Season Six - The Plan
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Fri 2 Nov 2012 09:29
| Wow. Season number six. We left Lake Ontario nearly five and a half years ago, and that chunk of time has simultaneously flown by faster and creeped past more slowly than any other in our lives. Funny how that works. I remember so clearly leaving Sodus Bay on July 1, 2007. Having never sailed on the ocean before, I was feeling petrified about what was to come after Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Don was both relieved to get away, and exhausted after a frantic month of leaving work, moving house, and non-stop boat work. There was a feeling of exhilaration too though - we were thrilled to have met our departure deadline (even though it left us breathless), and we were nervously excited (some more nervous than others) about what lay ahead in what we thought was going to be a twenty month trip. And here we are - sixty-four months later - in Richard's Bay, South Africa. Still feeling exhilarated (for different reasons), but significantly less petrified. We flew in to Richard's Bay two weeks ago to find Harmonie floating in fine condition. Admittedly, right before we pulled into the Tuzi Gazi waterfront parking lot, there was a brief moment of severe anxiety when we couldn't pick out Harmonie's two graceful masts from the surrounding mast clutter. And then... there they were - standing tall and mostly still white, acting as if we had never left. And that's exactly how we felt as soon as we stepped aboard - like we had never left. As nervous as we were about leaving Harmonie in the water while we were away for three months, we needn't have worried. With frequent washings by local Zulu Hebron and Don's fabulous dock line tying (no less than 20 lines, as you may recall); Harmonie suffered nary a scratch, and has only a few traces of coal dust embedded in various spots around the deck (driven there from Richard's Bay's coal loading docks by the famous southwesterly wind). Some of the local boaters confirmed that several ugly southwesterly blows bowled through while we were away, but Harmonie doesn't seem to have minded. Speaking of southwesterly blows. We are in the midst of a doozy right now. It seems the local South African weather is sympathizing with the US east coast and Storm Sandy. Not even close to the same scale of course, but nasty none-the-less. Yesterday morning we had sustained winds in the 30's (knots) and gusts as high as 48. Lucky for us and our fellow boaters, not a single dock finger blew off. The good news is, as soon as this disagreeable low pressure system exits the area, the winds look good for a safe three-day trip down the east coast of South Africa to East London or Port Elizabeth, which will put us nearly at the 'bottom' of Africa. Once there, we'll be well-placed to scoot around Cape Agulhas (southernmost tip of Africa) during the next available stretch of favorable weather. The prospect of our hopefully leisurely cape-rounding seems cake-like compared to the hellish 1,300 mile Reunion-to-South Africa passage many of our boater friends have been enduring for the past two plus weeks. Ugly weather in the Mozambique Channel (body of water between Madagascar and Africa's east coast) forced them to take shelter in a bay on Madagascar's southwest coast, then bad weather there forced them to cross the channel 340 miles north of Richard's Bay to take shelter up a river in Mozambique. They are all fine, but understandably frustrated having to wait out so many bad weather systems in a row. Unfortunately, we'll miss seeing many of them as we will be leaving Richard's Bay during the same favorable weather window they will use to approach Richard's Bay. Ah well, there's always Cape Town on the west coast - we hope to see everyone there in a short few month's time. Back to the plan. Step two: Cape Town (rounding the cape is step one). We hope to get there in just a few weeks, and our time there will depend on a number of things, but we will stay long enough to do a bit of sightseeing, and possibly a bit of bottom and hull maintenance. Here in Richard's Bay, Don was pleasantly surprised to find Harmonie's bottom and prop in relatively good condition, with little, if any, marine growth. He braved the waters in the marina, spending a fair bit of time inspecting everything below the waterline. No easy (or pleasant) feat given the water is sometimes covered by a colorful sheen of diesel fuel, has a foul smell, and is always the color of mud. Suited fully head to toe, Don went in the water right beside the boat and had difficulty locating the keel only several feet down. His shower afterwards may have been one of the very few times he's ever used an excess of fresh water. The good news is Don has not developed any mutations or rashes of any kind, and from what he could see in the murky water, the bottom looks so good we might choose to skip bottom and hull maintenance in Cape Town. Step three: Namibia. Yes, Namibia, on Africa's west coast, it is the country that borders South Africa to the north. Years ago, it was part of South Africa, but is now an independent country full of lots of interesting places (as told to us by several boater friends). We are thinking seriously about cruising Namibia's coast for several weeks before heading off-shore across the Atlantic in January. This diversion has several benefits, not the least of which is shortening the passage from Africa's west coast to the island of St. Helena. Step four: St. Helena. This tiny island (British Territory) lies in the South Atlantic, about 1,700 miles northwest of the African coast (depending on our departure point). This will be about an 11 or 12 day sail for us, and is reported to be one of the most placid sailing routes in the world. After the beating many of us took in the Indian Ocean, it only makes sense that we should be rewarded with a bit of smooth sailing, right? Because St. Helena's 'harbor' is really only an indentation on its coast with no docks, the length of our stay there will depend on the weather and anchoring situation. We do hope to stay long enough to see Napoleon's place of exile (and subsequent death), and experience the unique culture of 'The Saints' on their extremely remote (there is no airport) island. Next and last step? The Caribbean. We haven't decided exactly where just yet - perhaps Grenada or St. Lucia. Either way, we should arrive sometime in February of 2013 after a record-breaking (for us) ~3,900 mile passage from St. Helena. The length of this passage far surpasses that of the 2,900 mile/17-day sail from the Galapagos to the Marquesas we completed back in 2008, but it is said to be a more pleasant downwind run than even the eastern South Pacific. We've decided not to worry about the length of the passage, and instead are looking forward to endless sunny days sailing fast under power of the downwind rig. We'll spend February, March and April sailing around the Caribbean visiting old haunts and new islands alike, before taking Harmonie back south to Grenada in May. Our current plan is to store Harmonie on the hard in Grenada for the hurricane season (June-November). After that? We haven't decided. What we have decided is we don't have to decide where our next sailing destination will be until after we return to the Caribbean. Besides, that will then become Season Seven, and we've got plenty of time and a long way to go before then. What we can say for sure is there will be one hell of a party on Harmonie in February after making landfall in the Caribbean. Feel free to stop by for some South African bubbly if you're in the neighborhood. That's the plan for Season Six. Subject to change, as always. Besides, what's a plan if not simply a base from which to make changes? I'm pretty sure we once heard a very wise sailor say that. Anne |