17 Sep. 12
We finally arrived back home on Yrumoar yesterday after extending our visit to Lola’s sister in Durban by one extra day. Our dingy was completely deflated and filled with water from all the rain that fell whilst we were away. The crew from Sea Shoes had been keeping an eye on our boat and told me they had to empty the dingy a few times during the week. We knew we would have to modify the way we carry the dingy anyway since it fills with water from breaking waves when we sail.
18 Sep. 12
Last nights regular Monday night braai left me feeling a bit tender today so I didn’t achieve much for the day. I did manage to get the dingy secured making us one step closer to leaving. The international visitors here have been grilled by customs for some or other unknown reason. While we were away customs arrived here in full force like some huge drug bust, posting police officers on every walk on and acting like they had just uncovered the largest and meanest underground organisation since Al Capone and the mob. They gathered all the “illegal” international yachties and detained all their boats stating that they were evading tax and breaking the law by not paying import duties on their boats. Wow, imagine that, every country you stop at now suddenly forces you to import your boat into that country. I suppose you would also have to pay export duties a few months later when you leave.
I can’t help but wonder which rocket scientist thought up this new found ludicrous misinterpreted law. If any such law even exists. It is just so good to know that our country has such intelligent people in control.
19 Sep. 12
I have a hollow feeling of anticipation in my stomach that has been haunting me for the past few days. I am not sure what has caused this feeling but it just won’t go away.
The south westerly wind is howling again today and we are going into town to buy some filters and things for the second hand water maker that we bought some time ago. We found a manual online and I am hoping to install the water maker before we leave here. It doesn’t look complicated but then this is a boat and nothing on a boat is ever as it appears.
I haven’t been able to find my rhythm and still forget to brush my teeth or shave some days only remembering to do this at about lunch time. I used to have a set routine before we lived on the boat but can’t seem to find it here. It also seems that the longer we have been on the boat the harder it has become. I try to remind myself as soon as I wake up, but I am even forgetting to remember to remind myself. Maybe I should make a list and sleep with it stapled onto the ceiling above my head, or perhaps photos stapled to the ceiling would be better.
24 Sep. 12
It was a long weekend and we had some friends arrive on Friday and leave today. A few times over the last few days I experienced emotional moments where I missed my kids terribly and found myself feeling miserable. Except for Lola I don’t think anyone else noticed these moments so I didn’t spoil the mood for anybody. Keeping a happy face whilst melting on the inside is a practised and acquired skill that I am not very good at.
The raging battle between customs and the international boats still continues. One of the detained boats managed to leave after paying a fine of two thousand rand, the others are still waiting to find out what fate has in store for them. Unfortunately for these poor souls customs holds all the cards and will slowly divide and conquer each futile attempt made at finding justice. I am embarrassed by this foul play and unprovoked attack on the international community and hope that we don’t find ourselves in the same situation in other countries that we visit. All I can say is, “welcome to Africa, remember to leave your wallet behind when you go.”
Mark will be arriving some time this week to take over our parking space so we will move to a rental spot for a while whilst I try to tick a few important items off the repair list. So it seems we are running out of excuses and will have to be on our way soon.
25 Sep. 12
Yesterday was another one of those “goodbye” days. Our “homeless” friend Ryun found himself a job up in Johannesburg and left. We had become quite close over the last two years and his leaving left Lola and I feeling glum. The regular Monday night braai seemed mundane as we sat in a corner by ourselves feeling deflated and miserable. The regular faces didn’t look as inviting and we decided that we are going to distance ourselves in future, taking the easier route by not making such good friends again. Doing this may not be easy but the “goodbye’s” will be easier.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
19 Aug. 12
The question of staying has been coming up a lot lately. Lola could get a job here in Richards bay as a teacher which she had discovered to be her chosen profession. I considered starting a sailing school so I still get to do some sailing. During the school holidays we could sail up the coast to Mozambique and back. It has been very tempting to cancel the trip. There is a multitude of reasons for these thoughts. Money being on top of the list with the fear of the uncertain future being a close second. Last night however Lola and I discussed the subject once more and this time it was Lola’s turn to make the decision to continue with the trip. It is weird how we seem to toggle, sometimes it is me and the next time she would decide. I never realised how many times the temptation to cancel the trip would come up.
