Walvis Bay to St Helena

Entrance to Jamestown

Jeremy filling water bottles

Dinghy landing dock

Three sails on my wagon and I'm still rolling along

Another dead solar panel and its rust

The passage across the South Atlantic Ocean to St Helena took 9 days. There were no gales. It was good to be back in the Trade Winds with the wind blowing mainly from the SE and ranging in strength from 5-30 knots. We used all our sails at various times, except the storm jib. We even flew 3 sails for a while: the mainsail sheeted out to starboard, the genoa poled out to starboard and the no.2 jib poled out to port.

Jeremy removed a dead solar panel during the passage, cleaned up the rusty mess it had left and gave the roof a coat of paint.

Several times pods of dolphins came leaping and diving towards us, perhaps 50 or more, and swam in our bow wave for up to 40 minutes. Many mariners believe that the dolphins come to warn us of bad weather ahead. This has proved to be true on a number of occasions.

Our friends on Cat’s Paw IV left Walvis Bay six and a half hours after us. Their yacht is longer and faster, so they were surprised to see us ahead of them on the last morning. We beat them to the anchorage by about 20 minutes. As we started to take down our sails, a snap shackle opened on the uphaul halyard holding the spinnaker pole. Quick action by Jeremy saved the pole from diving into the sea and he soon retrieved the free swinging halyard. About 10 minutes later as we rounded the headland into Jamestown Bay, St Helena, the wind from the cliffs gybed the mainsail and the string holding the main sheet block snapped. The boom was way out of reach but the end of the mainsheet was still in its cleat so Jeremy was able to haul it in and secure it. We were very relieved to pick up a mooring buoy with no more dramas.

Three officials representing Immigration/Police, Customs and Port Authority came aboard Sal Darago. We filled in the forms and had our passports stamped. Before we depart we have to pay £35 and £14 per person for our landing permit.

Jamestown is a lovely fortified town. We chose to go ashore in our dinghy, which we had to haul out at the wharf when the swell lifted it high enough. The local yacht club provides toilet, showers and laundry sinks. A short walk along the quay brought us to a dry moat which we crossed on a bridge and entered the town through an arch in the wall. The castle was on our left and the British flag was flying. St Helena had been a British possession since 1659. The people are friendly. There are many small shops but only one bank. There are no ATMs and no mobile phone networks and no airport. There is wifi at a coat of £3.50 for 30 minutes.

We leave for Ascension Island, 720 miles away, on Saturday. If all goes well, the passage should take us a week.