The last 6 K

1900/29th position 3135 00643 with 603 to CT and going sideways

We have been trying to work our way south for the last thousand miles or so but have not been able to do so without going backwards. And so it is still. There is a fierce current, the Benguela, flowing NW from Cape AgulhasThe southernmost point of Africa, where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean. The real corner, south east of the Cape of Good Hope. south of Cape Town and we are in it and getting knocked sideways at about 3 knots – about half our speed, so about a 45 deg knock. Getting south as far as about 35 degrees would have allowed us to manage this but from up here at 31.36 S there's nothing we can do but accept the situation and hope the wind changes as predicted by the gribWeather files. Graphics in Binary file: GRIB files associate a specific weather datum (eg wind velocity or atmospheric pressure) with a geographic position. Because the resulting file is a collection of these points they are extremely small and so ideal over slow links such as sailmail. in a day or so. Meantime, Namibia here we come. December 5th arrival in CT now looking very iffy indeed.

Otherwise, nothing to report except a juvenile Yellow Nosed Albatross. And a huge empty bulk carrier that altered course around us a couple of hours ago. Tricky when you can't call them up on channel 16VHFVery High Frequency radio. Short range radio equipment for voice and other applications such as AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels.. Radio Channel used for establishing initial contact and for emergency purposes only. any more – we do have DSCDigital Selective Calling. DSC radios have the facility to alert another vessel or rescue centre directly. on the VHFVery High Frequency radio. Short range radio equipment for voice and other applications such as AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels.. but I've never had a positive reply when we have tried to use it so no faith in it yet. With no AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels. data, I have to make an 'all ships' call which is a bit less effective, perhaps, than an individual call using a ship's MMSIMaritime Mobile Station Identity; used for radios with digital selective calling (DSC), as well as AIS (Automatic Identification System) transponders. It allows two vessels with radios that have this capability to exchange information about who they are and where they're going without need for voice contact . There is a unique numeric identifier for each user of AIS system.. Automated bridges fill me with angst. But it does seem that our new radar reflector is working.

FenwickA friend and clearly a colourful character, ya dozy OF, hang in there for what remains of your dissolute life and the birds will sing again in the trees. Then we will come home and you can buy us a beer. Enjoy the Solomons.

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