23 Aug. 12
Today we went to the airport to fetch our son Rauen, back from his two week visit to Joey’s. Now that he is back we need to get the most important items ticked off the list and then watch the weather for a window. Our new navigation system on the laptop with an AIS receiver seems to be working. The power problems that we have had are still not completely solved. The MPPT charge controller that we bought hasn’t made any difference. We received it with absolutely no paper work and even though it seems quite a simple thing to install there may be a trick to it. I tried contacting the manufactures but they just ignore me. I will send one more e-mail to them in a final attempt to see if I will get some joy.
29 Aug. 12
After spending about sixty rand on cell phone calls to WRND I am still no closer to solving our power problems. I must have asked the guy four or five times to please send me a manual, but still I wait in vain. Perhaps it’s a secret and my qualifications aren’t classified enough. Or maybe it is on a need to know basis, and I just don’t need to know. We also want to buy an inverter from them since their pricing is good, but now I am not sure if I should. Maybe their pricing is so good because their equipment comes without manuals and doesn’t really work. The equipment looks quite pretty though so I suppose that would make up for its inability to work.
Today we will go and collect a rental car that we plan to use for a trip to Joeys to say our goodbyes to the kids and family. This must be about the fifth time we have said our final goodbyes, so perhaps it’s not really the final after all.
07 Sept. 12
Our visit to Johannesburg has passed the halfway mark and I find myself wanting it to come to an end so that we can get back home to Yrumoar. More than once during our visit up here I asked myself why we chose to stay here for so long. This must be one of the ugliest places on the planet, especially this time of the year. Everywhere we drive we are surrounded by brown dirty pieces of open land with black patches where veld fires have scorched the soil and destroyed the dry brown grass. The icy wind blows through your skin until your bones feel cold and brittle. Even the stars refuse to shine here in the night sky and only a few of the very brave ones will show their faces to the poor souls that are doomed to survive here.
We have however enjoyed spending time with our family and friends and we made a point of seeing Keagan everyday after school. Amy has been a bit more difficult to see since she has a busy life and lives in Pretoria, about sixty kilometres from my mother’s house where we are staying.
14 Sept. 12
A myriad of thoughts were making their way slowly through my head as we drove away from my mother’s house on our way back towards the coast line, and back towards our home on the boat. Like a slide show the memories of the past week flashed on and off in my mind. Images of each of our friends in turn cycled slowly across my mental vision. The slideshow would play for a while flashing some of the memorable moments of our trip, but always ended with the sad eyes that accompanied the goodbye’s. Saying goodbye has never been one of my strong points and this perhaps final goodbye to some was particularly hard. The slide show was still running when we made our pit stop to buy KFC for lunch. I sat eating but not really tasting anything as we had our lunch. After KFC we walked to the convenience store to buy coke for the next part of the trip. Rauen attempted a conversation with me as we walked along and I must have appeared to be listening as he continued speaking. After reaching the shop we departed in our separate ways and I found myself thinking that I was really glad he didn’t ask me any questions, since I didn’t hear a word he said.
The trip to Johannesburg was a trip of extremes going from Axel’s thousand odd square metre, ultra modern, home to my sister and Warren’s small broken, in dire need of repair, rented house, to Russel’s mansion with the forbidden west wing, and then to my daughter Amy’s small student apartment. Each place we visited brought its own individual experience and the memories that go with it.
For the most part we stayed at my mother’s house, making a point of going to see my son, Keagan every afternoon once he arrived home from school. During our visit to Sam and Russel we all had our first unforgettable experience in a Lamborghini. Going to Axel’s house confirmed our decision that going on a boat actually suited us. His place is large and modern, but for me, excessive. At his place, Lola and I discussed what we would need should we ever decide to settle back on land again. We realised that we are obviously just too simple and require almost nothing to live happily. Our “wish list” if you can call it that, went as follows. First we require a fridge/freezer, then a comfortable bed. A small stove and some plastic garden furniture completes the list. Everything else would be considered luxury items. Thinking back to past Barry and Lola this was about all we had anyway before we decided to go, so I suppose nothing has really changed.
The question of staying has been coming up a lot lately. Lola could get a job here in Richards bay as a teacher which she had discovered to be her chosen profession. I considered starting a sailing school so I still get to do some sailing. During the school holidays we could sail up the coast to Mozambique and back. It has been very tempting to cancel the trip. There is a multitude of reasons for these thoughts. Money being on top of the list with the fear of the uncertain future being a close second. Last night however Lola and I discussed the subject once more and this time it was Lola’s turn to make the decision to continue with the trip. It is weird how we seem to toggle, sometimes it is me and the next time she would decide. I never realised how many times the temptation to cancel the trip would come up.
