March 10, 2012-Fernando de Naronha

wingssail images-judy jensen
Sailing Into Fernando de Naronha (Updated)

We sailed into Fernando under 3/4 oz kite, pole to the headstay and flags flying; we arrived in style. The anchor splashed down at 11:45 local time and by late afternoon we had completed our clearance, found an ATM and got a pocket full of Brazilian Reals, and we were having cool beers at a cafe overlooking the harbor.

So the Atlantic has been crossed.

They say there is no Internet here, or not any which you can use, so we might not be able to post photos yet, but they are coming. Stand by.

Fred & Judy (and Randy & Laura), SV Wings, Fernando de Naronha

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March 9, 2012-Motoring toward Brazil

It's the last night at sea in the South Atlantic Ocean.

The wind is gone, the sails are furled, and we're motoring at five and a half knots; we've got a clear sky, a full moon, and very calm seas.

The batteries are gone, good thing we're motoring, but we could make it sailing if we had wind; we can manage the battery problem.

We've got food, water, fuel, and a good engine, so we can motor for a long time if we need to but Fernando de Naronha is close, 65 miles, we only need to motor for 11 more hours.

Tomorrow Brazil, a new country, a new continent. We'd rather arrive under sail and if the wind comes up at all, we'll turn off the motor and rasie the sails.

No sign of that now; I guess I'll run a weather forecast.

Fred & Judy (and Randy & Laura), SV Wings, South Atlantic Ocean

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March 8, 2012-In Our Own Words

I asked each of our crew on this passage to write their thoughts. Here they are.

Judy:

When we crossed the Pacific Ocean to the Marquesas in 1998 I told Fred, "If all of our passages are as good as this one, I could cruise forever." Well, in the following 15 years we faced more challenging conditions and less benign seas, and often it caused us to ask the question, "Why are we doing this?"

Upon making each landfall we knew why: another culture, another country, another adventure, another Island to explore, and it made the difficult passages worthwhile. We became addicted to the new landfalls, but there have been some tough oceans to cross: The trip to New Zealand, the South China Sea, and more recent ones.

Our first attempt to cross the Indian Ocean was so daunting that we turned around and almost vowed to quit cruising. Since then we have crew aboard, always good friends, to ease the load.

With Pierre we crossed the most challenging of oceans, the South Indian Ocean. The ocean was dreadful but sailing it with Pierre was great.

John and Jennifer joined us for the leg from Mauritius to South Africa and helped us cope with days of 40+ knots of wind and huge seas. They were tough.

And after Fred & I sailed down the renowned South African Coast to Cape Town alone Randy and Laura, joined us for the Atlantic crossing.

The Atlantic, likely to be our last ocean crossing, has been the best ever. The sailing has been easy, with rarely even a sail change. In addition to the great sailing conditions our 2 hours on, six hours off, watch schedule, affords us much rest and plenty of time to read, play cards, and think about all the world's problems, and the friendship has been wonderful. Life doesn't get much better. What more can I say?

Laura:

Sailing across the South Atlantic Ocean has been windy and wild, mellow and mild. Night watches have been mostly graced by a full moon and a galaxy of stars & planets; nights so clear that I feel I could grab a star and tuck it away in my pocket.

Hours on watch thinking of this & that (all sorts of stuff actually) makes us realize that we are but a tiny speck on this vast ocean.

This trip aboard 'Wings' is really about the journey, not the destination, though the thought of wandering along a beach in the coming days is a welcome thought, as is a diet coke with heaps of ice, and a crisp green salad.

Randy:

The southern Atlantic has been the easiest of the three oceans I have crossed. 'Wings' has taken us across this ocean with speed and grace; our former yacht, 'Pollen Path' would have loved this trip.

Fred:

Each passage has a character, like each ocean does and each vessel. Some passages, however optimistically they are commenced, can turn out to be rancorous and petty, the tone is sour, based on the people aboard and how they relate to each other. On other passages, and this passage of ours is one of these, the mood and feeling is one of cooperation, accommodation, and generosity; it is a happy ship.

