Archive for category: Blog

My first shower in 16 days was glorious. I was convinced that I had started getting a bit of a tan but much to my disappointment it seemed to wash away down the drain.

I am trying to scribe this blog sandwiched between white 1000 count Egyptian cotton sheets with soft fluffy pillows. All very surreal and a little eery with everything still and quiet.

My eyelids feel like lead. My brain feels like a television screen without reception. That snow pattern. I fell asleep twice before accepting the blog will have to be completed tomorrow.

14hrs later I return to the world with many questions needing answers.

The day and night before arriving was intense. The wind had increased with the forecast suggesting gust of 40knt. Not something you want to hear when you thought you had reached your limit already.

Maverick and Goose had finally crashed and burned. Flown their final hop.

I was left to steer through the night and then some more. That’s a tough ask normally but when the waves are breaking over the stern and the white water pushes over you back and head and floods the cockpit it’s an impossible ask.

Chris Bertish encourages you to change the impossible to “I’m Possible” and with little options I followed his lead.

I build a lot of character that night. I swore at myself. I crapped myself. Gave myself a long lecture and made all sorts of promises about “never again” and so on. It’s buried someplace in the back of my mind where it waits patiently until that moment it jumps out and shout “TOLD YOU SO”

One moment when I thought things might not end well was when a thunderous wave smashed into Osiyeza shoving her forward. Her nose started to drop and drop. It felt like we were tipping over the edge of a precipice. Instinctively I pushed myself into the seat as far back as I could. Not that this would make any difference.

Down the precipice dropped Osiyeza in the pitch dark.  Water spraying outwards from the bow. She was surfing down the face of large wave.

What lay at the bottom for us I did not know? Where we going to nosedive or pitch pole.

I did not know. Thankfully nothing untoward happen.

Osiyeza has a massive amount of bouncy in the bow and she took it all in her stride. I could feel that she was a little disappointed in my lack of faith in her, but she earned a bucket load of respect from me right there and then.

Mercifully the conditions calmed down relatively quickly. Had it not I would have needed to deploy the sea anchor which I had prepared the morning before in anticipation of these conditions.

By daybreak I was so tired I could hardly function but when daylight hits the retina the body somehow flips some switches, and you are alert again. The body is quite something. Sure, this new alertness does not last terribly long but it certainly makes a difference.

By now I could hear the waves breaking on the beach to my right but could not see the shore. There was a light haze and visibility was less than a mile.

We had set up several contact schedules through the night with the shore team. The challenge for me was I needed to be in the cockpit steering when usually I am inside for the communications.

The problem with being outside, besides having to use the phone in a waterproof pouch is that I am sitting right in front of the satellite antennae. There are warning stickers all over it indicating that a safe distance of 1.5m must be kept from it when in use.

Not sure how much of my brain I nuked but on the bright side perhaps the “told you so” bit has been erased. 😉 I know some might argue there was not much to nuke anyway. 😎

As I got to Pelican Point, which is the Harbour limit, I spotted a boat coming my way. It was Ciske one our Namibian surf ski friends. They had come out to tow me into the harbour. What a relief it was to finally arrive in Walvis Bay

The seven days since changing the “Go West plan” to “Go East self-rescue plan” have been the most challenging that I can recall. I know it’s not saying much because I am so forgetful, but it was truly physically and mentally tough.

What’s next?

First is to do the official paperwork.

My 16 days if self-isolation apparently does not count so I need to go and get a PCR test and if negative I can clear in with customs and Immigration. 🙃🤣

As for Osiyeza I am trying to formulate the quickest but best plan to get her ship shape and back on route towards Brazil.

Bird of the day: Flamingo. Lots of them in the shallows around the yacht club.
Position: WALVIS BAY

An extract from Life on Osiyeza, by Richard Kohler

These blogs are snippets of my life, living onboard Osiyeza while trying to paddle across an ocean.

All too often social conversation stoops down to the gutter with toilet talk especially after a few drinks. 🍻 Well in certain circles its known to go all the way down to Lucifers basement but I won’t do that to you.

A true story, a black bucket story titled “The morning I took the kids to the pool.”

