clambered up to the top. Once he got to the top we took another halyard and attached a bucket with all the necessary drills and screws required and hoisted that up to him. Standing watching him from the relative safety of the deck I started to imagine having to perform this function out on a rough ocean with the mast swinging around and having to hold on for dear life, something to look forward to or not. With the new windex fitted we set sail across the dam to test the working and sadly there was not enough wind to really sail so after drifting about for a couple of hours we decided to call it a day and motored back to the marina. On Tuesday morning when I was washing the dishes I looked out of my kitchen window and seen that the top of the trees were blowing in the wind so we decided to bunk work and headed for the dam with two of my managers for a team building day. This turned out to be a great decision as the sailing was absolutely fantastic with just the right amount of wind to allow for a great sail. Neither one of the managers had sailed before but by the end of the day they both wanted to know if the boat will become a company boat for them to use once we set sail around the world, ha ha. I believe the bug has bitten.
14 Sep. 09
Had a really good weekend, Tammy and Jason on Friday night for Tammy’s nine eleven birthday party. I call this the nine eleven because her birthday is September eleven and afterwards it feels as if the twin towers collapsed on you. We were set to take my Mom and Stepdad sailing on Saturday morning but could not get up under the rubble until after midday. Lola myself and the kids did manage to get to the dam in the late afternoon as we also had arrangements with Axel and Peta for a braai that afternoon at four. At five when we eventually arrived we apologised for the lateness and the state we were in. The evening braai was good with good company, myself excluded, but here by eight we called it a night and went down to the marina got on the boat and slept. Now normally the bed is a bit uncomfortable but that night it was pure bliss being rocked to sleep gently. Sunday morning with a strong westerly wind blowing we left the marina and did some wild sailing. I call it wild because even though its just the dam the wind was howling and the boat was heeling over far enough to almost touch the water whilst standing in the cockpit. Now with my limited sailing experience we decided to reef the main sail and the Jib in order to get a less of a wild sailing experience. Whilst hove to Lola and Rauen did the main sail reefing one reef only as our sail only has one reef, and Lola reefed the jib with five rolls. The sailing was less wild and I believe just as fast and all in all made for great day out on the water.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Car Repairs
04 Aug. 09
Had to fetch my daughter Amy’s car this morning at her mother's house because it had broken down yesterday and had to be towed. Managed to push start the car and drove it off to Motolek in Boksburg. The owner himself assisted me and tested the battery and found that the earth wire was corroded. He instructed one of his workers to do the repair and did not charge me for this. In this day and age that is unheard of so I just want to thank Motolek Boksburg for their assistance.
Had to fetch my daughter Amy’s car this morning at her mother's house because it had broken down yesterday and had to be towed. Managed to push start the car and drove it off to Motolek in Boksburg. The owner himself assisted me and tested the battery and found that the earth wire was corroded. He instructed one of his workers to do the repair and did not charge me for this. In this day and age that is unheard of so I just want to thank Motolek Boksburg for their assistance.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Boat Tools
06 Jul. 09
You know I have given Lola so many ideas but she doesn’t approve of most, for example I told her we should all learn to ride unicycles because they would be easy to store on the boat, her comment was that people wouldn’t approve and would say things like here comes that circus family. I then suggested pogo sticks which she shut down even faster with bouncing fools. So my lets keep some chickens on board suggestion was only said as a joke.
14 Jul. 09
Had a day drift on Friday last week, the weather man said that the weekend was going to have cold weather so we decided to bunk work on Friday and take advantage of the day as it was nice and sunny, sadly no wind what so ever. Still better than work anyday. Trying my hand at writing a book have an idea but cant quite get further than a couple of pages. I find that you have to be in the right mood to write and with work and other distractions the mood doesn’t arrive.
So I decided to paste a sample of my attempt, hope its not to lame.
"Young freddys life was very confusing as a child, he never seemed to be the same as all the other siblings in his family and later on not the same as the other kids in his class. His mind was clouded and things didn’t seem real to him as if it was happening to someone else.
One day whilst playing alone on the playground at school he was joined by another kid in the game. This kid had been scaring him for some time and knew that young freddy had fear of him and took full advantage of this. At every opportunity he would sit next to young freddy and tease him. Sometimes he would wait inside the toilets where he knew he would catch young freddy alone and try to push young freddys head under the water in the toilets whilst flushing the toilet. Young freddy was pertified of water and could not swim and stayed clear of the water, but this did not stop the bully from increasing the fear and young freddy stopped going to the toilets unless there was lots of older kids in the toilets as this gave young freddy some sense that the bully would not try for fear of the older kids reprise.
Young freddy waited to see what his punishment would be this day as this other kid would be dealing out and young freddy would have to receive. This was the order of things in his life and in his confused mind he believed that. Even at home where most are safe young freddy,s life was ruled by an angry stepfather with a bad drinking habit. The man was large over 6 foot and abusive even when sober. Many times he would take young freddy into the yard and make him dig over the garden whilst sitting in a lazy chair and watched waiting for young freddy to tire then he would get up stumble over and lay a large fist into young freddy,s body. When young freddy cried he would beat him with the fist repeatedly until he stopped crying and lay unconscious bleeding on the floor.
