VanDamNordia55 – Page 2 – Sailing with Saphir

Days in Namibia

Late again but will try to work on it…at the moment we are in Rio but let’s get back to the days in Walvis Bay

In the morning we hoist the anchor, or the guys pulls upp the anchor and we go in and moor next to Far. The location is definitely not the most charming place we been at, with the big harbour behind us but it is great to be moored on the pier away from the waves and knowing that we don’t need to jump in the dinghy every time we go a shore. The Walvis bay yacht club is just five minutes walk along the pier. They provides us with facilities and have a restaurant, a bar and a small beach. Next door is a few more restaurants and some souvenir and handicrafts stores. So we didn’t need to go far to have some food and meet up with our fleet friends.

First thing is to get in to town to check us in and at the same time we take the opportunity to get us sim card. Getting a sim card took much longer time than check us in. They need our passport to register our sim card. It is so much easier when we can use e-sim.

A bit maintenance needs to be done before we feel we can explore Namibia. Things that needs to be done is, oil check, filter change, cleaning, washing , extra this time is the windless and filling disel. Grocery shopping can be done before we leave. The windless was not broken which was huge relief, since next place is only anchoring. It turned out to be that the bluetooth remote was broken, so we are back using the one with a cable , but that is only working on getting the anchor up so down is a free fall…. Filling disel took us half a day since the fuelling place was at the other end of the harbour and when we arrived we was the first filling up and some how the information had not gone all the way to the guy in charge. A few calls and we got diesel. It was a new experience for us to fill up next to all the fishing boats with lots of guys standing in the pier and all curious of our sailing.

We didn’t have many days in Namibia but we managed to do a sandwich bay 4×4 wheel tour in the dunes. That was an amazing experience. A bit like a rollercoaster, glad that we didn’t drive our self. We would definitely got lost and maybe also got stucked. On the way to the dunes we past huge amount of birdlife and most of them where flamingos, we also past the salt industry. Just before the dunes started we was told that there where some wildlife as gnu, antilops and even a schakal. The schakal we didn’t see but a few antilops,

After the tour me and Edgar went up to Swapkonmund for a night. It is a half an hour drive up along the coast from Walvis bay. I was amazed about the landscape. These huge sand dunes along the coastline. Not strange that they build the houses close to the water. We arrived to the Swapkonmund hotel late afternoon so didn’t have the energy to walk around after our tour. From now on we will always we try to book at least two nights in the future. One night is to short if you want to see something more than just the hotel although is was a very nice one a great food.

On the last evening the Yacht club restaurant was closed but they arranged a barbecue evening for the fleet. Nice to see everyone before we head off to St Helena

Hugs Eva

Namibia here we come

We made it to Namibia! Arrived early Wednesday morning after 5 days sailing / motor sailing.

We left waterfront marina on Saturday the 11 January and headed up to Namibia. We hade a good wind until late afternoon when it dyed out and we had to rely on the iron donkey. It is quite rocky and sadly my chicken stew fell out of my hand and messed up the refrigerator and the floor…… I did use the 3 sec rule and took up the stew and served it after heating it up of course for dinner. Nobody got sick all good.

Sadly we are only 12 boat out of 21 that left CapeTown due to different reasons, some waiting for delivery, others need help from expert etc. Hopefully they will join us in St Helena.

It continues to be rolly, but we do get used to it. The nights were cold so we put up our cover on the back and port side. It makes such a big difference. Know we don’t need to put on full gear during night shifts. Can’t get enough of sunrise and sunset Even the moon is with us and shines up the sea.

On the second day our friend boat Mistral got problems with there engine so they could use it. We planned for a tow rescue if they couldn’t get in to the marina when we reached Walvis Bay. So we ended up turning around to see if we could tow them in. We used our blue lines on one clech each and on the loop ends we attached a long white line and almost at the end, a floating ball. By the time we were behind them the wind had increased and the waves so we decided not to tow them. It would be too risky. This was a very good learning for us. Both how do it and also how difficult it is. Mistral continued sailing and was towed in by the marina early in the morning.

Knowing that they were getting help soon we continued to Walves Bay and dropped our anchor at 4.40 on Thursday morning. Happy that it was no wind or waves, since our remote control didn’t work, so we had to free fall it.