On this passage it has all has been about the crew; We are all seasoned sailors, exceptionally competent, and well used to the close quarters of life at sea, and knowing that on a small ship it is only kindness towards the others, acceptance of each person's individuality, and accommodation to their needs even when they don't coincide with our own, which keeps a ship a happy ship, as this has been. Judy, as ever, has been consistently cheerful, optimistic, generous, hard working, and easy going, and always, a back-up to me. We all rely on her judgment. Laura has been adaptive in the face of adversity and new surroundings, resourceful, helpful to everyone, also generous and uncomplaining (and a great cook). Randy is one of the world's natural born sailors and I think he now knows how to sail Wings, and fix it, as well as Judy and I do, and he is always willing to pitch in and do anything that is needed, whatever it is.

This is an exceptional crew and we have all worked hard together and worked hard to stay together. In this we have been very lucky.

And so, with an easy ocean to cross, a great ship to carry us, and a very special crew, the character of this passage is one of happy contentment.

It has been, so far, and I expect it to be to the final landfall in Brazil, a very, exceptionally, excellent passage.

Fred & Judy (and Randy & Laura), SV Wings, South Atlantic Ocean

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March 7, 2012-Race to Brazil

I've turned this passage into a secret race. Secret because neither I nor my competitors have openly mentioned it, but we all know. Not only do we all want to get quickly to our respective destinations but we each want to get the best of the others. So far on Wings we've been doing well but everyone is still in the game.

On Monday night we made our move; decisively.

We'd gone south for a week, we'd passed the imaginary turning mark on the chart, and we had successfully skirted the lightest of the winds around the low up north. We had gained a good slant on the boats behind which were stubbornly still sailing a direct course right through the low. But we were now over 150 miles to the south and that represented a lot of distance to make up and there was new wind coming; the South Atlantic High was rebuilding. If that filled in if we weren't clearly in front this would simply turn into a drag race which we could easily lose. We had to consolidate.

The wind was still light when we jibed over and at first going north wasn't easy. The breeze was fitful, the seas awful, and through the night we struggled. I swore at the gods of the sea as we put sails up and down and started the engine then turned it off, but we made some distance and in the morning it dawned clear and there was a cool, fresh, new wind.

I set the spinnaker and we pushed hard for another day; I was at the helm for the better part of ten hours working the boat through the waves and gusts, trying to find the best angle, determined to make another hundred miles. Judy asked me if I wanted to keep it up and I told her, "Don't doubt my resolve, I will get this done."

And we did. By Wednesday morning we were back on the rhumb line, 300 miles directly ahead of the next boat; between them and the mark. We'd sailed around the low and around the fleet. It felt good.

Now we can just take whatever line is best to Fernando de Naronha, our expected landfall. There may be more challenges, and I am still pushing the boat hard, but now we have the luxury of choosing our course.

Electrical Problem.

If only the electric issue would resolve itself that nicely. Like my sis' commented, we are the energizer bunny, we just keep going, but the power situation is grim: we expect to have to shut down all non-essential power either on our arrival in Fernando, or before that.
But we'll get there.

Fred & Judy (and Randy & Laura), SV Wings, South Atlantic Ocean

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March 04, 2012-A Southern Strategy to the Atlantic Crossing.

We've run down wind south of the rhumb line for two days now pressing the boat harder than before with a full mainsail and a big genoa, polled out, and 20+ knots of wind and moderate waves, the speeds hitting eights and nines. We are trying to make the most out of the breeze before the influence of the ITCZ hits us later today or tomorrow. When that happens we can expect, based on the weather files we've been getting and the reports from the other boats on the net, lighter wind and slow going. Our strategy has been to stay south in the good wind for as long as possible then reach up in the light stuff to what we hope will be NE winds on the other side. So far this southern strategy has been working, we're about 200 miles ahead of nearest of the boats behind us, most of whom went north early. In fact our distance from the fleet has meant that we can no longer pick up the radio net they are on and must rely on the nearest boat to relay the information.

Another reason to hurry along is that our batteries are failing and we probably need to get to port as soon as possible. The new silver calcium batteries we bought Luderitz were supposed to be very good and for a few weeks they were. But recently they have been losing capacity. We've been all through the charging and electrical system, multiple times, and found nothing so the conclusion is that the batteries are failing. At this point the only impact is that we have to run the engine for 30-40 minutes (any longer is a waste since the batteries stop taking charge after that) every four to six hours. If the batteries fail completely we will still have the power from our engine but some things, the freezer is a notable example, which have to be shut off. We'd like to avoid that.