The boy stared at him and young freddy could see the torment in his eyes. He tensed himself waiting for the inevitable. What felt like an eternity went by and the fear started to grow more intense with every passing moment until he thought he could take it no more. Young freddy considered running but his legs would not allow him to move, he was trapped by his own in ability to escape and thus had to be punished. The forehead landed hard on his face shattering bones and teeth and he could instantly taste the blood in his mouth. He felt his knees give way and his whole body shook as the back of his head collided with the solid concrete pathway. Instantly the blood ran down his neck and onto his collar. Then the darkness saved him and the fear and pain was gone.
30 Jul. 09
Its been a while since I have written anything, where to begin, this month has been very eventful but not in a good way. We have for some time been having theft occur at one of our clients and we have discovered after some serious investigating that some of our employees where involved. This has caused a lot of stress. The matter is still under investigation in order to establish how deep it went. Hope to get to the bottom of this and put it behind me. Can’t seem to focus on other things whilst this kind of thing is happening.
On a better note we went through to Deneysville to star marine the other day and bought a wind indicator, this should make sailing a lot better as I will now be able to see from where the wind is coming. The current wind indicator on the boat only shows apparent wind as it is installed to low at the back of the cockpit. I’m not sure how the previous owner used it as it is pretty useless to me. Also went over to Axel and Peta’s house the other day and had a bit too much of a good time, the evening was a lot of fun though and the next day babelas was worth it. I now have to decide if I am going to go up the mast to install the indicator or if I should get Greg to fit it for me next time we go down to the vaal. The weather has been absolutely terrible and cold so we haven’t been on the boat much the last couple of weeks. I have managed to remember to get my fluke meter into the boot of the car and hope to start to solve why none of the instruments on the boat work soon.
You know I have given Lola so many ideas but she doesn’t approve of most, for example I told her we should all learn to ride unicycles because they would be easy to store on the boat, her comment was that people wouldn’t approve and would say things like here comes that circus family. I then suggested pogo sticks which she shut down even faster with bouncing fools. So my lets keep some chickens on board suggestion was only said as a joke.
14 Jul. 09
Had a day drift on Friday last week, the weather man said that the weekend was going to have cold weather so we decided to bunk work on Friday and take advantage of the day as it was nice and sunny, sadly no wind what so ever. Still better than work anyday. Trying my hand at writing a book have an idea but cant quite get further than a couple of pages. I find that you have to be in the right mood to write and with work and other distractions the mood doesn’t arrive.
So I decided to paste a sample of my attempt, hope its not to lame.
"Young freddys life was very confusing as a child, he never seemed to be the same as all the other siblings in his family and later on not the same as the other kids in his class. His mind was clouded and things didn’t seem real to him as if it was happening to someone else.
One day whilst playing alone on the playground at school he was joined by another kid in the game. This kid had been scaring him for some time and knew that young freddy had fear of him and took full advantage of this. At every opportunity he would sit next to young freddy and tease him. Sometimes he would wait inside the toilets where he knew he would catch young freddy alone and try to push young freddys head under the water in the toilets whilst flushing the toilet. Young freddy was pertified of water and could not swim and stayed clear of the water, but this did not stop the bully from increasing the fear and young freddy stopped going to the toilets unless there was lots of older kids in the toilets as this gave young freddy some sense that the bully would not try for fear of the older kids reprise.
Young freddy waited to see what his punishment would be this day as this other kid would be dealing out and young freddy would have to receive. This was the order of things in his life and in his confused mind he believed that. Even at home where most are safe young freddy,s life was ruled by an angry stepfather with a bad drinking habit. The man was large over 6 foot and abusive even when sober. Many times he would take young freddy into the yard and make him dig over the garden whilst sitting in a lazy chair and watched waiting for young freddy to tire then he would get up stumble over and lay a large fist into young freddy,s body. When young freddy cried he would beat him with the fist repeatedly until he stopped crying and lay unconscious bleeding on the floor.
The boy stared at him and young freddy could see the torment in his eyes. He tensed himself waiting for the inevitable. What felt like an eternity went by and the fear started to grow more intense with every passing moment until he thought he could take it no more. Young freddy considered running but his legs would not allow him to move, he was trapped by his own in ability to escape and thus had to be punished. The forehead landed hard on his face shattering bones and teeth and he could instantly taste the blood in his mouth. He felt his knees give way and his whole body shook as the back of his head collided with the solid concrete pathway. Instantly the blood ran down his neck and onto his collar. Then the darkness saved him and the fear and pain was gone.
30 Jul. 09
Its been a while since I have written anything, where to begin, this month has been very eventful but not in a good way. We have for some time been having theft occur at one of our clients and we have discovered after some serious investigating that some of our employees where involved. This has caused a lot of stress. The matter is still under investigation in order to establish how deep it went. Hope to get to the bottom of this and put it behind me. Can’t seem to focus on other things whilst this kind of thing is happening.
