Singlehanded Sailor Arrives in Saint Helena - Atlantic
Single-handed sailor Jeanne Socrates sent in a report that she has arrived safe and sound in St. Helena from Africa on her yacht Nereida! In her own words:
"I caught sight of St Helena, which is not so very high, when about 30 miles off, but then it disappeared into thick mist for quite a time - a bit worrying when coming in to land if you can't see where exactly you're heading, even though the coast is relatively steep-to, so I turned on the radar and kept well offshore until the mist lifted & I could see the shoreline clearly.
I was able to keep sailing nicely until rounding the rocky NW point (Sugar Loaf Pt) of the island, when the wind died in the lee of the steep, grey, highly-stratified, mainly bare, volcanic hills as I came towards the Jamestown anchorage on the sheltered west side of the island.
It was fairly obvious where to head for, since there were three other yachts in the bay. As I came in to anchor, Greg, the 'water-taxi' ferryman, came to point out where I should head for - but, in fact, the holding is good almost anywhere, in about 18-20m. When I'd finished tidying up the boat, Greg came by again to take me onshore to clear Customs with the friendly, helpful official there - but Immigration & Port Authority will have to wait until Monday. I made my way to 'Anne's Place' - full of flags & burgees - where I was welcomed by the skippers of the other boats in the harbour - all three were singlehanders I knew from Richards Bay & Simon's Town. As we chatted, they were able to give me useful advice on seeing the island and later we ate together before heading back to the dockside to catch the latest possible (6.45pm!) 'ferry' out to our boats.
Time here is GMT - I'm actually in Britain's time zone!! The money in use is sterling - but I discovered that they have their own 'St Helena & Ascension' notes & coins. I had been intending sending postcards to quite a few people from here - but heard that the supply ship was in this morning to collect post.... and wouldn't be back for another 6 weeks to deliver/collect the next lot of post. The nearest airstrip to here is on Ascension Island, several hundred miles to the NNW. The supply ship makes its run between the U.K., S.Africa, St Helena & Ascension...."
You can read more about Jeanne at her website.
-- About Saint Helena --
Saint Helena (pronounced saint he-LEE-na), named after St. Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin and a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. The territory consists of the island of Saint Helena, and the dependencies of Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha.
Saint Helena is one of the most isolated places in the world, located more than 2000 km (1200 mi) from the nearest major landmass. As there is currently no airport on Saint Helena, travel to the island is by ship or yacht only. The ship RMS Saint Helena berths in James Bay approximately thirty times per year. The ship calls on such other ports as Cape Town, Ascension Island, Tenerife, Vigo, Walvis Bay and Isle of Portland, UK.
Saint Helena is famous for being the place of exile of Napoleon Bonaparte between 1815 and his death in 1821. Longwood House, where Napoleon stayed, and Sane Valley where he was buried, were given to the French government in 1858. The Briars Pavilion, where Napoleon spent the first two months of his captivity, was added to the French Properties in 1959.
Saint Helena has a small population of almost four thousand inhabitants.
Saint Helena has a total area of 420 km (162 mi), consisting of three island groups: Saint Helena itself, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha. Each island group has its own distinct geography.
Saint Helena has a rugged, volcanic terrain. There are several rocks and islets off the coast, including: Castle Rock, Speery Island, The Needle, Lower Black Rock, Upper Black Rock (South), Bird Island (Southwest), Black Rock, Thompson's Valley Island, Peaked Island, Egg Island, Lady's Chair, Lighter Rock (West), Long Ledge (Northwest), Shore Island, George Island, Rough Rock Island, Flat Rock (East), The Buoys, Sandy Bay Island, The Chimney, White Bird Island and Frightus Rock (Southeast), all of which are within one kilometre of the shore. The centre of Saint Helena is covered by forest, of which some has been planted, including the new Millennium Forest Project. The temperature is also two to three degrees cooler in the highlands, and it has a few inches a year more rainfall than the rest of the island. It is more tropical in nature, and contains most of the island's endemic flora, fauna, insects and birds. The coastal areas are barren, covered in volcanic rock and are warmer and drier than the centre of the island.
When the island was discovered, it was covered with unique (indigenous) vegetation, including the remarkable cabbage tree species of St Helena. The flora of St Helena contains a high proportion of endemic species, i.e., those found nowhere else. The island's interior must have been a dense subtropical forest but the coastal areas were probably quite green as well. The modern landscape is very different, with a lot of naked rock in the lower areas, and a high interior that is green, mainly due to imported vegetation. The dramatic change in landscape must be attributed to the introduction of goats and the introduction of new vegetation. As a result, the string tree (Acalypha rubrinervis) and the St Helena olive (Nesiota elliptica) are now extinct, and many of the other endemic plants are threatened with extinction.