Otherwise we are doing fine: the sailing has been good, the food has been excellent, the watches easy, and we feel like we are having a good passage.

Now all we have to do is get to Brazil before the batteries fail.

Fred & Judy (and Randy & Laura), SV Wings, South Atlantic Ocean

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March 2, 2012-Looking Lighter Laura

"It's looking lighter Laura." By which I informed my relief what to expect in the weather for the next couple of hours.

For the crew of Wings this passage is turning out to be one of simply standing our watches and not much else. We've jibed a couple of times but we haven't even had any sail changes since we set the genoa and main upon departing Saint Helena, other than six hours one day when we had the kite up, which besides being a lot of trouble and requiring significant attention, rewarded us with an whopping extra 10 miles that day, so we haven't repeated that. The wind has been steady and for the most part, reliable.

Even the watch schedule itself is easy: we each stand three watches a day of two hours, and the rest of the day we laze around reading or sleeping. Sometimes something needs to be fixed, and, of course, there is cooking and washing up to do. We share these tasks. Every 4th day is shower day which we welcome.

Looking Lighter Laura.

My watches, especially the night ones, have been pleasant. Each night when I come up for my dog watch (10:00PM to 12:00AM) the first thing I see is the Southern Cross. How many years I have loved to see that constellation and how many times I have been frustrated by clouds and rarely able to find it? But now it is laid right out over our stern and I can't miss it. It is beautiful. Then I turn forward and see the moon. We are running before the Southern Cross and towards the bright, setting, moon. The moon beams on the waves make a road for us to follow. My two hours pass quickly and then I do a log book entry and wake Laura (She, in turn, calls Randy, Randy calls Judy, Judy calls me again, six hours later). I might give Laura a brief report, like, "It's looking lighter Laura." She says "OK". And then she takes over and I go to bed. Last night I told her I was saving some moon for her (Up till now it has been setting by the time she is on deck) which she appreciated.

Bad Fish takes out the men.

Randy caught a small Mahi Mahi yesterday which we cleaned and fixed into a ceviche. Randy and I ate the bulk of it. By 16:00 we weren't feeling too good, and within an hour we both heaved our guts out, which brought some relief, but we still weren't feeling too chipper. Good thing we have Judy and Laura to run the boat while we recover.

Ever the competitors.

There is a radio net for a dozen boats crossing the South Atlantic with us, including four catamarans and a few mono-hulls like Wings and some which I don't know. Each morning at 08:00 we check in and share position reports and weather information. Of course I immediately began plotting the other boat's positions and comparing our daily progress. I can say that we are beating them all by 10-20 miles a day. Mostly I think it is the routing which is helping us because we are not pushing the boat hard; we've taken a course south of the rumb line where the wind is stronger. Mary Eliza is also doing this and they are the closest competitor. A change in the weather situation could reverse our good fortune, so we watch the weather as best we can.

Stove stories.

The stove has been out and onto the bench four times since leaving Cape Town. I can't tell you how aggravating the Force Ten stove has been and how piss-poor the service. Due to lack of parts we have been reduced to fabricating the pieces we need. Yesterday it was out for four hours while I made some new pieces to seal a leaking gas line. The repair worked and it is fixed now but for how long, nobody can say.

So that is the routine aboard Wings these days.

Fred & Judy (and Randy and Laura), SV Wings, South Atlantic

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February. 29, 2012-Atlantic Radio Dead Zone

We just made a radio connection tonight, the first in three days; this part of the Atlantic must be a radio dead zone.

Anyway, we are having a good sail towards Brazil, averaging about 150 miles a day in mild conditions. We are eating well, the boat is fine, and all is well on board. We have 1400 miles to go to Brazil.

We'll write more later.

Fred & Judy (and Randy and Laura), SV Wings, mid South Atlantic

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February 27, 2012-Departing Saint Helena

At 12:43 PM Wings, having completed preparations and obtained port clearance, stood out to sea from Saint Helena, bound for Brazil.