Reader beware 💩 feel free to skip this one! Really you can and probably should.

It was a typical morning like many before. Perhaps the swell was a little more restless than most mornings but there comes that time when you find yourself with no other thoughts other than I must drop the kids off at the pool.

For many that moment arrives just as you finish that first cup of coffee. This morning was no different.

Timing is critical. Over many years we have somehow developed a 7th sense. That sense of knowing exactly how much time you have from that moment until drop off time. Some days you have a bit more urgency than others, but your 7th sense gets it right 99.9% of the time.

No one ever talks about the 0.1% EVER!

Preparation and timing on my little Surfski are key to a successful outing. Do I leave the pants below the knees or go without pants? I discovered quickly without is best. Oh and don’t forget to wear the harness because that would be a crappy way to end up overboard (too much? OK.)

I have a strip of plywood the fits across one corner of the cockpit. Making a sort of “D” shape seat with the cockpit rim.

The pool, for those not following is the black bucket, is filled halfway with sea water and placed strategically below the “D”. How simple. Well not quite. Remember the “restless sea”. This means I need to hold on with both hands and things tend to slide about on their own.

I am sure it’s the same for most of us. When there’s a no 2 there’s a no 1 lurking as well. Now the problem with the plank and the human anatomy is only one end is over the pool. The other is hanging over the plank facing the rest of the cockpit. I’ll just say that I had to flush a few buckets of water into the cockpit at the end of the outing to rinse the no 1 and my feet. 🥴

Back to the kids who have been patiently waiting to go for that dip. Who am I to hold back any longer? Into the pool they go.

As a parent you are pretty confident how many kids you brought to the party and in this case I thought so too. Once dads’ taxi was given a quick but thorough valet it was time to toss the kids over the side with the pool water. On doing so I felt cheated. As if I had brought more kids to this pool party than I was sending over the side?

Plank goes back into its storage spot. The black bucket into its home and only then do I spot the naughty kids. The ones who missed the pool casually lying in the cockpit up against the left foot peddle.

Remember that restless sea?  Restless enough that the pool shifted leaving me with a really bad start to the day!

Day 13

After sunset I used to watch out for Saturn (Capricornus) right in front of me in the “Go West” version of this adventure. Now it’s “Go East” towards Sirius (Canis Major).

The evening sky was cloudless and with the moon visiting the other side of the earth the stars had little to compete against and were spectacular. I spent much of the time star gazing and looking for satellites but perhaps due to the motion of Osiyeza or my ’95 specs not cutting it anymore I was not able to spot any. I did however get to see a few shooting stars which cheered me up.

Unfortunately, it has not been possible to make enough distance East over the past few days. My route to Walvis Bay is NE and the strong SE winds forecast will be on the beam which does not fit into Osiyeza’s design portfolio. My feeling is it is going to be incredibly challenging to paddle across 20 – 30knts of wind.

Robin and Albert have been very good keeping me positive and motivated, but I think things are about to get real!

Options? I don’t have any at this stage. It’s about making the best of a bad situation. 🥺

On the bright side if the wind forecast is a little off and it’s a South wind all the way, that would be fabulous. It would then be a 500km downwind to Walvis Bay. 🤞🤞🤞

ETA during the night on Sunday currently but, that changes radically by the hour based on conditions.

Walvis team in full swing. The Community is getting involved, from arranging everything from tow boats, accommodation, workshop, repairs etc. Ciske Howard is the hero in Walvis for us, thank you Ciske and your team for your monumental effort in helping with this detour.

PS: whatever happens don’t miss Walvis Bay!🙃

Position:
S 26.135500°
E 13.191530°

Day 11

By now you would have heard that not all is well aboard the good vessel Osiyeza and I am now trying to make landfall in Walvis Bay, Namibia to take stock of the situation.

But I don’t see any reason not to keep the good folk like yourself up to date with life out in the Atlantic on a tiny Surfski. I say tiny because the moment I was out of sight of land Osiyeza seemed to shrink. Bizarre, I know right?

Thank you for the Christmas wishes. It’s very uplifting to see so many of them. Please do keep the comments coming and I try and respond to everyone even if it’s just a 👍. How do I do this from the ocean?