On a better note we went through to Deneysville to star marine the other day and bought a wind indicator, this should make sailing a lot better as I will now be able to see from where the wind is coming. The current wind indicator on the boat only shows apparent wind as it is installed to low at the back of the cockpit. I’m not sure how the previous owner used it as it is pretty useless to me. Also went over to Axel and Peta’s house the other day and had a bit too much of a good time, the evening was a lot of fun though and the next day babelas was worth it. I now have to decide if I am going to go up the mast to install the indicator or if I should get Greg to fit it for me next time we go down to the vaal. The weather has been absolutely terrible and cold so we haven’t been on the boat much the last couple of weeks. I have managed to remember to get my fluke meter into the boot of the car and hope to start to solve why none of the instruments on the boat work soon.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Focussing on the goal
18 Jun. 09
Went to the paradise bike rally in Grasskop a few weeks ago on Axel’s bike. Had a good ride which brought back some really good memories of my own bike that I sold in order to buy the yacht at the Vaal. The weekend was great but it allowed me to decide that the goal of sailing around the world was the first and foremost in my mind. Lola and I discussed some of the things in the house that we no longer really use and decided to sell some stuff. We are going to compile a comprehensive list of everything that we own and decide which of these are towards the goal, the rest we will price and advertise for cash. We also decided that we will probably buy the Coplan Ocean Spirit 34’ hull, deck and bulkheads and we will complete the work in our front yard.
22 Jun. 09
Went down to the Vaal for a day sail on Saturday, it never fails to amaze me how little wind is required to move the yacht. Okay granted not very fast but movement none the less. To give you an idea, distance is very difficult to judge on the water and since none of the instruments on the yacht work, I have to estimate the distance at about 1 to 1.5 km from Bayshore Marina to the island. Well we left the marina at about 12h30 and motored straight out towards Deneysville for about 1 km then we cut the motors and just floated about for an hour or so. I felt a small breeze and decided to hoist the main sail and the headsail to see if we would move at all, and sure enough we started to move in the direction of the island. About an hour later we were at the island and two hours later we were back at the marina. So if you are in a hurry better get a power boat.
25 Jun. 09
Was speaking to Jeff at the marina, he owns a holiday 23 and a Bayliner, and he told me that his outboard motor was stolen along with a few other outboards. Very disturbing news, so he replaced his motor with a second hand one that he acquired and was testing the new motor on the weekend. I hope I spelt Jeff correctly because my daughter also knows someone called Jeff but his name is spelt Geoff. Also met another guy whose name eludes me right now but I think it begins with a M, Jeff talks very highly of him and his sailing experience so I want to make a point of getting to know him a bit better and see if he can give me some pointers.
Went to the paradise bike rally in Grasskop a few weeks ago on Axel’s bike. Had a good ride which brought back some really good memories of my own bike that I sold in order to buy the yacht at the Vaal. The weekend was great but it allowed me to decide that the goal of sailing around the world was the first and foremost in my mind. Lola and I discussed some of the things in the house that we no longer really use and decided to sell some stuff. We are going to compile a comprehensive list of everything that we own and decide which of these are towards the goal, the rest we will price and advertise for cash. We also decided that we will probably buy the Coplan Ocean Spirit 34’ hull, deck and bulkheads and we will complete the work in our front yard.
22 Jun. 09
Went down to the Vaal for a day sail on Saturday, it never fails to amaze me how little wind is required to move the yacht. Okay granted not very fast but movement none the less. To give you an idea, distance is very difficult to judge on the water and since none of the instruments on the yacht work, I have to estimate the distance at about 1 to 1.5 km from Bayshore Marina to the island. Well we left the marina at about 12h30 and motored straight out towards Deneysville for about 1 km then we cut the motors and just floated about for an hour or so. I felt a small breeze and decided to hoist the main sail and the headsail to see if we would move at all, and sure enough we started to move in the direction of the island. About an hour later we were at the island and two hours later we were back at the marina. So if you are in a hurry better get a power boat.
25 Jun. 09
Was speaking to Jeff at the marina, he owns a holiday 23 and a Bayliner, and he told me that his outboard motor was stolen along with a few other outboards. Very disturbing news, so he replaced his motor with a second hand one that he acquired and was testing the new motor on the weekend. I hope I spelt Jeff correctly because my daughter also knows someone called Jeff but his name is spelt Geoff. Also met another guy whose name eludes me right now but I think it begins with a M, Jeff talks very highly of him and his sailing experience so I want to make a point of getting to know him a bit better and see if he can give me some pointers.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The Missing sailor
08 May 2009
Friday!!! Yes please. Love Fridays once we are sailing I am going to change the calendar to only have Friday, Saturday and Sundays. In fact every day will be Sunday, and when we need to party we will make it Friday, when we need to shop it will become Saturday. Definitely no Mondays! Anyway this week had no public holidays and was the first full week of work we have had to endure for about a month now. Hope to go sailing this afternoon. First we have a function at work for three of our employees that have been with the company for 10 years, so we are going to hand out long service awards this afternoon.
Last weekend we only managed to sail on Friday, public holiday, we took my sister and Warren with on their first sail. Warren enjoyed it but my sister nearly went overboard when a strong gust heeled the yacht over and she wasn’t holding on at the time. One hand for the yacht and one for yourself isn’t that what they say. Anyway we came home on Friday night but apparently a yacht went missing over the weekend skipper and all. I hope to find out more this weekend but have very little info at this time.
