Caduceus - Cape Town to St Helena Day 12 - St Helena in the not so cold light of dawn

Position15:55.55 S 005:43.57 WDate1000 (UTC+2) Monday 30 January 2017 0800 UTC local St Helena time – British winter timeDistance run in 8hrs 62nm over the ground, 60nm through the waterPassage total1714nm over the ground, 1631nm through the waterDistance to go0nmPlanned distanceCape Town to St Helena 1697nm With fading winds we motored overnight, partially to stop the boat rolling and slamming around.We are assured that we can purchase diesel on St Helena at a cost of £1.27 per litre; the cost will make us feel at home. At 0500 we started to pick up the red lights on the top of the island and as dawn came up just after 7 o’clock, which is 5 o’clock local time, we having been travelling steadily west, the island came up out of the dark.At 0720 a minor disaster struck.After 49,000nm the. read more...

Caduceus - Cape Town to St Helena Day 11 - Almost there

Position16:30.66 S 004:53.94 WDate2359 (UTC+2) Sunday 29 January 2017Distance run in 24hrs 146nm over the ground, 138nm through the waterPassage total1652nm over the ground, 1571nm through the waterDistance to go62nmPlanned distanceCape Town to St Helena 1697nm The title of today’s entry is recycled, but there again we have been at this stage in a passage several times before.It is also rather busy on board with both of us sending out emails about our change of plan, heading for the Mediterranean instead of the Caribbean and the USA.More of this for the blog in a later entry.I will therefore leave it at a position report and add that in lighter winds we are motor sailing for the final lap to avoid wallowing.. read more...

Caduceus - Cape Town to St Helena Day 10 - Our first green flash

Position17:48.89 S 003:40.45 WDate2359 (UTC+2) Saturday 28 January 2017Distance run in 24hrs 130nm over the ground, 122nm through the waterPassage total1506nm over the ground, 1433nm through the waterDistance to go207nmPlanned distanceCape Town to St Helena 1697nm For those that have never heard of it and for those who think that it is a wind up by old salts, a green flash occurs as the sun sets.I believe that it occurs in tropical waters.Just as the upper limb of the sun disappears below the horizon there can be a momentary emerald green flash, or possibly just a glow.To observe this, you require a completely clear horizon just as the sun sets.The last time that I observed this was also in the South Atlantic but forty two years ago.We have both been watching for this phenomena all of. read more...

Caduceus - Cape Town to St Helena Day 9 - East to West

Position19:38.40 S 001:27.46 WDate2359 (UTC+2) Friday 27 January 2017Distance run in 24hrs 154nm over the ground, 150nm through the waterPassage total1376nm over the ground, 1311nm through the waterDistance to go334nmPlanned distanceCape Town to St Helena 1697nm At 0555 (UTC +2) we crossed the Greenwich Meridian, not quite as momentous as crossing the equator, especially as you can do this twice in one rotation of the M25 Motorway around London, but nevertheless a sailing milestone.The last time that we crossed a major meridian was in 2014 in between Tonga and Fiji and on that occasion, we lost a day.At the present time, we could do with losing a couple of hours as the westing that we have made has put sunset and dawn some way out from the natural way of things.We will reset the clocks. read more...

Caduceus - Cape Town to St Helena Day 8 - An uneventful day

Position21:23.39 S 000:31.32 EDate2359 (UTC+2) Thursday 26 January 2017Distance run in 24hrs 170nm over the ground, 165nm through the waterPassage total1222nm over the ground, 1161nm through the waterDistance to go487nmPlanned distanceCape Town to St Helena 1697nm Possibly a case of no news is good news.A combination of not having to stop to deal with hoisting the mainsail, the added speed gained from having a working mainsail and stronger winds gave us an additional 30nm on yesterday.Despite a very rolly motion, Elizabeth bashed to pans and produced a tuna bake, one of my favourites.. read more...