Hugs Eva

Cape Town days

Today we are leaving Cape Town. Can’t believe we have been here almost 6 weeks. It has been fantastic weeks with lots of positiv impressions travelling around in the neighbourhood. We have of course fixed things on the boat, such as got our main sail and genua repaired. Getting a new toilet which at the end turn out that it was nothing wrong with our toilet. It was a block in the pipes. The big KVH is gone and our starlink is using that pole instead. So happy to have the starlink in a better place on the boat.

Saphir also got new antifouling. That included at trip up to Saldana. Which I am really happy we did. On that trip up we saw a unge amount of humpback whales. It’s not easy to get any great photos with a mobil phone since they were far away so I was extra happy when one actually came up along the side of our boat. I got that on a video.

Saphir is up on the hard for some new paint on the hull.

I also went home for a week to meet up with family and friends. The most exciting was to meet Novalie in real life and not only on the screen. I had a great week home, having Ella, Filip, Nellie and Novalie staying with me the hole week, even Mia stayed for a few days as well. Max had to go to school so no sleepover for him. I celebrated my upcoming birthday twice. Nellie had her birthday party in the house and we also had Novilies baptism coffee. So a very busy week.

Back in Cape Town unpack and repack for the next trip, which was going to Camps Bay to celebrate my 60th birthday, where Elise came and joined us. She stayed with us for two weeks. I had a great birthday with a walk on the beach, laying by the pool for some hours, a manicure and a massage before we headed out for dinner together with Karen and Chris. So a perfect birthday in other words.

A few days back on the boat going to tabletop mountain and celebrating Christmas with some off the others boats.

Pink bubbles, ginger cookies and skumtomtar

After that off to explore the wine yards and celebrate Edgar’s birthday in Paarl. We stayed at La Rouche which was a lovely place where we had relaxing days by the pool and we did visit some wine yards as well.

Back in Cape Town Elise had a few more days before going home. First we celebrated New Year with family Svensson, our friends from Stockholm with a dinner at Pier Waterside continued with the fireworks on the boat.

Elise’s two last days we, me, Elise, Karen and Sonja almost manage to the top of the Lions head. The weather was really not the best rain and windy, so when we came to the ladders we decided to turn back. Together with Karen me and Elise went to Betsy’s bay to see the Penguin, which we sure did. It was quite windy and the waves was rough so the penguins stayed on land. We also went to the botanical garden at Betsy’s bay and had a lovely walk up the hill to Lisa Kloff waterfall.

Time for Elise to go back home and finish her studies to become a sea captain. Wish you all the best and see you when we are back home. It was so nice to have you visiting us.

One more week before we are off. First thing is to move the storage in to starboard side so when Chris ( our new crew) arrives he has a cabin that is not leaking. Food shopping, dinner preparation, sewing and knitting with the ladies.

And we are off to Namibia !

Port Elisabeth to Cape Town

Happy New year, it is the 3 Jan 2025 when this blog is posted. We have been in Cape Town since 1 dec and having a great time here, and the last two weeks Elise have been visiting us. More about that in a later blog. In the last blog we arrived to Port Elisabeth so let’s start there.

It is great to be moored here in Port Elisabeth specially as the wind speeds up. Even in the harbour we feel the wind as it was up to 20 m/sec. We discuss the weather and when it is best to leave with the 6 other Arc boats. Feels good to be sailing with them to Cape Town. One of the evenings we have a sundowner on Saphir. It was very packed.

Since we knew, that we were going to be stuck in Port Elisabeth for a few days, we decided to go for a Safari to Addo the Elephant park with Chris and Karen. What a great place. We saw lots of Elephants, ‘pumbas’, zebras, antilopes, kudus, buffles, one hyena and many different birds

Me and Karen took an uber to Sacramento to hike. It was a great walk and fabulous scenery although the weather could have been better. Shifting between sun, rain and wind. When we almost dried up the wind got more intense, the rain came and we got soaked, then it stopped raining and the sun came out for a while before it started all over again. Before going back to our boats we had lunch at Sacrament restaurant.

The weather window is opening up and we are out in the ocean again and heading to Cape Town. On the second night we pass Point Augulhas which means we left the Indian Ocean and are back in the Atlantic sea. This is also the most southerly part of Africa.

When we passed the Good Hope on the 1 dec at 12 we still had five hours left to Cape Town . We enjoy the last Nm and are looking for whales. Edgar sees a squirt from a whale. We see him/her just in front of the boat and that scared us a lot but it manage to dive before we came to close.

