Location: 32° 51.5 S, 04° 04 E
Friday 12:00, 08.18.2006

The Schooner Maggie B was at 32° 51.5 S 04° 04 Eat noon on 18 August. We are motor sailing, headed for our point off of Cape Town, heading 136 at 7.6 knots. The wind is variable, but generally South at five knots. Cape Town is 754 NM away. We have come 3063 NM so far and did 191 NM in the last 24 hours.

It is not a great sailing day today. Long, confused swell, no wind, cold and drizzling. This morning we did what any hard core South Atlantic shellback sailors would -- we put Jimmie Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band on loud, picked cleaning stations (1. Floors, 2. Walls, 3. Head and Shower, and 4. Vacuum) out of a hat, cleaned up the boat, made blueberry muffins and decided on lunch (a kilo of steamed shrimp with four different dipping sauces -- garlic, mustard, curry and spicy tomato). It made for a great morning. On top of that the engine has heated up the hot water and we have made lots more with the water maker, so we all are relatively clean, and even clean-shaven!

Yesterday I got an amazing email. Regular readers will recall that I ruined the keyboard of one of the two Dell laptops by spilling Coke on it. A computer is critical for us to receive weather information, useful to plan routing and nice to have for email. Max fixed the computer by switching keyboards (the backup was not sufficiently complete...) and we went on our way. Yesterday, out of the blue, I got an email from Dell Customer Service saying that they had seen my posting about needing a new keyboard. Could they help and was everything OK? Amazing support. And yes, a new keyboard has been shipped to Cape Town and will hopefully be waiting for us.

Sailing language is sometimes confusing, even for the initiated. Last winter, when we were planning our first leg from Lunenburg Nova Scotia to Bermuda, John Steele, President of Covey Island, the boat builder and an experienced sailor, said, "Don't worry, once you cross the Gulf Stream, it will be 'tooks off!'" I didn't know what a "took" was. Maybe the garboard frapping on the aft buntline holdback (note: nautical gibberish). Actually, "took" is Nova Scotian for "toque," a knit hat. "Tooks Off" means Spring in Nova Scotia. Well, John, as we approach the Roaring 40's, tooks are definitely back on.

Location: 31° 11.7 S, 01° 11 E
Thursday 12:00, 08.17.2006

The Schooner Maggie B was at 31° 11.7 S, 01° 11 E at noon on 17 August. We did 214 NM in the last 24 hours, and have gone 2872 NM since Salvador. Cape Town, or at least our aim point 100 NM South, is 927 NM on a bearing of 131 degrees Magnetic. The wind is 320-330 at 15-25.

We jibed at dawn and are now on Starboard tack, heading 170 at 9 knots. Heading South may allow us to catch the tail end SW'erly of the last big low to come through South of us. It appears as if we are in for three or four days of relatively unsettled weather, including the possibility of some fairly strong winds on our nose. We will probably have lots of tacks and jibes, reefing and shaking out of reefs, before we are tied up at the Royal Cape Yacht Club.

Now that we are getting close (yes, 1000 NM is close), we are looking hard at charts of approaches to Cape Town. One interesting spot is Monte Vema, a sea mount about 500 miles off the coast of South Africa. The bottom goes from about 5000 meters to 11 Meters in a few miles. Bart says that it must be a great place to watch whales, but I think that we'll stay clear. The Agulhas Currents runs strong SW'erly past Cape of Good Hope, we are in the edge of the strong Easterly Southern Ocean Current and the strong Benguela Current runs NW along the West Coast. Enough currents to brew the whole ocean into a froth!

The swells and waves are now coming at us broadside. The boat is riding them well, but occasionally they alarmingly rear up alongside, as if they trying to peek into the cabin. Sometimes it is like driving in the Rocky Mountains or the Highlands of Scotland, where you go in a moment from being in a nasty tight gorge to popping out to see a lovely open meadow.

We are seeing lots of big boats now, as we are crossing the tracks of every steamer that comes around the Cape of Good Hope for North or South America. Radar watches have been increased.

We are down to our last six eggs, all of which have been assigned to baking. Blueberry muffins yesterday for tea did not survive to see the sunset. Besides getting GRIB weather files daily, we get updates from Commanders Weather every couple of days. We are going to start today trying to contact some South African weather men on our SSB radio. Nothing like local knowledge.

All is well.