12 May 2009
Well so much for sailing this weekend, once you have kids everything changes. The plans you make are no longer your plans but are now guided by factors out of your control. Rauen had plans which in turn changed all my plans. Read in the citizen newspaper yesterday that they found the skippers body near Manten marina, but not too much detail yet and no real info. This weekend coming I am going with Amy to Pretoria to check out the varsity that she will be attending next year, open day. So as you can see my plans are not my plans, but it will be good to spend some quality time with my daughter so I am not complaining. Last night we went to Lola’s graduation ceremony at UNISA. I suppose she is now a qualified accountant. I am very proud of her. This one lecturer made a speech that nobody could understand, not even himself I think. Must be really tough to be this guy’s wife if he has one, unless she is Greek because he speaks a sort of English that only Greeks can understand.
19 May 2009
Weekend came and went, very eventful weekend. Went to Jason and Tammy on Friday night, almost got arrested for car theft in Jason’s new company car, some sort of problem with the number plates that were incorrect. I told Jason to let them take the car but he insisted that they can not, I understand why because the last car of mine that was taken to the police pound came back without wheels and a sound system. The previous one even came back without a petrol tank and only half the dashboard. The police always say “it came in like that” but I was present when the one was driven away by the police, and personally drove the other one and handed it in to them. When you try to take action against them and open a case the docket mysteriously disappears. On Saturday morning at twenty to five my alarm at home activated and when I went to investigate I found that someone had broken open my gate. The alarm must have chased them away because there was nobody in sight, however they had poisoned my dog and she had died so I am not impressed.
This morning they poisoned my neighbour’s dog and stole his wheels and sound system out of his car in his garage. I suppose we will now have to upgrade our alarm system again, we tend to upgrade every time an attempt is made and lucky for me we are in the security industry so we get the upgrades at cost, still expensive though.
25 May 2009
What a good weekend, on the water, been a while, it was great. Didn’t get to do much actual sailing but just spend time with Lola practising to park, whew she gets agro when things don’t go her way, but I managed to survive this and afterwards actually found it quite amusing, but not so much at the time. Found out a bit more about the sailor that went missing and actually remember seeing him go out on the Friday whilst we were on our way in, I still thought to myself that I must be a bit of a wimpy sailor because it was getting quiet rough on the water when we came back in and he was on his way out on a small open boat not much bigger than a dingy.
What I enjoy the most about being on the water is the feeling that your body has when you get off, the earth moves all the time especially when you are in confined spaces like the shower and it takes a few days to wear off, very inexpensive or shall we say bonus side effect like using some sort of drug without having to use any.
Friday!!! Yes please. Love Fridays once we are sailing I am going to change the calendar to only have Friday, Saturday and Sundays. In fact every day will be Sunday, and when we need to party we will make it Friday, when we need to shop it will become Saturday. Definitely no Mondays! Anyway this week had no public holidays and was the first full week of work we have had to endure for about a month now. Hope to go sailing this afternoon. First we have a function at work for three of our employees that have been with the company for 10 years, so we are going to hand out long service awards this afternoon.
Last weekend we only managed to sail on Friday, public holiday, we took my sister and Warren with on their first sail. Warren enjoyed it but my sister nearly went overboard when a strong gust heeled the yacht over and she wasn’t holding on at the time. One hand for the yacht and one for yourself isn’t that what they say. Anyway we came home on Friday night but apparently a yacht went missing over the weekend skipper and all. I hope to find out more this weekend but have very little info at this time.
12 May 2009
Well so much for sailing this weekend, once you have kids everything changes. The plans you make are no longer your plans but are now guided by factors out of your control. Rauen had plans which in turn changed all my plans. Read in the citizen newspaper yesterday that they found the skippers body near Manten marina, but not too much detail yet and no real info. This weekend coming I am going with Amy to Pretoria to check out the varsity that she will be attending next year, open day. So as you can see my plans are not my plans, but it will be good to spend some quality time with my daughter so I am not complaining. Last night we went to Lola’s graduation ceremony at UNISA. I suppose she is now a qualified accountant. I am very proud of her. This one lecturer made a speech that nobody could understand, not even himself I think. Must be really tough to be this guy’s wife if he has one, unless she is Greek because he speaks a sort of English that only Greeks can understand.
19 May 2009
Weekend came and went, very eventful weekend. Went to Jason and Tammy on Friday night, almost got arrested for car theft in Jason’s new company car, some sort of problem with the number plates that were incorrect. I told Jason to let them take the car but he insisted that they can not, I understand why because the last car of mine that was taken to the police pound came back without wheels and a sound system. The previous one even came back without a petrol tank and only half the dashboard. The police always say “it came in like that” but I was present when the one was driven away by the police, and personally drove the other one and handed it in to them. When you try to take action against them and open a case the docket mysteriously disappears. On Saturday morning at twenty to five my alarm at home activated and when I went to investigate I found that someone had broken open my gate. The alarm must have chased them away because there was nobody in sight, however they had poisoned my dog and she had died so I am not impressed.
This morning they poisoned my neighbour’s dog and stole his wheels and sound system out of his car in his garage. I suppose we will now have to upgrade our alarm system again, we tend to upgrade every time an attempt is made and lucky for me we are in the security industry so we get the upgrades at cost, still expensive though.
25 May 2009
What a good weekend, on the water, been a while, it was great. Didn’t get to do much actual sailing but just spend time with Lola practising to park, whew she gets agro when things don’t go her way, but I managed to survive this and afterwards actually found it quite amusing, but not so much at the time. Found out a bit more about the sailor that went missing and actually remember seeing him go out on the Friday whilst we were on our way in, I still thought to myself that I must be a bit of a wimpy sailor because it was getting quiet rough on the water when we came back in and he was on his way out on a small open boat not much bigger than a dingy.