3 and 1/2 days on the sea and we are getting in to CapeTown. Now we have till 11 Jan to fix things on the boat such as toalett, sail and lots of other things. I will also make a trip back home to Sweden to see all my grandchildren, family and some friends.

Big hugs Eva

Sailing along the wild coast

Early morning is and a few more boats leave Richard’s bay and hope to get all the way to East London. We really like to get as south as possible before the heavy winds comes. The morning is beautiful and we enjoy the sunrise.

When we got out of the harbour we got very good help from the current, we almost never went under 8kn. So nice to be more or less flying forward. We arrived at East London and Buffalo river just before five, and at 17.15 Saphir is moored along the pier. The pier is for bigger boats so it is very high up to the edge of the pier, luckily there is a ladder attached in the wall of the pier that makes it easier to get on land. Mistral is lying just infront of us and the other boats are on bouy’s in the river.

We went over to the yacht club, to meet up with the others and also get some dinner. This night there was a barbecue, you either buy the meat or bring your on and grill it. Magnus and Karen were in charge of our grilling and they did a great job.

How many people do you need to fix Mistrals dinghy engine??? It turned out that it needed a new battery which arrived the next day. Great! then we didn’t need to get our dinghy in the water. It is a bit of a hassle since the engine is not attached on the dinghy, so it is not only just getting the dinghy in the water. We all went for lunch in Mistrals dinghy at a fish and chips restaurant up the river. An other early night since we are heading out at 4.30 in the morning to get to Port Elisabeth. Magnus jumps off Saphir to head home to his family. Thank you Magnus for all the help from Mauritius to East London. It has been a pleasure to have you onboard. Now I have to go back doing all the cooking and washing up!!!

Now we are back beeing only us two again. Luckily it is not that many nights on the sea. Once again we have good current with us and we have only one night sailing. After 43 hours we a do are moored in Port Elisabeth with great help from the harbour master. A night cap on Mistral before we head to bed.

Hugs Eva

Richard Bay

Sorry way behind read and enjoy

15-21 nov

We are so happy to be here. Now we will have almost one week to relax, fixing, explore the area. The Arc have made a nice program for the week. It starts with a mingel in the evening and many more during the following days. It was very nice to meet up with the rest of the fleet and hear about their sailing. One of my jobs is to fix the roof in Magnus cabin. He had a few bad leaks that we will see if we can solve with some sikaflex when the deck is dry. Meanwhile I am emptying the water and letting the celling panels dry. Then I need to attach the fake skin back and happy that our friend boat have an electric stapler. New thing on the wish list to the boat.

Saturday morning at five we meet up for the Safari tour. Hoping to see the big fives. After 2 hours in the bus we are at Nomcondo – Big Five Hlabias where the guides and jeeps are waiting for us. Wow! What an adventure. So fantastic to see all these wild animals and fantastic to see that some of the species are actually together. We saw lots of antelopes, buffaloes, gnu, monkeys,“Pumba” sadly not “Timon” , zebra, rhinos that they sadly had cut off the horn a month ago to provent poaching. It was harder to spot the elephant but we finally saw some behind the bushes. The giraffes was not either easy to spot, but we saw some and I even manage to capture one with my iPhone even if it is not that clear. The hardest was the lion, I saw him but my camera was not good enough so I got a picture from one of the other.

Me and Edgar decided to have a night for ourself. The hotel we wanted was fully booked so Edgar found an other that was not so far from the marina in a walking distance he thought. We ended up to take a cab so actually we could have chosen an other hotel. Anyway we stayed at Meer an Sea a bed and breakfast place which I missed. This means that they don’t serve dinner or any drinks so the owner kindly drove us to buy some snacks and drinks and in the evening we had home delivery of pizza.

Few more days with a wine tasting evening, food shopping and I didn’t know that Edgar had his own store. The last evening we hade the prize giving awards with local dance and a dinner. This time we got a price for arriving closest to our estimated time of arrival. We arrived only 55 minutes later than ETA. We would have been even closer if we didn’t had to wait for an hour outside the harbour due to cargo ships going in and out of the big harbour that was further in. It was too narrow in the canal in to meet the cargo ship so we didn’t mind waiting outside.( even if we are saying we are not competing when we sail but this time…???)