Location: 31° 38.7 S, 02° 32.1 W
Wednesday 12:00, 08.16.2006

The Schooner Maggie B was at 31° 38.7 S, 02° 32.1 W at noon on August 16th. After an unsettled night, we are back to the usual of a 15-20 knot NW'erly, booming along at 8-9 knots, heading 110-120. Cape Town is now 1096 NM on a bearing of 128 degrees. If we can keep this speed, we will be there in five days, or a passage of 21 days from Salvador. It looks as if the "door" might be open for us to slip into Table Bay without a SE'erly gale beating us up. Maybe. But it is too early to tell for sure. A very big storm well south seems to be taking most of the energy.

We have gone 2658 NM so far, 194 in the last 24 hours. Today is mostly cloudy with occasional light drizzle. We have a big Westerly swell, enhanced (?) by the remains of the SW'erly from the last storm. Jorge (the Furuno autopilot) is steering well, with occasional wild stupidities as it puts the Requested Heading 50 degrees right or left of what we humans entered. At least it peeps pathetically when it goes stupid (Deviation Alarm), but it would be a lot nicer if it just kept on course.

Last night's excitement was running out of the "old" gas for the stove and having the Brazilian tank not work. The prospect of no coffee for breakfast put the whole team to work. Regulators were dismantled, cleaned and re-mantled (proper word?). Systems were checked up and down. Finally a wire running to the switch-off solenoid was found to be imperfectly installed, and the heat shrink fitting had filled with salt water and only a strand or two was left. Once that was fixed, it was espresso all around!

We have had a lot of delicious fresh fish. Almost too much. Max has not been allowed to put lure into the water since the lovely Mahi Mahi. I recalled that we had shipped some lovely filet mignon's in Barbados and there were four left in the freezer. Getting to them was rather like an archeological project, as Bart worked his way down through layers and layers of ice and frost. Finally he prized them out, and we got a defrosted freezer in the bargain. They are now marinating in olive oil, garlic and herbs, and Bart has requested Lieve's peppercorn white sauce. Maybe we will let Max fish tomorrow.

All is well.

Commanders’ Weather Corporation
Tuesday, 08.15.2006

Route: Salvador, Brazil to Cape Town, SA

Departed: approx. 1200utc, Tue, Aug 1, 2006

Position: 31 51s 06 05w at 1400utc Tue, August 15

Prepared: 1530utc Tue, August 15

Summary

Looks like a continuation of favorable conditions through Thursday night, then a cold front will pass through bringing a period of headwinds Friday and Saturday

• The current weather map features a ridge of high pressure to the northoriented from west to east mainly along 28-29s.
• A very deep gale is centered well to the south near 65s/2w and is veryexpansive covering much of the southwest South Atlantic Ocean.
• This pattern will continue to bring you favorable wind directions fromthe WNW to NW through Thursday night as we have a blocking pattern with the weather systems not really moving too fast.
• Direction should continue mainly between 270-310.
• Speeds will be mainly 12-20 knots today and Wednesday, but increasing a bit Thursday as a cold front approaches from the south.
• Unfortunately it looks as if the tail end of this cold front will makeit through your route with winds quickly backing to ESE to E by Friday morning.
• The front looks to make it as far north as about 30s before stalling out
• Winds do not look terribly strong behind the front as there is only weak high pressure to follow, so that is good news.
• However, it looks like you will be in for a period of headwinds Fridayand Saturday with the pattern coming in.
• Guidance indicates a low developing to your west this weekend and if this verifies, expect winds to back to more of a NE direction and increase in speed, so at least that would bring an end to your headwinds.
• General weather will be mainly fair and settled today and Wednesday, then as the front approaches later Thursday into Friday, expect some showers and squalls around.
• Seas will continue on the large side with a large SW long wave swell continuing to come in, but there will be times when it eases a bit.

Routing

1) Looked at taking you further north to near 30s or even a bit further than that to try to avoid these headwinds coming Friday and Saturday but the problem with that is you would then have SE headwinds over the weekend and for your approach to Cape Town early next week, so that is not advisable.

2) Still not a good idea to go further south due to even higher seas and stronger winds either.

3) Suggest continuing mainly along 32s through Saturday, then beginning to head ESE on more of a rhumb line towards Cape Town.

4) Waypoints listed below.