What I enjoy the most about being on the water is the feeling that your body has when you get off, the earth moves all the time especially when you are in confined spaces like the shower and it takes a few days to wear off, very inexpensive or shall we say bonus side effect like using some sort of drug without having to use any.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Swaziland
17 Apr. 09
Yesterday one of our clients was followed from the bank and robbed at gunpoint at his office in the business park. Last night two other clients had someone break in to their premises one whilst they where at home and asleep, and yet another client had someone attempt to break open their gate. Lovely country we live in, very safe. Funny thing about eye witness statements, five people five different colour and different type cars used in the armed robbery. Go figure.
Going for a day sail on Saturday and looking forward to it, need to have a change of environment after dealing with all the problems.
20 Apr. 09
Went for a day sail on Saturday in the morning. At first there was no wind so we motored out of the marina and went into the shallows at Bayshore and scrubbed the boat clean. Then the wind picked up just as we were finished and we sailed out of the bay and some distance up the Wilge river side of the dam. By the time we got back it was dark about 19h30 but it was great conditions and another amazing sail.
29 Apr. 09
My brother’s daughter Jeanine got married this weekend in Swaziland and we went for the weekend. We booked into Piggs peak casino and hotel on Friday afternoon and the wedding was held on Saturday in a marquee on a bowling green. The actual wedding ceremony was great for a change not the same traditional vows but not corny either, and the view of the mountains was spectacular in front of the wedding. Swaziland is about 380 km from our house and we drove down in a rental car that we rented from Avis in Isando. We opted for a rental because we were told that we need registration papers for our car in order to cross the border. Avis failed to supply these papers and Lola was panic struck all the way. I am not sure what she thought was going to happen at the border crossing maybe she thought we would be incarcerated and held forever in a prison cell in Swaziland. We crossed the border and no body even asked for the papers, could have taken our own car and saved the rental fees. April has so many long weekends and its great for going away but really bad for the budget also very expensive for the business due to all the overtime pay.
Yesterday one of our clients was followed from the bank and robbed at gunpoint at his office in the business park. Last night two other clients had someone break in to their premises one whilst they where at home and asleep, and yet another client had someone attempt to break open their gate. Lovely country we live in, very safe. Funny thing about eye witness statements, five people five different colour and different type cars used in the armed robbery. Go figure.
Going for a day sail on Saturday and looking forward to it, need to have a change of environment after dealing with all the problems.
20 Apr. 09
Went for a day sail on Saturday in the morning. At first there was no wind so we motored out of the marina and went into the shallows at Bayshore and scrubbed the boat clean. Then the wind picked up just as we were finished and we sailed out of the bay and some distance up the Wilge river side of the dam. By the time we got back it was dark about 19h30 but it was great conditions and another amazing sail.
29 Apr. 09
My brother’s daughter Jeanine got married this weekend in Swaziland and we went for the weekend. We booked into Piggs peak casino and hotel on Friday afternoon and the wedding was held on Saturday in a marquee on a bowling green. The actual wedding ceremony was great for a change not the same traditional vows but not corny either, and the view of the mountains was spectacular in front of the wedding. Swaziland is about 380 km from our house and we drove down in a rental car that we rented from Avis in Isando. We opted for a rental because we were told that we need registration papers for our car in order to cross the border. Avis failed to supply these papers and Lola was panic struck all the way. I am not sure what she thought was going to happen at the border crossing maybe she thought we would be incarcerated and held forever in a prison cell in Swaziland. We crossed the border and no body even asked for the papers, could have taken our own car and saved the rental fees. April has so many long weekends and its great for going away but really bad for the budget also very expensive for the business due to all the overtime pay.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
March '09
10 Mar. 09
Solo sailing, this weekend proved to me that sailing with someone experienced and sailing solo are two very different things. Friday we arrived at Bayshore in the late afternoon and the boat was back in the water at the slip. Due to the time, we decided that we would just settle into the boat on Friday night and would sail in the morning.
Lola and I took the bow bed thinking that it gives us a bit of privacy and we seemed to fit, note seemed to fit, the morning aches and pains tells a different side of the story. We opted to sleep with our feet toward the taper as this allows for more shoulder room but landed up foot wrestling the whole night. Would hate to think what would have happened if our heads were together.
Woke up really early and started the motor after some initial struggle, untied the boat and off we went. This part was simple enough and I managed to steer without too much drama. Outside the marina we hoisted the main, cut the motor and sailed off. I felt a bit inexperienced and sailed with only the main for a while, but the wind was good and steady at about 4 to 6 knots and we then rolled open the roller furler and sailed around the island. On the way back into the marina I managed to hit a pole but with little damage as Lola managed to push the boat away from the pole in time.
16 Mar. 09
This weekend came and went with only time for sailing on Sunday. I am trying to quit smoking for the millionth time and decided that Friday was the best day to try. Today is Monday and I am still winning.
27 Mar. 09
Still winning on the not smoking and it hasn’t been that hard although I have gained 2 kilos already. Managed to sail last weekend on Friday afternoon but on Saturday morning the battery died on us so we had to pack up and go home. We were only planning to stay till the afternoon anyway as we had a house warming party to attend at Tammy and Jason’s new house in the evening.