-- About Ascension Island --
Ascension Island includes the main island and several uninhabited tiny satellite islands and rocks such as Boatswain Bird Island, Boatswain Bird Rock (east), White Rocks (south), and Tartar Rock. The main island has an area of approximately 35 square miles (91 km) and is formed by volcanic peak rising from just west of the mid-Atlantic Ridge known as Green Mountain. Most of the island is a moonscape of rugged black lava flows and red windwhipped cinder cones. Where lava has penetrated to the ocean a striking seashore is dotted with white sand. The climate is subtropical, with temperatures at the coast ranging from about 68 to 88 degrees Fahrenheit (20 to 31 degrees Celsius). The current administrator of Ascension Island is Michael Hill.
-- About Tristan da Cunha --
Tristan da Cunha includes the main Tristan da Cunha Island — the world's most remote inhabited island — and several other uninhabited islands: Gough Island, Inaccessible Island, and the three Nightingale Islands. The islands are all mountainous and volcanic. Queen Mary's Peak on Tristan da Cunha at 2,062 m (6,765 ft) is the highest peak.
- Photo below: The yacht Nereida
- Video below: Another cruisers slideshow with many photos of St. Helena
Submitted By YachtPals on 11 Mar
Jeanne, Nereida, St. Helena, atlantic, atlantic crossing, Saint Helena, sailing, sailboats, boating, cruising, yachts, boats
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St. Helena to Trinidad - posted from sea
Greetings from 'Nereida' at the start of a long ocean crossing - 1 month to Trinidad across the S.Atlantic from St Helena (where I arrived late afternoon on Saturday, after a 10-day passage from Namibia in SW Africa)
St Helena proved every bit as enjoyable a place as I'd been led to expect - with lovely, friendly, helpful people but a lot more rain & strong wind than I anticipated. But with air temperatures around 28-30C, I soon dried out after each shower.
I was at anchor with 3 other single-handers I know.... & another couple came in from Cape Town Sunday evening. Unfortunately for us, the rockface above the Jamestown wharf is being made safe. Rockfalls over the years have regularly demolished or damaged buildings on the front, and people have been killed both there and elsewhere on the island, the volcanic rock strata being very unstable, especially after heavy rain. (In fact, we couldn't clear in with Immigration on Monday morning because they had had to evacuate their building after an overnight fall of rock onto their roof.) This means that the only time we are allowed to use the jetty for shore landings (I used the highly convenient 'ferry service' in the anchorage) is when work is not in progress - before 7am, 1215-1245 and after 5pm (but 'ferry service' only runs tooup to 7pm) - which is very restrictive.
On Sunday, after a very good sleep-in, and despite the threatening weather, I went on a walk-about/hitchhike around the interior of St Helena. The coast is so very barren & rocky, with steep, stratified bare, brown-grey rock that it came as a very pleasant surprise to see how very lovely & green the island is away from the coast, with a great variety of trees, bushes, flowers & birds (lots of delicate fairy terns, tiny warblers & finches, cardinals, mynahs & tropic birds) - but it was mostly too misty/cloudy for the good views normally had from many highpoints. My first lift was from the very friendly Jamestown Police in their van, up the steep, winding road of Ladder Hill (and the 699 steps of Jacob's Ladder) to St Paul's, from where I started walking. The second was from a lady named Tracy who went out of her way (even though on her way to Sunday dinner with her mother) to show me far more of the lovely countryside (reminiscent of Devon & Somerset) than I had intended walking. (I think she felt bad about my walking in such showery/rainy weather, even though I assured her I was used to getting wet on the boat!!) She dropped me off on Sandy Ridge where I had a lovely walk past the beginning of the footpath to Diana's Peak - which I'd been warned off attempting in view of the wet conditions, but it was far too misty up there to see much anyway. Lower down, I got my third lift from ex-Governor's wife Delia and after another walk past some beautiful wild flowers, the last, in to town, was with a local Cable & Wireless guy Kevin with lots of interesting perspectives on a possible airport here (there is none at present - all people & supplies have to come by sea!!) & the highly-dependent possible cellphone network & mast coverage problems caused by deep little valleys between several good highpoints...
Monday turned into a boaters' group tour, with all of us joining forces to get a good price on a day tour of the island, including the sites associated with Napoleon's exile. Our guide/taxi driver was Peter Roberts who is a very well-informed local man with a good sense of humour who took us to Napoleon's houses and his tomb site which is in a lovely setting, full of flowers. We ended the day back at Ann's Place for a meal under the 'ceiling' of ensigns and burgees donated by passing 'yachties'...
Tuesday was work day for me - I had several things I needed to see to before leaving on Wednesday: re-fuelling, with the ferry man helpfully bringing the diesel out to our boats at anchor, 'mending' the frayed outer of the Spectra topping lift (I used amalgamating tape!) & a few other jobs, including a new Line Isolator installation on the antenna line to the tuner from the SSB radio, after yet more helpful, practical suggestions from Jim Corenman (He's given me a lot of good advice about various radio/Airmail problems I've had). That job actually took all evening & well into the night, I was so determined to finish it but do it properly. The most time-consuming part was getting in behind woodwork to get at the well-hidden ATU and then extracting the unit itself so I could work on it. I made sure that all connections were good and clean and added in some more ferrite 'chokes' at the end of some cable runs - all this effort to try to reduce the radio interference problems I've been having for some time.