We have enjoyed our stay in Saint Helena and the pleasant company of Nepenthe's, Jim and Carol, who also depart today. Last evening we had cocktails and a lite meal aboard their yacht with Randy and Laura and it was great fun. Sadly we will now split with Nepenthe as they are making their course for Gibraltar. They have been cruising friends since 2000 when we met in Scarborough, Australia, but we have made a date to sail together in the future in Mazatlan, when we both reach that port. We hope to keep it.

Saint Helena has been good, yesterday, after one last shopping trip, some of us went to the swimming pool, Randy climbed Jacob's Ladder (the stairs to the high town) and took a minute off of his time, and Laura made last minute email connections at Anne's. I walked the cliff trail to Bank's Battery and took some photos. Later we topped the water tanks and finished scrubbing the bottom. After we got home from Nepenthe dolphins came around in the dark and wished us good bye.

I think we are ready for sea.

Update:

At 16:00 Saint Helena is well astern, we are sailing wing on wing in company with Nepenthe, two miles abeam and the catamaran Ile de Grace, out of Annapolis, with John and Jennifer aboard somewhat behind. The three yachts are gradually separating and will soon be spread out across the wide ocean.

Fred & Judy, (and Randy and Laura), SV Wings, On Passage for Brazil

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February 25, 2012-Saint Helena

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Wings at Saint Helena

A few million stars fill the night sky in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean and the trade winds blow cool, continuously.

Off the island of Saint Helena Wings is riding at anchor and no city light for a thousand miles diminishes the brilliance of the stars and no land mass interrupts the trade winds.

We’ve been a few days in Saint Helena where the place retains the feel of the 1800’s more than the present and the past tugs at us. The buildings, the town, the people, the mood of the place seems like it is lost in a time zone of long before simply yesteryear; it exists in the last century. The placards on the town’s monuments speak of deeds from 1820, the new markers speak of 1945. Nothing has happened since then. The present has passed by St Helena.

There is no cellular phone system here, but you can speak face to face to anyone if you see them in town, otherwise someone will tell them you are looking for them and maybe you will see them later.

There are no ATMs, but you can walk to the Bank of Saint Helena and the teller will draw your cash for you. And if you wish to use your visa card the storekeeper must walk to the bank to see if your card is good while you wait (and no hard feelings over the trouble.)

There is no airport. Travelers come by sea alone, as they always have.
There is a supply ship, the HMS St. Helena, and it comes from Cape Town twice a month with supplies. Between the visits of the HMS St. Helena the store shelves become a little more empty than usual, but when the ship comes in, and when the supplies are unloaded, the shelves fill and the residents of Jamestown drift towards the shops to see what the ship has brought.

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Saint Helena

Jamestown has a slower, friendly, pace here which lulls you and draws you in. You can stroll through down town and you can hang out for a few hours in Anne’s café while a little rain cloud blows over and you will be on island time. It has been going on this way for a couple of hundred years. Now though there is a decline. The population is aging and there are fewer young people staying here to be part of the community. Ten years ago there were 100 births a year. Now there are 20. Saint Helena is fading away. It’s purpose, as a stopover for ships bound for India, ended with the completion of the Suez canal.

However, this might all be changing. An airport is going to be built and more development is expected including five star hotels. Just this week the construction crews have come like an alien invasion. The supply ship offloaded a few dozen blue and white Toyota pickup trucks with the construction company logo on the doors and the company managers and foremen are already swarming over the island in them like robotic drones; they are everywhere. You turn and there is a blue and white truck coming around the bend with a stony eyed foreigner wearing a hard hat behind the wheel. You turn again and there is another one. You can’t hide from their stare and Saint Helena can’t hide from the progress they represent.

So progress and change are coming to Saint Helena and it will be difficult. Hotels and homestays are now booked ahead for four years by workers coming to build the airport. It will take a lot of skilled staff but few locals will be hired; the foreign development companies will bring their own people. Meanwhile prices for everything are going up and only the foreign workers will be able to afford them. There is a rumor that the British Government will reduce the pensions to pay for the airport. The old folks are worried.

Tourists will soon follow the construction crews and there are more rumors flying around about the changes which the tourism will bring. Few of the “Saints” think they will be good. The British Government would like to cut the cord to Saint Helena, to cut off the subsidy which keeps this place running now, and make it self-sustaining. The airport and other investments being made are supposed to pave the way for a financially independent Saint Helena.