The party at Jason is always good and I must tell you how he pours a drink puts hair on a man’s chest, he also never allows your glass to get empty. All in all a good host and very sociable character.
Went to comet caravans during the week and bought a charger for the battery and a marine plug to allow us to have power on the boat for the charger to work. Still need to get some fuses to check other equipment like the solar panel. When the battery died I saw that the fuse on the solar panel had blown and I’m not sure how this happened or if it was like this when we bought the boat.
30 Mar. 09
The fuse was fine, just my brilliant eyesight but the solar panel overcharges the battery and this is the problem with that. I assume that the voltage regulator is faulty. Anyway great weekend, went to the marina on Saturday morning and did the boat work that was required. We had a name plate made for the marina to demarcate our slip and the slip is now no longer Wally but is now Le Grange. Charged the battery and went swimming in the pool for the day. In the afternoon Axel arrived with John on John’s barge and took us with on a booze cruise. We crossed the dam and stopped on the other side at a bike rally and just watched for a while then headed back to Axel’s place and had a braai with some awesome fillet steaks. When we wanted to leave Keagan my oldest son was nowhere to be found and Lola got annoyed and took Rauen and Kyle and left me with the job of locating Keagan. I found Keagan hanging around some young girls in the complex and had to drag him away, no wonder he has the nick name of bra strap Le Grange.
Solo sailing, this weekend proved to me that sailing with someone experienced and sailing solo are two very different things. Friday we arrived at Bayshore in the late afternoon and the boat was back in the water at the slip. Due to the time, we decided that we would just settle into the boat on Friday night and would sail in the morning.
Lola and I took the bow bed thinking that it gives us a bit of privacy and we seemed to fit, note seemed to fit, the morning aches and pains tells a different side of the story. We opted to sleep with our feet toward the taper as this allows for more shoulder room but landed up foot wrestling the whole night. Would hate to think what would have happened if our heads were together.
Woke up really early and started the motor after some initial struggle, untied the boat and off we went. This part was simple enough and I managed to steer without too much drama. Outside the marina we hoisted the main, cut the motor and sailed off. I felt a bit inexperienced and sailed with only the main for a while, but the wind was good and steady at about 4 to 6 knots and we then rolled open the roller furler and sailed around the island. On the way back into the marina I managed to hit a pole but with little damage as Lola managed to push the boat away from the pole in time.
16 Mar. 09
This weekend came and went with only time for sailing on Sunday. I am trying to quit smoking for the millionth time and decided that Friday was the best day to try. Today is Monday and I am still winning.
27 Mar. 09
Still winning on the not smoking and it hasn’t been that hard although I have gained 2 kilos already. Managed to sail last weekend on Friday afternoon but on Saturday morning the battery died on us so we had to pack up and go home. We were only planning to stay till the afternoon anyway as we had a house warming party to attend at Tammy and Jason’s new house in the evening.
The party at Jason is always good and I must tell you how he pours a drink puts hair on a man’s chest, he also never allows your glass to get empty. All in all a good host and very sociable character.
Went to comet caravans during the week and bought a charger for the battery and a marine plug to allow us to have power on the boat for the charger to work. Still need to get some fuses to check other equipment like the solar panel. When the battery died I saw that the fuse on the solar panel had blown and I’m not sure how this happened or if it was like this when we bought the boat.
30 Mar. 09
The fuse was fine, just my brilliant eyesight but the solar panel overcharges the battery and this is the problem with that. I assume that the voltage regulator is faulty. Anyway great weekend, went to the marina on Saturday morning and did the boat work that was required. We had a name plate made for the marina to demarcate our slip and the slip is now no longer Wally but is now Le Grange. Charged the battery and went swimming in the pool for the day. In the afternoon Axel arrived with John on John’s barge and took us with on a booze cruise. We crossed the dam and stopped on the other side at a bike rally and just watched for a while then headed back to Axel’s place and had a braai with some awesome fillet steaks. When we wanted to leave Keagan my oldest son was nowhere to be found and Lola got annoyed and took Rauen and Kyle and left me with the job of locating Keagan. I found Keagan hanging around some young girls in the complex and had to drag him away, no wonder he has the nick name of bra strap Le Grange.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
February '09
08 Feb. 09
Well Lola, Amy and I went to do the VHF licences at ICASA, wow not at all what I expected. It was like doing a geography exam after you have studied history. Somehow the course had been changed and we did not have a clue that this had happened. On our sailing course we were given 16 pages of notes to study for the VHF radio licence exam. This was in about August, and since September we attempted to book at ICASA to write the exam but the person who the booking is done through, Zondra, is never ever at work. We must have left about ten voice mails on her phone but she never returns any of these. In February we managed to call on one of the rare occasions when she was actually at work and she answered the phone and told us that the exam can be written on Friday, this was Tuesday. We instantly agreed to write on the Friday as we had no idea how long it would take before we could get hold of her again. Zondra told us that she would forward us an Email with all the relevant information and payment details. Anyway we are still waiting for that email to arrive. Even though we hadn’t got any email we had the date and time so we arrived at the offices of ICASA and proceeded to do the exam. When we arrived we were informed that Zondra was absent and that the exam would be invidulated by someone else instead. Wow what a surprise, Zondra was off, how unusual.