I'm hoping I'll have enough water for the 1 mth passage to Trini from here - the watermaker is not functioning (among other thing...!!) I'm having to make sure I use the seawater tap as much as possible .... having to re-train myself in the galley!
Wednesday, I had to clear out with both Immigration and Customs after getting cash to pay for the fuel, but did not want to be stuck onshore for hours on end so arranged to go in at lunchtime. That meant a mad dash around, trying to do everything in half an hour - impossible... there was a time-consuming problem at the bank, ...the Immigration lady had just gone out for lunch (but someone was sent to find her for me)... there were several forms to be filled in...!!
Fortunately, the late start to the French workers' lunchtime turned into an even later return to work, although I suspect that there might have been some helpful connivance on various kind people's part, knowing that I was trying to Clear Out ready to leave that afternoon. The net result was that I was able to get the ferry back out to my boat well after it would normally have stopped running... so an hour or so later, I was ready to raise the anchor and start heading for Trinidad.
Jeanne
svnereida.com
Jeanne posted via SSB
Wonderfully relaxed downwind sailing in bright sun during the day, under a bright moon at night! ....at peace & relaxed until I go to start the engine & it splutters ominously.....!!
What more can I say? This has the reputation of being one of the most enjoyable passages in the world - and it's certainly living up to its reputation!! ....
...Except for this afternoon, when I started up the engine to charge the batteries to get the voltage up for using the SSB for emailing & weather. It was OK for a very short while but then started dying..... I'd just switched to the main tank, worried that maybe the small tank was getting low on fuel. I started to congratulate myself for having done that, perhaps, in the nick of time, as I revved up the engine a touch more, thinking that maybe air had got into the fuel system.... then it started faltering even more .... I rushed down to look in the engine compartment - all looked fine - maybe the filter was clogged .. "& when did you last check for water in the sight-glasses?" I demanded of myself... I caught sight of the pressure gauge attached to the filters - well over into the red.... I tried the other tank - the gauge swung back into yellow. I'm going to have to change that filter .... so I went to turn off the fuel at the main tank ... the valve was closed!! "What an idiot, you are...!!" But what a relief!! I had to laugh.... All was fine after all & I've now bled both sight-glasses - very little water in there - as I did so I remembered that I'd changed every filter (fuel & oil) when I did the last oil change in S.Africa not so long ago.... & I'd obviously forgotten to open the valve on the main tank - which usually gets used last (because it's on the port side and we list slightly to starboard...!) Oh well ... on with the job of transferring more fuel to the small tank... but first I can really relax ... teatime!!..........
Boats a week ahead of me on a similar path reported calms & squalls (but no lightning!) as they got north to around 4-5S and on to the Equator - at which point they found the NE Trades. I still have about 3 more days before reaching that area - so I'm maximizing my present enjoyment of these lovely sailing conditions. Every so often I think the wind is dying - and then find it's come back up again ... so far so good! Daily noon-to-noon runs have been not so bad considering the rather light winds: 107, 124, 136 n.mls
Jobs that have been keeping me busy over the last few days have been:
Checking on daily reported position of other boats to see where the ITCZ (Doldrums) was for them (squalls or calms!)
Lots more passage planning, looking at details on charts & marking in of waypoints on chart-plotter and laptop (I'd previously pencilled some in on paper) for onward passage towards Colon (Panama) from Trinidad.
Trying to get my Windpilot to keep a sensible course - it still keeps wandering off course, but Willem on 'Najade' has the identical one & says he has no problem in light wind on a dead run. Lots of PTFE spray lubrication of accessible joints has helped but it needs more looking at. Suggestions have been to spray more - with WD40, that the servo-pendulum may not be completely vertical or I should put a reef in the main to give better boat balance (I'm not keen on the latter suggestion since I feel it would slow me down!!)
Disconnecting & removing the water pump, which had stopped working, and checking it over .... I'd thought the problem was electrical. Electrics all fine but found filter was completely clogged with fine black layer of gunge and loads of grit ... when I powered up pump separately it worked fine - sigh of relief! - so re-installed it all after thoroughly cleaning filter & holder - ahora, es fabuloso!!
Some cleaning & polishing (always on the list!).... especially of a much-used, little whistling kettle which was looking very rusty & sorry for itself!! (Obviously doesn't like, and wasn't made for, the salty environment)
Today's job is to transfer diesel from jerrycans into my fuel tank while the seas are relatively calm. (It's actually a bit 'rolly' sailing downwind goosewinged, much more so when a bigger wave catches us, but generally it's not too bad - I'll just have to take care). I have my little in-line 12V fuel pump and a manual siphon pump to help with transferring from the big jerrycans but first need to re-make a couple of spade connections for the 12V power supply to the electric pump. (That job got delayed slightly... see above!!)
Last night was wonderful - I keep not wanting to go down below it's so nice sitting in the cockpit, sailing along gently under the bright moon - full tonight (Good Friday).
With that, I'll wish everyone a very Happy Easter!!
Jeanne
svnereida.com
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