23 Aug. 12
Today we went to the airport to fetch our son Rauen, back from his two week visit to Joey’s. Now that he is back we need to get the most important items ticked off the list and then watch the weather for a window. Our new navigation system on the laptop with an AIS receiver seems to be working. The power problems that we have had are still not completely solved. The MPPT charge controller that we bought hasn’t made any difference. We received it with absolutely no paper work and even though it seems quite a simple thing to install there may be a trick to it. I tried contacting the manufactures but they just ignore me. I will send one more e-mail to them in a final attempt to see if I will get some joy.
29 Aug. 12
After spending about sixty rand on cell phone calls to WRND I am still no closer to solving our power problems. I must have asked the guy four or five times to please send me a manual, but still I wait in vain. Perhaps it’s a secret and my qualifications aren’t classified enough. Or maybe it is on a need to know basis, and I just don’t need to know. We also want to buy an inverter from them since their pricing is good, but now I am not sure if I should. Maybe their pricing is so good because their equipment comes without manuals and doesn’t really work. The equipment looks quite pretty though so I suppose that would make up for its inability to work.
Today we will go and collect a rental car that we plan to use for a trip to Joeys to say our goodbyes to the kids and family. This must be about the fifth time we have said our final goodbyes, so perhaps it’s not really the final after all.
07 Sept. 12
Our visit to Johannesburg has passed the halfway mark and I find myself wanting it to come to an end so that we can get back home to Yrumoar. More than once during our visit up here I asked myself why we chose to stay here for so long. This must be one of the ugliest places on the planet, especially this time of the year. Everywhere we drive we are surrounded by brown dirty pieces of open land with black patches where veld fires have scorched the soil and destroyed the dry brown grass. The icy wind blows through your skin until your bones feel cold and brittle. Even the stars refuse to shine here in the night sky and only a few of the very brave ones will show their faces to the poor souls that are doomed to survive here.
We have however enjoyed spending time with our family and friends and we made a point of seeing Keagan everyday after school. Amy has been a bit more difficult to see since she has a busy life and lives in Pretoria, about sixty kilometres from my mother’s house where we are staying.
14 Sept. 12
A myriad of thoughts were making their way slowly through my head as we drove away from my mother’s house on our way back towards the coast line, and back towards our home on the boat. Like a slide show the memories of the past week flashed on and off in my mind. Images of each of our friends in turn cycled slowly across my mental vision. The slideshow would play for a while flashing some of the memorable moments of our trip, but always ended with the sad eyes that accompanied the goodbye’s. Saying goodbye has never been one of my strong points and this perhaps final goodbye to some was particularly hard. The slide show was still running when we made our pit stop to buy KFC for lunch. I sat eating but not really tasting anything as we had our lunch. After KFC we walked to the convenience store to buy coke for the next part of the trip. Rauen attempted a conversation with me as we walked along and I must have appeared to be listening as he continued speaking. After reaching the shop we departed in our separate ways and I found myself thinking that I was really glad he didn’t ask me any questions, since I didn’t hear a word he said.
The trip to Johannesburg was a trip of extremes going from Axel’s thousand odd square metre, ultra modern, home to my sister and Warren’s small broken, in dire need of repair, rented house, to Russel’s mansion with the forbidden west wing, and then to my daughter Amy’s small student apartment. Each place we visited brought its own individual experience and the memories that go with it.
 |
| Axel's Amazing home |
 |
| Lindie and Warren |
 |
| Kids in the Lambo |
For the most part we stayed at my mother’s house, making a point of going to see my son, Keagan every afternoon once he arrived home from school. During our visit to Sam and Russel we all had our first unforgettable experience in a Lamborghini. Going to Axel’s house confirmed our decision that going on a boat actually suited us. His place is large and modern, but for me, excessive. At his place, Lola and I discussed what we would need should we ever decide to settle back on land again. We realised that we are obviously just too simple and require almost nothing to live happily. Our “wish list” if you can call it that, went as follows. First we require a fridge/freezer, then a comfortable bed. A small stove and some plastic garden furniture completes the list. Everything else would be considered luxury items. Thinking back to past Barry and Lola this was about all we had anyway before we decided to go, so I suppose nothing has really changed.