So regardless of the fears of the local population, the juggernaut of change is coming.

Most of the cruisers, and right now there are fifteen yachts anchored here, believe a new Saint Helena will be much different and we are glad to be here before that happens.

Me? I don’t know how it will turn out. Progress; you can’t fight it. I just know that the isolated, 18th century village which we found here will certainly get yanked into the 21st century and this piece of living history will be lost as it is now and that is neither good nor bad, just fact.

At least we saw Saint Helena the way it once was.

Click here for more Sant Helena photos

Fred & Judy (and Randy & Laura), SV Wings, Saint Helena Island

February 22, 2012-Photos From Wings

We have a few photos from our passage to Saint Helena.

Now we are safely anchored and ashore, and we will be exploring this delightfull place. We'll send another report before we leave.

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Sailing to Saint Helena


Jamestown, Saint Helena

Click here to see more photos of the passage.

Click here to see the first shots as we arrived in Saint Helena.

Fred & Judy (and Randy & Laura) SV Wings, Saint Helena

Febuary 10, 2012-Departing Africa

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Blue Peter at the hoist

Wings departs Africa today bound for Saint Helena Island in the middle of the South Atlantic.

We expect to weigh and set sail at 14:00 and the wind, though light, should be adequate to get us out of Walvis Bay and out of Africa.

Hopefully we’ll reach the SE trades, which are in the forecast but otherwise nowhere to be seen, before the day's sea breeze dies out.

The fuel and water have been topped, the provisions refreshed, and the boat is in good shape except for the water maker and outside stereo speakers. No worry mate, she’ll be right.

It has been a good year in Africa, one which we would have been sad to have missed.

We’ll post the blog when we can.

Fred & Judy (and Randy and Laura), SV Wings, Walvis Bay, Namibia

Febuary 8, 2012-Walvis Bay

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Walvis Bay, near the salt pans

Maybe it is something to do with the weather which has me down. It has been cold and cloudy here in Walvis Bay since we arrived. Cold? How can that be in Africa at 22 degrees latitude in the middle of summer?

Well, it is. There is a cold current coming up the coast and it brings cold air with it, and fog.

So, we have fetched up in an altogether dreary place, in my opinion, although our new friend here, Arri, said, "If you get sand in your shoes here, you will always come back”. If there is charm here it must be the people, they are wonderful. But the town is is flat, industrial, cool, windy, dusty; you name it.

wingssail images-laura hacker-durbin
Judy and Namibian Friends

But on the positive side, people here are very friendly, all of them, the yacht club is quite nice, we’ve found what we needed for the boat (not much, just a new computer!), and we’ll be able to get water and fuel and the other provisions we need for the crossing to Brazil. But boat parts? Impossible. Good thing we don’t need any. And right now I do have sand in my shoes but I find it hard to believe that I’ll always come back, as Arri said I would.

Right. Get me to someplace warm.

We leave Friday or Saturday for Saint Helena and Brazil.

Fred & Judy, (and Randy and Laura), SV Wings, Walvis Bay, Namibia

January 31, 2011-Randy Joins the Blow Over Club

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Dolphins escort us

You couldn’t tell it from the photos I posted but the bay at Luderitz is pretty windy. In fact the world record for speed sailing was recently set here.

Randy found out when he tried to take the dingy to shore in a near gale of wind. Only a few yards from the boat a gust of wind picked him up and blew both he and the dingy upside down. That’s when we also found out how cold the water was. He nearly froze to death and that is not an exaggeration.

I was on board Wings and I heard his shout and ran on deck to see him swimming alongside the white bottom of the upside-down dingy. From his gasps I knew the water was cold. In fact hypothermia was a danger. This was a serious situation.

I urged Randy to swim towards the boat and he urged me to start the engine and move the boat closer. We did both and soon he was back on board. That was a close call and we were lucky.

But in the end no harm was done and we learned a lesson. No boating in gales of wind without a second person’s weight to hold the dingy down to the water.

Fred & Judy (and Randy and Laura) SV Wings, Ludertiz, Namibia