The morning after is it time for us to leave and sail south. Some of you might wonder why we left when we did, special since it was after the big dinner and event that Arc had planned. The things is sailing along the east coast of South Africa is very special. You can have a good weather window for two-three days and then for a few days really bad weather with strong winds,high sea etc. Which means you might get stuck for up to a week if you are unlucky. So the weather window was right for us to leave in the morning the next day which lead to an early evening since we plan to leave around four thirty in the morning. Very early!!!

Hugs Eva

Indian Ocean Reunion to Richard Bay in 9days

Just after 10 a clock on the 6 November we cross the start line and start our sailing to South Africa and Richard Bay. Me and Edgar have prepared us with scoopoderm so we don’t get seasick. This sailing can and will be really rough so we are extra happy to have Magnus onboard since he don’t get seasick and that means he will not have problem to fix food for us when we don’t feel like going down in the boat to prepare dinner. We have not a gathered start just a time when we are okay to cross the start line. This time we are defiantly the first boat over the start line and we are enjoying taking the lead for some hours before part of the fleet will overtake us

On the second day( 7 November )we hoist the Blue water runner(BWR) early in the morning and sail with it until evening when the genua had taken over during the night. Next morning we take out the BWR and by the evening it goes back in to the forward lasarett. There will not be any good winds for our BWR in the next upcoming days. We continue sailing with the genua and just a tiny part of the main sail. It is still not working properly to take it in and out of the mast even if it is better now after the temporary repair in Mauritius. We don’t dare to take it fully out and not getting it in again. That is no fun to bring it down on the deck specially in the rough sea. Done that a few times already. On the fourth day when we are close to Madagascar the bad weather appears and we start to reef the genua until it is not much left in the evening. The genua makes the boat dip a bit to much and it is not comfortable sitting, sleeping and it is even dangerous to move in the boat. One hand always on the boat. The waves have grown up to 3-4 m and they comes from different directions and of course the wind get stronger. The most we have seen is around 15m/s in the gusts. The bed in the salon is the best place to sleep but to smal to share so I tie up the canvas and make my bed safe when it rolls. It is very uncomfortable. Our stove swinged so much that I locked it which led to that all the trays flew out on the floor. A while later the baking machine,the waffle iron and coffee machine also flew away anfd landed on the floor. All three are working but have new places when we sail. With the big waves comes also a lot of water on the boat which is natural and some of this water goes down in to the hull and then we need to pump it out which was not that much. That’s the normal procedure but sometimes the water decides to take an other way and this time again it went in to the bathroom in the front and all the way in to starboard cabin where Magnus sleeps. We can’t solve the problem on the sea so the only thing is to dry up the water..

After it calm down it was so calm that the engine had to be turn on and the sails was taken in. For the rest of the route the sails goes in and out , and the engine turns on and off. We have the do current with us sometimes which is very nice. Our watch schedule works well although I ends up to start my watch 1-2 hours earlier since the captain is so tired and needs to sleep. The rain also showed up but only for a day. We do relax in different ways, Magnus reads books, Edgar do sudoku and me listen to books and knit.

Finally we are outside Richard bay. There is some traffic with ships going in and out of the marina so we have to wait for our turn. It turned out to be an hour waiting and that also made us miss our estimated arrival time that we wrote up in one of the competitions we have with the arc. How it went with that will be in the next blog about our time in Richard bay.

We have permission to go in to the harbour. Once inside we followed the motorboat through the narrow and shallow canal to our berth.

We have crossed the Indian Ocean!!! Yeees. The last leg we made it in 8 days and 2 hours. After we had moored we was greeted but the Arc and the Marina. Now we will enjoy being here and just relax before we have start the normal fixing in and outside.

Hugs Eva

Short sail to Reunion

It is a very short distance to Reunion only 130nm (same distance back and forward Nynäshamn-Visby, which we thought was long before we started sailing round the world) . The start is at 14.00 due to the fast sailors wouldn’t arrive in the middle of the night. Nice to see all sailing from the start.

It was a smooth sailing we had a lovely sunset with some of the boats sailing in to it in front of us. Now when we are three on board we can have longer sleep which is so nice. So in the morning when we arrive none if us needed a napp. First we went to fuel up. Swade is helping us with the sheets at the fuel station.