Regatta Time
05 Aug. 12
The last week has seen me struggling with marine toilets again. It seems that these beasts never work properly. Everyone seems to have a similar solution to maintenance but none of the methods work. Pour oil in them, use vinegar. Yes buckets and buckets of vinegar. The amount of vinegar required to keep them from blocking up would sink the boat and bankrupt me. At the end of the day you have no choice but to strip out all the plumbing pipes and clean each piece individually. It is a disgusting job. And this little exercise has to be done about once a month. So today, yet again, I hate living the “dream”, and living on a boat.
08 Aug. 12
We volunteered ourselves some time ago to be the bridge boat during a sailing regatta. Now the weekend has come and we have to get involved. Being the lazy ass people that we are we no longer want to be involved and would rather just do nothing. So yesterday whilst walking past the office I was asked how much anchor chain we have on board. In my mind I hoped that not having enough chain would be our saviour and thus we could avoid being involved. I converted my reply into a question and asked how much chain we needed? The answer came as fifty metres. Yes! I replied in jubilation, we only have about thirty metres so could just continue in our quest for laziness. No, came the answer, the club would provide the fifty meters of chain. So, it appears we will be the bridge boat for the weekend after all.
15 Aug. 12
The club never provided that chain and I found myself starting to panic. After I realised that there was no way they were going to let me worm my way out of the regatta, I decided to do some research. For the last few regatta’s they used another cat named Nomad. She is fifty four foot long. Steve Martin, the Commodore, told me that she had dragged her anchor and they had to add extra warp. I went around and asked everybody that was anybody about the anchor of the last bridge boat, but nobody seemed to know. I needed to know how heavy the anchor was compared to our anchor. I eventually found the owner of Nomad and asked him, thinking he would be able to enlighten me. To my surprise the answer came as, “I don’t know, is that important to you?” I then asked him how they made up their bridle. He replied, “What bridle?” “We just tie a piece of rope around the mast.”
Thursday morning arrived and we found ourselves at the race briefing feeling a bit unprepared. To add to my misery, Rauen, my reliable crew, was flying up to Joey’s to see his dad in the afternoon. This would mean that Lola and Kyle, the rest of my crew, would be at the airport to say goodbye when the race was on. My mind was filled with trepidation as I listened to the race committee announce that we should be getting out in about an hour. Walking back to the boat I had visions of myself as a lonely solo sailor on a badly anchored boat drifting slowly towards the rocks and death.
Fortunately one of the race competitors called and informed us that he was stuck in the snow on his way down from Joey’s. Some of the others also experienced problems so the race was postponed to Friday and I went off to the airport to say goodbye.
Friday morning with two race officials and minus one crew member we motored out of the harbour to test the conditions for the day. After spending an hour drifting about in the same spot I opened the furler and we sailed at about one knot for the next hour. Another hour of waiting and testing and the decision was made to race inside the harbour instead so we motored back to our parking.
The wind finally arrived on Saturday morning and we dropped our anchor in twenty five metres of ocean. Lola gave me clear and concise instruction that she wasn’t accepting the rope around the mast bit so I had to make up our bridle and make it work. Fortunately I am a very talented man and made it happen as per instruction, thus saving my own life and making sure that future Barry would still be in existence.
Sitting out at anchor about three miles offshore watching Hobie Cat racing was quite an experience and we all enjoyed the day.
The racing finished as the wind turned north easterly and picked up to above twenty knots. It fascinates me how quickly the sea follows the change in the wind, within minutes the waves had become short, steep and choppy. Now the fun begins. Lola and I agreed before the time that we won’t fight this time and I ask her to steer us towards the anchor. Steve and I head onto the deck to quickly lift the anchor. Well, at this point I was to discover that my fears of the anchor dragging were all in my head and about to be obliterated. More than an hour later, after some blood, lots of sweat and even a few tears Steve and I finally managed to get the anchor back on board. I was so busy struggling that I couldn’t even find the time to fight with Lola.
With only a few weeks left of winter, Lola and I decided to stop being lazy and start preparing Yrumoar for our upcoming journey. We searched all over the boat for the list of repairs we made but it must have grown some feet and disappeared. After abandoning our search for the list we decided to make a new list. The new list has fifty three items that need to be addressed. Some of the items are big jobs, but most are quite small. On the first day we ticked two items off the list. Today we added one to the list.