Wind Forecast Wind directions are TRUE, wind speeds in KTS, and time is UTC

Tue, August 15

18: 290-310/15-20

Weather: Partly to variably cloudy Seas subsiding to 6-10 feet, SW swell

Wed, August 16

00: 280-310/12-20

06: 280-310/12-20

12: 280-310/12-20 near 31 50s/3w

18: 290-310/15-20

Weather: Partly to variably cloudy Seas building back up to 10-15 feet, increasing SW swell

Thu, August 17

00: 280-310/15-22

06: 270-300/15-25

12: 270-300/18-25 near 31 55s/00 40e

18: 280-310/18-25

Weather: Variable cloudiness with a chance of showers Seas 8-12 feet, SW swell and wind wave chop

Fri, August 18

00: 270-290/18-25

12:100-130/12-20 near 32s/4e

Weather: Mostly cloudy with scattered showers and squalls

Seas 10-15 feet, SW swell and wind wave chop especially early

Sat, August 19

00: 080-110/12-18

12: 060-090/12-18 near 32 10s/7e

Weather: Variable clouds with a chance of showers Seas 10-15 feet, SW swell and wind wave chop

Sun, August 20

00: 040-070/20-30

12: 040-060/20-30 near 32 45s/9 40e

Weather: Mostly cloudy with an increasing chance of showers and squalls Seas 8-14 feet, SW swell and choppy

Alexandra’s Best Ever Lemon Cake €” 08.15.06

Last night's culinary success was Alexandra's Best Ever Lemon Cake, from the Maggie B's Cookbook. It had mostly disappeared by dawn. I had to make it with limes, both because we had limes (not lemons), but also in honor of all the Caipirhinas we enjoyed in Brazil.

Lunch today will be chicken in garlic and oil with a bottle of Entre deux Mers (even though it's the Dordogne and the Garonne, we're between two seas -- get it?) White Bordeaux.

Location: 31° 51 S, 06° 05 W
Tuesday 12:00, 08.15.2006

The Schooner Maggie B's Noon Position on August 15th was 31° 51 S, 06° 05 W. We did 218 NM in the last 24 hours. Cape Town is 1266 NM away, heading 120M. We have come 2473 NM so far. Our clocks are now set to Greenwich Mean Time.

The wind is fairly steady at 330M at 15-20. It is a nicely dry day and ports are open, bedding is airing out, people are showering and some laundry is getting done. The cabin has warmed up to a relatively comfortable 65° F (18° C for our European readers). The barometer is up to 1028 and it is only partly cloudy.

Our electronic compass differs from our electronic heading sensor by about eight degrees, and the handheld is in between. We have been trying for the last three days to get a bearing from sunrise, sunset or moonrise, to check the compasses from the predicted azimuth (Zn for you nautical star sighting types), but, alas, it has been cloudy.

Today's excitement, which perhaps shows that we have been at sea too long, was Max exclaiming, "Oooh, the spread legs rig!" To Livie and my disappointment, it was just that Bart was showing Max an esoteric sailing rig with two masts set up like an A-frame. Ah, well.

We are about a week away from landfall and are watching our weather systems very carefully. It is too early to nail anything down, but it looks as if we will have this nice NW'er only for another day or so and then a big and somewhat confused high will form around us, which we will just have to work our way through, with lots of wind shifts. The next low seems to be setting up somewhat more to the South, perhaps blocked by the high. We shall see. We are keeping the reef in the main for now.

All is well.

Lunch €” Monday 08.14.06

Today we had the end of Max's lovely Mahi Mahi (served with a white sauce with little shrinp and garlic). Six or seven meals for four from one fish! We will let Max start fishing again tomorrow. I want him to get another little Yellow Fin tuna, the others are favoring another Mahi Mahi. We have found the wasabi, so we are ready.

Location: 32° 8.2 S, 10° 15 W
Monday 12:00, 08.14.2006

The Schooner Maggie B's noon position on August 14th was 32° 08.2 S, 10° 15 W. We have a lovely Northwesterly (340-350 at 18-25) and are headed 120 degrees, right for Cape Town, at 10 knots. We only did 177 NM since yesterday noon due to a very slow period (my watch...) while the High was forming South of us.

Cape Town is now 1462 NM, or six days if we could keep up this speed and direction. We have gone 2255 NM since Salvador. Tristan da Cunha is now about 320 NM away to our SW. We seem to be having a SW'erly current helping us a bit, adding 1/2 knot to our speed and a bit of a lee bow push (moving us North a bit).

The waves are somewhat mixed up as there is a big Southerly swell, plus the remains of the SW swell, all livened up by the wind waves being kicked up by the strong NW'erly. But we are riding them well and little spray comes on board.

We are beginning to plot our approach to the African coast. Cape Town is 34 degrees South and we need to hold perhaps another degree South for room against a possible SE'erly. But each degree south of 30 edges us towards bigger weather. There does look like an interesting break coming towards the end of the week, but we will not be far enough along to take much advantage of it.

To date we have run the main engine for 47 hours and the generator for 48. Very conservatively, this means that we have used about 115 gallons of diesel, leaving us about 200 gallons, or 100 hours with the main engine, or 700 miles steaming. Plenty for our approach!