We tide up next to Mistral and have a pink champagne breakfast before we check in.

Some maintenance need to be done as the window in the cabine. Not the most convenient place to work in but Edgar manage it well. On the way to Reunion Edgar noticed that the engine had new sounds that was not supposed to be there so he finds a guy here how can fix them. It takes the engineers two turns out of the harbour to make sure that the sound is gone. It was the engine mounts that was not correct attached and we also gut all four now attached.

We went up to the crater Sainte-Rose and had a fantastic walk on part of it. The Vulcan is still active and last time was 2020. Even if I haven’t been on the moon but this is how imagen how it would look although without all the vegetation. After we went for lunch at a very different place. Didn’t look like a restaurant at all and lots of animals on the backside and some not so happy turkeys.

I also hade the benefit to go diving twice together with Karen, Madelene and Lars. It was really good although I needed some extra air since I was using mine to fast. All four dives we were down for more or less 60 minutes which I don’t think I ever done before so not strange that my air finished. Went in some caves which was fantastic, saw turtles,scorpion fish, Nemo,huge yellow moray eel and lots more.

On my next visit to this island I would definitely plan some hiking. The scenery my friends have shown me me was fantastic. Once again our bikes came out. It was a long way in to town to go food shopping and hard to get a cab. On the prize giving we got first prize to be the last boat in our group. We got a new handicap after adding an new sail which we never used and probably will not in the future either. Maybe that’s why or that several slower boats started earlier and was not part of the ”race”! Hahaha!

On our last night we went out to eat and this town is strange after 5 there is not many restaurants open but we found one where we had some tapas and house wine. Checking out the next morning and we are good to go and do the last crossing of the Indian Ocean

Hugs Eva

Mauritius

After 15 days at sea it feels so good to have land under your feet and that the rolling has stop for now. Extra happy are we that the temporary mending on the stay held. Now we look forward to get it fix here.

We spend the two first days to fix things on the boat, cleaning, washing, filter changing, oil check and make sure that Magnus our crew have a cabin to sleep in. It needed to be emptied a bit.

After the two days working on the boat we cheek in to hotel for some nights. What a treat, a huge bed that is not moving and lots of space over our head, bathtub, breakfast served, a pool to hang by. We enjoy every minute of it. We even spoil us with some massage and pedicure. And if Edgar is worried about Saphir he can just look out the window to see her. One of the evenings we have a fantastic dinner with Karen and Chris at the Japanese fusion restaurant in the hotel

Together with the hole fleet and yellow shirts we had a great day visiting the botanical garden, a suger factory and a lovely lunch with a guided tour around the Manor House

It is nice to be moored in the city center. Here you have a lot in a walking distance as the market, supermarket, shopping areas and restaurants.

Magnus arrives with sparparts which is the engine mounts, yarn and some Swedish candies. The mechanic comes and installs them but they could only change two so the other two we hope to get fixed in Reunion. The stay got fixed and the main sails furling, although not with the spare part since it was sent back to Netherlands. Some miss communication grrr. We are not happy about that. Even this time dynema is a saver. Now we can use our main sail again.

A week can feel very long and that you have plenty of time to do things but swish and it is time for next leg and sail to Reunion.

Hugs Eva

The second half crossing Indian Ocean

We continue sailing in this rolling sea. Our mending on the stay is still working. Which is a big relief. We had to tighten it once with some duck tape. So happy I have already prepared some dinners although I need to boil the pasta which is a bit scary when the stoves swings a lot.

We have some more days to pass before we are in Mauritius. I continue knitting and a day before our arrival the jumper is done. So what will I do know??? Luckily Magnus who is joining us in Mauritius will have some more yarn with him for my next projects.

The sea is getting calmer but still enough waves to get some dolphins playing around the boat.

I do have to show you some sunrises and sunsets. They do look different every time.

We can finally see the lights from Mauritius . The benefit arriving in the night you spot the island earlier than daytime if there is light on the island of course.

We cross the finish line at 01.39 on the 22of October. Now we have a few more hours motoring down to Port Louis. Early morning we drop anchor and gets a few hours sleep before we can enter the harbour.

We had a very nice welcome from the fleet when we came in. We are so happy to be here and relived that our stay hold the hole way. Now we will have a week to fix things, relax , explore the island and enjoy the company of all our sailing friends

Hugs Eva