1/19/03:

This is our second day in Luderitz, Namibia. Yesterday afternoon, we filled the water tanks, then moved Cosmos to a mooring. Then we had to rig the dinghy in order to get ashore for happy hour at the yacht club. The yacht club was closed, so, we went to a local hotel for a drink and dinner. This was our reward to ourselves for being good sailors and making a safe, successful, passage. Today we took a tour of the Kolmanskop Diamond Mine. This mine shut down in 1953, and has become a ghost town. What is left of it is slowly being inundated with sand drifting off of the desert. The tour was interesting and gave us a feel for the life that the residents endured in their pursuit of diamonds. This afternoon, we rented a car and drove all over the North, South, and center of Luderitz. Tomorrow, Monday, we will get up early and drive to a tour of some sand dunes. On the way back, we will fill up the ten, 5 gallon, diesel fuel jerry cans that we emptied into Cosmos' f!uel tanks this evening. We will also do some last minute grocery shopping, laundry, check in and out with customs and immigration, check our Email, disassemble and stow the dinghy, return the rental car, celebrate Happy Hour, and eat dinner. It will be interesting to see just how much of this we actually get done. Captain Grandpa Joe plans to leave for St. Helena Tuesday morning.

1/20/03:

Well, we got up at 0345 this morning and drove the 100 km to where the tour of the sand dunes begins. We hauled the ten jerry cans to a local gas station, filled them up, and hauled them back to Cosmos in the dinghy. This included carrying them by hand for a few blocks. While we crew were doing this chore, Captain Joe returned the rental car and checked out with immigration. We all, then, met at the grocery store and stocked up with all of the last minute items that we need for the long passage to St. Helena. We used two grocery carts to truck it all through town to the pier where the dinghy was tied up. On the way, we stopped at a gas station and picked up three gallons of diesel engine oil and some two cycle oil for the outboard engine. Then, we dinghied all this stuff back to Cosmos again and stowed it all according to the computerized inventory listing. Then, we again, piled back into the dinghy and headed for the Harbor Master's building for showers, and th!en out to dinner. All of this running around was complicated by an exceptionally high wind, today. We had sand drifts over the highway on the way back to Luderitz, after the tour, and opposing wind and chop in the harbor this afternoon, which made for very wet and precarious dinghy trips.

So, we did not get our laundry done, didn't get to check our Email, did not stow the dinghy, and missed Happy Hour. However, the tour was worth the effort. We saw more than just a bunch of sand. Our eyes were opened to the color and raw beauty of this ever changing landscape, as well as it's history and wildlife. We traveled across desert, climbed sand dunes the size of mountains, encountered and photographed the indigenous animals and terrain. This is diamond country, by the way, and one has to have a permit to trespass it's boarders.

A few more chores to do tomorrow morning, and then we will leave for St. Helena. I need to leave this continent, I am gaining weight.

1/24/03:

We left Luderitz at noon on Tuesday; it was sunny and breezy. Cosmos took off like a rocket at 9-10 knots.. We've had two more sunny days and today is cloudy. We have had tremendous sailing with two days of 8-9 knots of speed and a day at 7-8 knots. Today we have low winds so we are running an engine to make water, heat water, charge batteries, and to push the boat. It is 1430, now, and we have 788 miles to go to St. Helena.

1/25/03:

It started off cloudy this morning. We ran the spinnaker up at 1030 and left it up until about 2000. Everything went wrong when we struck the spinnaker; the sail didn't collapse like it should have, the sock downhaul got twisted up with the forestay. When we tried to bring it down with the halyard, the sock got twisted with the forestay. While wrestling with this mess, the boat jibed the main and lost forward motion. While straightening out the boat with the starboard engine, the spinnaker sheet fouled the prop and threatened to gobble up the whole shootin' match. After I cut the taut sheet from the spinnaker, we managed to get the sail in the bag; all to be straightened out in the morning. Then Daniel went overboard and extracted the knarled portion of sheet from the prop. After getting back on coarse under main and poled out genoa, we had a crew meeting in order to rehash exactly what we had done wrong and develop a plan and sequence for the next spinnaker epi!sode. I hope it's a sunny day tomorrow, I need to start working on my tan.