18 Feb. 09
Lola just got hold of Zondra this morning and we all passed don’t ask me how that happened. Zondra told Lola that she would send us an email to make payment, well lets wait and see.
After the VHF we did an eye test at Specsavers, this was a breeze as we all have good vision and none of us are colour blind. So the plan continues.
Yesterday Lola and I took most of the day off work and went to the Vaal dam to look for a Yacht that we can use at the Vaal on the weekends to practice on. We went to Manten marina as they had a web site and advertised a number of yachts for sale. Another memorable experience. Previously we had been to Manten and looked at various catamarans because at the end of the day we need a cat due to the size of our family. They showed us four cats, which gave us some sort of idea as to different sizes and designs available as well as prices. At that time I thought that their sales technique could do with some improvement as they treated me with some indifference and made me feel uncomfortable being there.
Yesterday was worse, you know the feeling you have when you walk into someone’s workshop without being allowed to do so and everybody looks at you with that look of “hey, what the hell are you doing in here”. Anyway we got to look at three yachts for plus minus the same price and the third one seemed in good condition.
Lola and I always like to at least overnight any decisions because things are much more clear after some thought and no purchase is made on an emotional level. We have found this type of decision making process to work well for our business thus we employ this in our personal lives to.
26 Feb. 09
On Saturday we went to Bayshore marina to find out if they have an available slip. We met Greg who seems a nice chap and he explained the costs involved at the marina, and then said he also has two boats for sale. We looked at the one a vivacity 24 and we immediately knew this was the one. You know that feeling that you get instantly it just felt right. We then arranged a test sail on Tuesday morning.
Tuesday morning was overcast and very windy, perfect sailing weather. The test sail went well and we made an offer. The offer was accepted and we now own our own Vivacity 24.
We wanted to go sailing this weekend coming but Greg is first going to fit a marine toilet, respray the deck and anti foul the boat. So I will have to patiently wait, but the plan continues.
Well Lola, Amy and I went to do the VHF licences at ICASA, wow not at all what I expected. It was like doing a geography exam after you have studied history. Somehow the course had been changed and we did not have a clue that this had happened. On our sailing course we were given 16 pages of notes to study for the VHF radio licence exam. This was in about August, and since September we attempted to book at ICASA to write the exam but the person who the booking is done through, Zondra, is never ever at work. We must have left about ten voice mails on her phone but she never returns any of these. In February we managed to call on one of the rare occasions when she was actually at work and she answered the phone and told us that the exam can be written on Friday, this was Tuesday. We instantly agreed to write on the Friday as we had no idea how long it would take before we could get hold of her again. Zondra told us that she would forward us an Email with all the relevant information and payment details. Anyway we are still waiting for that email to arrive. Even though we hadn’t got any email we had the date and time so we arrived at the offices of ICASA and proceeded to do the exam. When we arrived we were informed that Zondra was absent and that the exam would be invidulated by someone else instead. Wow what a surprise, Zondra was off, how unusual.
18 Feb. 09
Lola just got hold of Zondra this morning and we all passed don’t ask me how that happened. Zondra told Lola that she would send us an email to make payment, well lets wait and see.
After the VHF we did an eye test at Specsavers, this was a breeze as we all have good vision and none of us are colour blind. So the plan continues.
Yesterday Lola and I took most of the day off work and went to the Vaal dam to look for a Yacht that we can use at the Vaal on the weekends to practice on. We went to Manten marina as they had a web site and advertised a number of yachts for sale. Another memorable experience. Previously we had been to Manten and looked at various catamarans because at the end of the day we need a cat due to the size of our family. They showed us four cats, which gave us some sort of idea as to different sizes and designs available as well as prices. At that time I thought that their sales technique could do with some improvement as they treated me with some indifference and made me feel uncomfortable being there.
Yesterday was worse, you know the feeling you have when you walk into someone’s workshop without being allowed to do so and everybody looks at you with that look of “hey, what the hell are you doing in here”. Anyway we got to look at three yachts for plus minus the same price and the third one seemed in good condition.
Lola and I always like to at least overnight any decisions because things are much more clear after some thought and no purchase is made on an emotional level. We have found this type of decision making process to work well for our business thus we employ this in our personal lives to.
26 Feb. 09
On Saturday we went to Bayshore marina to find out if they have an available slip. We met Greg who seems a nice chap and he explained the costs involved at the marina, and then said he also has two boats for sale. We looked at the one a vivacity 24 and we immediately knew this was the one. You know that feeling that you get instantly it just felt right. We then arranged a test sail on Tuesday morning.
Tuesday morning was overcast and very windy, perfect sailing weather. The test sail went well and we made an offer. The offer was accepted and we now own our own Vivacity 24.
We wanted to go sailing this weekend coming but Greg is first going to fit a marine toilet, respray the deck and anti foul the boat. So I will have to patiently wait, but the plan continues.
Intro
Where to begin.
Hi my name is Barry, self employed at a security company in South Africa. My wife and I wanted to immigrate to new Zealand to start a new life as conditions here were becoming a bit shaky, when I suggested that instead of going that route why don’t we buy a yacht and take our kids on an adventure instead of changing one saw mill for another.