Via satellite but not the traditional Sat Phone. I do have one, but it is for emergencies, and I keep in the grab bag with all the other safety gear. The non-traditional call to me is the WhatsApp call. Believe it or not out here I have satellite Wi-Fi.

My Communications partners SMD Africa Marine and AST arranged the Thales Vessel Link which works on the Iridium Certus network with super-fast transfer speeds. It feels like I am on my home Wi-Fi. The antennae dome sits on the aft locker hatch behind the seat and the brain box is well protected from water far inside the cabin. All l to do is flick a switch and a few minutes later my messages come flooding in. This is how the images and video etc find their way to your social media feeds.

Back to Christmas day.

I mentioned in the previous blog that Maverick and Goose had been grounded. With both autopilots out of action I needed to do some repairs. Together with my shore team we got the diagrams of the internal workings and guidance from yachting forums I felt equipping to start surgery. Maverick’s insides were covered with black dust. The drive belt had been slipping. I replaced the belt with a spare but there still seemed to be too little tension. There was a gap between the motor and its housing. I made a shim from a cable tie and glued it in place.

Goose had suffered a similar fate but only having one spare belt I made do with what was there. The gap on Goose’s motor housing was a little bigger so I used a bigger cable tie. In testing Goose work fine until he developed a squeak which I put down to the motor bearing. Belt may be too tight.

Maverick ran like a dream, and I left him all night. Unfortunately, he started acting up by the morning. My confidence in my wing men is low right now.

Every day after the morning sun routine I check the state of the batteries and the panel charge rates. The battery was the lowest it’s been but nothing to be concerned about, but the aft solar panels had not yet started charging. That’s odd! A while later when they had good direct sunlight I checked again.
Houston, we have a problem was the first thought.
The second was WTF?
The third thing that happened was my heart sank low very low.

“Got to be a simple reason” I muttered to myself. I flicked the sat com switch and in five min I was in WhatsApp communications with my shore team. I felt terrible. Bugging them on Christmas day and now again on Boxing Day. So, I started to push and pull and test and prod as instructed. They also have direct coms with my onboard Victron controllers so they can see exactly what’s happening and can even adjust settings.

This went on for almost 5 hrs. My head in the locker below my bunk contorted in every which way. Nausea coming and going.  At one stage I was asked to feel all the solar cells for heat indicating a possible faulty cell. As a good boy I duly clipped on and did what was asked.

Oh boy it’s slippery when those things are wet. I made up two stops that attach to the side of my harness and then to the aft grab lines that run down the side of the hull. Thus, should I need to do any rudder repairs I could not slide off sideways. I did not use these to check the solar panel. One moment I was trying to climb over and back into the cockpit, the next I am in the water.

MAN OVERBOARD!

It happened so quickly. Getting back on was not that simple. The leash would not let me move to the side of the cockpit where it is easy to pull yourself on-board. I was not about to undo the leash so I had no option but to try pull myself up onto the solar panels again but there is nothing to grab hold of.🏊‍♂️

Eventually I managed it but by then I was a little frazzled. I had to ask my team for a short break. Never a dull moment out here. 😎

To cut to the chase, everything except the voltage from the PV Panels is working. Why?

Still unknown. Perhaps saltwater corrosion somehow. Unlikely with such high-quality panels. Time will tell.

It was agreed that trying to continue with Osiyeza in her current state would be foolish. My option now is to try and get to Walvis Bay, Namibia. It’s the only option I have of a self-rescue.

So East is the new direction 😔 It will take about a week to get there and it’s not going to be easy.

Bird of the day: European Storm Petrel
After making the Walvis Bay call, I was sitting back contemplating life when this Storm Petrel flew and dance around Osiyeza for about 10min. The water touching that I though was them feeding is actually water touching their feet. This fella was putting on quite a ballet show around me. Privileged to have seen this. Who knows the reason for this foot touching, but it made my day? Thanks, little guy.

Position: Don’t know right now. All electronics are switched off during the day to conserve battery charge. Which means no AIS during the day.
-27.272820°
11.974580°

PS: Started using the emergency water rations. Should be enough for the rest of the week 🤞