The sea today is a steely blue gray. Occasionally a wave will rear up so that there is a thin "window" which is the bright azure of a South Seas lagoon. Lovely contrast, and reminder of the marvels ahead in the Seychelles and South Pacific.

One Blue Water emotion that is hard to explain is how nice it is to be a thousand or so miles from land. Yes, we are all on our own in the South Atlantic in winter, with a series of gales not too far to our South. But so much of a sailor's fear of gales is the danger of getting driven ashore either because of an anchor not holding or a mooring parting or getting dismasted and the engine conking out. In Blue Water you have the ability to work on your problems without crashing breakers reducing your options. Here you have the ability to run a hundred miles in one direction or another to stay out of trouble and time your exposure.

All is well.

Commanders’ Weather Corporation
Sunday, 08.13.2006

Route: Salvador, Brazil to Cape Town, SA

Departed: approx. 1200utc, Tuesday, August 1, 2006

Position: 31° 43 S, 21° 12 W at 1600utc Friday, August 11, 2006

Prepared: 1645utc Saturday August 12, 2006

Summary

• Gale center (984 mb) now well to your SE near 45s 01e and moving rapidly eastward
• Satellite images indicate that the cold front from this low is well toyour E and NE with only lingering lower level cloud and scattered showers
• High pressure center near 35s 29w is moving ESE
• Should be near 37s 14w at 12utc Sun
• Should be far to your ESE by 12utc Mon
• SSW winds 20-30 kts should gradually back and diminish during the next24 hours as the high center moves by not far to your south tomorrow
• Another large low tracking eastward south of 50s will push a cold front to near 45s 09w to 40s 15w to 35s 28w by 12 utc Mon
• Winds will continue to back to NW Mon and increase to 20-28 kts by Mon evening
• Cold front loses northward push and is expected to stall just to your S
• Tue on a line near 35s 02w to 33 30s 10w to 32 30s 15w
• Winds north of the front will back to more W and diminish to 15-20 kts by evening
• On Wed you should be on the S side of high pressure centered near 29s 8w and elongated east-west
• Winds will be rather light between the high and the stalled and weakening frontal zone near 33s
• Next cold front remains well to the SW and will likely not affect you with increasing WNW/NW winds before later Thu and Fri
• Intense storms tracking by to the south are generating large sea which will be increasing over you tonight and tomorrow, likely peaking near 20 feet early Mon.
• Largest sea should propagate past you later Mon with slowly subsidingconditions, becoming a longer period
• 10-14 ft WSW swell Tue and Wed

Routing

1) Am assuming based on yesterday's position that you may be holding about 31 30s

2) Further north will give you a little less wind and should make a significant difference in peak sea also

3) Conditions shown below assume holding 31 30s, but would recommend closer to 29-30s tomorrow and early Mon if convenient as this will reduce sea a little

4) By Tue/Wed you may want to be closer to 31-32s again to stay further away from center of high and remain in W wind, but suggest you not go below 32s as wind and sea will be stronger S late in week

5) Please see waypoints listed in the wind forecast below

Wind Forecast

Wind directions are TRUE, wind speeds in KTS, and time is UTC

Sat., Aug 12

18: 300-320/8-15

Weather: Fair to partly cloudy

Seas decreasing to 3-5 ft WSW swell

Sun., Aug 13

00: 160-180/18-26

06: 130-150/12-18

12: 110-130/10-16 near 31 30s/14 30w

18: 090-1

10/ 8-14

Weather: Variable cloud, chance shower early, then partly cloudy

Seas building to 16-20 ft SW swell but with decreasing wind wave chop

Mon, Aug 14

00: 040-060/12-18

06: 350-010/14-20

12: 330-350/16-24 near 31 30s/11w

18: 310-330/18-26

Weather: Partly cloudy

Seas 16-20 ft SW swell early, subsiding to 13-16 ft by evening. Increasing wind wave chop

Tue, Aug 15

00: 300-320/22-32

12: 280-300/15-25 near 31 45s 07w

Weather: Variable clouds, few showers developing

Seas 10-14 ft WSW swell, quite rough with wind wave chop

Wed, Aug 16

00: 260-280/12-20

12: 280-310/10-18

Weather: Variable clouds, scattered showers

Seas 10-14 ft WSW swell

Lunch €” Sunday 08.13.06

Lunch was a ....Mahi Mahi fish soup, done Chinese style with rice and ginger. Lieve used just a bit of the famous Susie's Hot Sauce from Antigua, which was enough to light all our fires.