I mean come on what is the difference, slave month to month in SA or slave month to month in NZ. At first Lola told me I was mad but after thinking about the idea for a while, she changed her mind and stepped into the light. Now Lola is an accountant so instantly the mind started to calculate, how much will it cost and how can it be achieved, and what do we need to know.
Well firstly not one of us has even set foot on a sailing yacht ever. So point one we decided to go for a day skippers course. After some investigation which consisted out of reading a few monthly SA Sailing magazines, which I had been buying for some time as I am a consistent dreamer, in other words my life seems incomplete without having some ridiculous unachievable goal to look forward to, it was decided to use Sunsail in Durban for the course.
As we are a family we had to book the entire boat for the duration of the course. The course was done in December ‘08 and was a combo course comprising of 4 days crew and 5 days skipper. We slept on the yacht for the duration of the course.
The first few days on the course where pretty tough and here after day 3 Lola and I decided that a power boat may be just the answer. I think our instructor Brett heard this and then eased up on us a bit making the rest of the course a lot more fun, and giving us one afternoon off to lounge by the yacht club. We used this afternoon to swim and study navigation, which Lola of course understood first time with ease, but Amy, my daughter, and I were to thick to grasp in such a short time. I need to understand things before I can remember them. I suppose I have some sort of learning disability or maybe I’m just dumb.
This was the first time I was in a classroom situation with my wife and kids and it will be the last time. You know that feeling when everybody around you seems to catch on instantly and you think the instructor is speaking in Greek. Well I think the kids and wife now have a slightly different picture of me in their minds and it not good.
The course itself was extremely interesting and I never thought that I could learn so much in such a short time. Our instructor Brett was a very knowledgeable sailor with many hours of sailing experience, and I believe he taught us a lot more than was required due to this. As I said before the first few days were very tough because things you do on a yacht like sheet the main sail and grind the winches is a new kind of exercise to the body and the body took strain. I also found that I have wimpy feet and all the uneven surfaces and ropes everywhere killed my feet, but after the initial pain and suffering and using pain killers it became easier. Oh yes the boat shoes also made a world of a difference, never used the shoes the first few days.
Funny thing about life, one feels so much better about yourself after you have achieved something, even simple things like riding a bike or walking must do this. I say this because after passing the course I felt so proud of myself, I suppose that comes from years of underachievement and bad marks at school, then again if school had been half as much fun and informative I may even have done better back then. If I think back on the course it reminds me of being in the army, you hated being there at the time but miss it now its gone, okay not quite the same.
The whole family enjoyed the sailing and not one of us really got sea sick so the plan continues.
Hi my name is Barry, self employed at a security company in South Africa. My wife and I wanted to immigrate to new Zealand to start a new life as conditions here were becoming a bit shaky, when I suggested that instead of going that route why don’t we buy a yacht and take our kids on an adventure instead of changing one saw mill for another.
I mean come on what is the difference, slave month to month in SA or slave month to month in NZ. At first Lola told me I was mad but after thinking about the idea for a while, she changed her mind and stepped into the light. Now Lola is an accountant so instantly the mind started to calculate, how much will it cost and how can it be achieved, and what do we need to know.
Well firstly not one of us has even set foot on a sailing yacht ever. So point one we decided to go for a day skippers course. After some investigation which consisted out of reading a few monthly SA Sailing magazines, which I had been buying for some time as I am a consistent dreamer, in other words my life seems incomplete without having some ridiculous unachievable goal to look forward to, it was decided to use Sunsail in Durban for the course.
As we are a family we had to book the entire boat for the duration of the course. The course was done in December ‘08 and was a combo course comprising of 4 days crew and 5 days skipper. We slept on the yacht for the duration of the course.
The first few days on the course where pretty tough and here after day 3 Lola and I decided that a power boat may be just the answer. I think our instructor Brett heard this and then eased up on us a bit making the rest of the course a lot more fun, and giving us one afternoon off to lounge by the yacht club. We used this afternoon to swim and study navigation, which Lola of course understood first time with ease, but Amy, my daughter, and I were to thick to grasp in such a short time. I need to understand things before I can remember them. I suppose I have some sort of learning disability or maybe I’m just dumb.
This was the first time I was in a classroom situation with my wife and kids and it will be the last time. You know that feeling when everybody around you seems to catch on instantly and you think the instructor is speaking in Greek. Well I think the kids and wife now have a slightly different picture of me in their minds and it not good.
The course itself was extremely interesting and I never thought that I could learn so much in such a short time. Our instructor Brett was a very knowledgeable sailor with many hours of sailing experience, and I believe he taught us a lot more than was required due to this. As I said before the first few days were very tough because things you do on a yacht like sheet the main sail and grind the winches is a new kind of exercise to the body and the body took strain. I also found that I have wimpy feet and all the uneven surfaces and ropes everywhere killed my feet, but after the initial pain and suffering and using pain killers it became easier. Oh yes the boat shoes also made a world of a difference, never used the shoes the first few days.
Funny thing about life, one feels so much better about yourself after you have achieved something, even simple things like riding a bike or walking must do this. I say this because after passing the course I felt so proud of myself, I suppose that comes from years of underachievement and bad marks at school, then again if school had been half as much fun and informative I may even have done better back then. If I think back on the course it reminds me of being in the army, you hated being there at the time but miss it now its gone, okay not quite the same.
The whole family enjoyed the sailing and not one of us really got sea sick so the plan continues.
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