1/27/03:

We have been practicing every day our handling of the spinnaker. We are getting rather good with it, now. The wind has been light the last three days, or so, and we have been using the spinnaker to keep our speed up during the day. The following ocean rollers, combined with the pulling power of the spinnaker, present Cosmos with many opportunities to surf down the face of the large waves. Captain Grandpa Joe has calculated our average speed to be 6.4 knots since we left Luderitz, and we have gone 917 miles, with 408 miles to go to St. Helena. The information that I have just provided comes from the GPS. The ship's log gauge says we have gone 931 miles at an average of 7.6 knots. However, the GPS data is relative to the ground, and the ship's log gauge data is 'through the water'; and we don't trust the log's average speed indication. So, I am sorry if I have totally confused you with this unreliable, somewhat erroneous and superfluous, information. What it reall!y means is that we have 407 miles to go, over the ground, and Cosmos will be in St. Helena in three days, or so. Also, as a sailboat, Cosmos does not always go in a straight line towards her destination. Having to rely on the wind for propulsion, and having to avoid immovable objects, often cause Cosmos to steer a rather indirect coarse.

We did use an engine for a while, yesterday, to drive the boat, make water, and heat water. We all had a shower, thank goodness.

1/28/03:

261 miles to St. Helena. It is warm enough, now, that we jump overboard in the late afternoon while under way. We then swim like mad to catch the line that is trailing overboard, and use it to pull ourselves back aboard the boat. We called this activity,' trolling for sharks', during the last leg of the circumnavigation.

We have had changing, fluky, winds today, and a brief shower, along with more spinnaker and halyard problems. We are finishing the day by motoring to keep Cosmos' speed up, charge batteries, and make water. We BBQ'd the last of our fresh meat last night; our evening meals will now have to become creative.

1/31/03:

Well, we got here yesterday afternoon. St. Helena is one of the most beautiful sights as it is approached from the sea. The port of Jamestown, as viewed from our anchorage in James Bay, appears to be flowing towards the sea from between the coarse, rocky, distressed mountains on each side. Everyone is very friendly and we find what we need here; provisions, laundry, internet access, barber shop. We were spoiled with the favorable exchange rates in New Zealand, Australia, and especially throughout South Africa. Here, the British Pound has reversed all of that.

Tomorrow is Saturday and everything closes at mid-day; not much happens on the weekend. Sunday has been designated as boat chores day. On Monday, we are taking a tour all over the island in the morning and we will, then, ready the boat for the longest passage.

2/2/03:

Boat chores day! I check the engines fluids and look for anything amiss. Oops; the starboard alternator pivot mount bolt is broken again. We will have to get a new one in town on Monday. I think I will replace the v belt, too. I replaced the damaged spare spinnaker halyard and hoisted Joost up the mast to retrieve the primary spinnaker halyard and lube the pulleys and swivels. Joost cleaned the heads and I lubed the head door holders and latch assemblies; we certainly don't want to have any problems with this equipment. Daniel checked the steering linkage and fasteners. I straightened the bent mainsail clew shackle and replaced it. Joost and I restitched a seam on the mainsail where it chafed on the port lower shroud. I had a chance , today, to make a chafe guard for the staysail luff at the inner forestay. This will allow us to leave the genoa lazy sheet draped over the inner forestay without worrying about it abrading the staysail. I am not the only one working !on Cosmos; everyone has a list of chores to take care of. It can be fixing, cleaning, making, arranging, stowing, cooking, inventorying, tying, untying,etc...

It is 1650 and we just got back from town by water taxi. This town rolls up the sidewalks for the weekend. I mean you can't get, or do, anything. It will be drinks and dinner aboard Cosmos tonight. St. Helena has it's own radio station, so, we are hearing about the space shuttle, Columbia, loss. People here ask us if we know about it and everyone shares our sorrow.

We are looking forward to the tour of the island interior tomorrow. Then, on Tuesday morning, we leave for the Caribbean.

George