The last week has seen me struggling with marine toilets again. It seems that these beasts never work properly. Everyone seems to have a similar solution to maintenance but none of the methods work. Pour oil in them, use vinegar. Yes buckets and buckets of vinegar. The amount of vinegar required to keep them from blocking up would sink the boat and bankrupt me. At the end of the day you have no choice but to strip out all the plumbing pipes and clean each piece individually. It is a disgusting job. And this little exercise has to be done about once a month. So today, yet again, I hate living the “dream”, and living on a boat.
08 Aug. 12
We volunteered ourselves some time ago to be the bridge boat during a sailing regatta. Now the weekend has come and we have to get involved. Being the lazy ass people that we are we no longer want to be involved and would rather just do nothing. So yesterday whilst walking past the office I was asked how much anchor chain we have on board. In my mind I hoped that not having enough chain would be our saviour and thus we could avoid being involved. I converted my reply into a question and asked how much chain we needed? The answer came as fifty metres. Yes! I replied in jubilation, we only have about thirty metres so could just continue in our quest for laziness. No, came the answer, the club would provide the fifty meters of chain. So, it appears we will be the bridge boat for the weekend after all.
15 Aug. 12
The club never provided that chain and I found myself starting to panic. After I realised that there was no way they were going to let me worm my way out of the regatta, I decided to do some research. For the last few regatta’s they used another cat named Nomad. She is fifty four foot long. Steve Martin, the Commodore, told me that she had dragged her anchor and they had to add extra warp. I went around and asked everybody that was anybody about the anchor of the last bridge boat, but nobody seemed to know. I needed to know how heavy the anchor was compared to our anchor. I eventually found the owner of Nomad and asked him, thinking he would be able to enlighten me. To my surprise the answer came as, “I don’t know, is that important to you?” I then asked him how they made up their bridle. He replied, “What bridle?” “We just tie a piece of rope around the mast.”
Thursday morning arrived and we found ourselves at the race briefing feeling a bit unprepared. To add to my misery, Rauen, my reliable crew, was flying up to Joey’s to see his dad in the afternoon. This would mean that Lola and Kyle, the rest of my crew, would be at the airport to say goodbye when the race was on. My mind was filled with trepidation as I listened to the race committee announce that we should be getting out in about an hour. Walking back to the boat I had visions of myself as a lonely solo sailor on a badly anchored boat drifting slowly towards the rocks and death.
Fortunately one of the race competitors called and informed us that he was stuck in the snow on his way down from Joey’s. Some of the others also experienced problems so the race was postponed to Friday and I went off to the airport to say goodbye.
Friday morning with two race officials and minus one crew member we motored out of the harbour to test the conditions for the day. After spending an hour drifting about in the same spot I opened the furler and we sailed at about one knot for the next hour. Another hour of waiting and testing and the decision was made to race inside the harbour instead so we motored back to our parking.
The wind finally arrived on Saturday morning and we dropped our anchor in twenty five metres of ocean. Lola gave me clear and concise instruction that she wasn’t accepting the rope around the mast bit so I had to make up our bridle and make it work. Fortunately I am a very talented man and made it happen as per instruction, thus saving my own life and making sure that future Barry would still be in existence.
Sitting out at anchor about three miles offshore watching Hobie Cat racing was quite an experience and we all enjoyed the day.
The racing finished as the wind turned north easterly and picked up to above twenty knots. It fascinates me how quickly the sea follows the change in the wind, within minutes the waves had become short, steep and choppy. Now the fun begins. Lola and I agreed before the time that we won’t fight this time and I ask her to steer us towards the anchor. Steve and I head onto the deck to quickly lift the anchor. Well, at this point I was to discover that my fears of the anchor dragging were all in my head and about to be obliterated. More than an hour later, after some blood, lots of sweat and even a few tears Steve and I finally managed to get the anchor back on board. I was so busy struggling that I couldn’t even find the time to fight with Lola.
With only a few weeks left of winter, Lola and I decided to stop being lazy and start preparing Yrumoar for our upcoming journey. We searched all over the boat for the list of repairs we made but it must have grown some feet and disappeared. After abandoning our search for the list we decided to make a new list. The new list has fifty three items that need to be addressed. Some of the items are big jobs, but most are quite small. On the first day we ticked two items off the list. Today we added one to the list.
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