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Cape Town to St. Helena -Feb. 27, 2002
Position: Cape Town to St. Helena -Feb. 27, 2002 After a lengthy delay in the yard work we were ready for sea trails. Our crew: Peter Verdon, captain, Australia Jeromy Hill, engineer UK Gillian Hill, chef UK Karl Bradbury, mate Australia Carol Hesterman, stewardess South Africa Steve Changed, crew Australia Todd Klindworth, crew USA John Klindworth, crew USA On Feb. 16 we set out for a shake down cruise by sailing west to east around the Cape of Good Hope. Seas were rough and windy, making 14 knots with reefed main and genoa, it difficult for us to make an overnight mooring in False Bay. On Feb. 17 we rounded the Cape of Good Hope East to West with same rough sea and windy conditions with continuous water over the bow. Once we cleared the Cape we had a good sail back to Cape Town. The boat sailed well with only minor finishing of work to be done before our "Going Home to the Caribbean" could be started. We cleared Cape Town on Feb. 20 for our 6,000 mile, 6-week trip home to St. Croix. Our first leg, the longest with no land was to the Island of St. Helena. Weather and sea were cold but pleasant. Wind started to be SE trades after several days which were favorable for our trip. We arrived in St. Helena on Feb. 28. This is an Island with notable
history. Presently owned and supported by the British. It was the home
for Napoleon while being exiled by the British and after being defeated
in the battle of Waterloo. He died in 1821 after only 6 years on St.
Helena. He was buried on the island and later the French moved his remains
to Paris. The French government maintains his home and tomb. The town of Jamestown is in a deep valley with a protective seawall and landing pier. There are times when the seas are too rough to disembark on the pier. It buildings are colorful, well-kept and typical early European 1800. The island is volcanic, very hilly, lush green inland, with the remains of many large forts on the tops of the hills for protection of invading force like the British when they captured it from the Portuguese 1659. Many of the 5,000 people have a long heritage on the island and never been off They are mixture of British, Portuguese, slaves, and African. It is desolate place to live with no airport and a cargo ship stopping once a week traveling from England to Cape Town. We enjoyed our one day stop at our first landfall to see this island that most of us have never heard of, had no idea where it is located and will never visit. It was a good rest for the crew after 8 days at sea. |
