Thursday, 2 August 2012
Hello from Brazil! And merry Full Moon parties!
By now our clocks and watches are at UTC-3 hours. The trip across the South Atlantic was one of the most pleasant ones we've ever had. Only the trip from Chagos to Mauritius can compare. The wind was mostly around 25 knots from behind, so that we didn't even unpack the mainsail at all and did everything with the genoa. So glad to be on a multihull! One of our friends was rolling so badly that he mostly had three reefs in the main and even at anchor his boat was rolling like mad. Once upon a time I was considering getting myself a small monohull - but I am definitely not going to do that now. Much rather a Wharram or a little trimaran.
An amazing thing were the many whales following us, for hours and hours, sometimes for days. We think they were finback whales. They were surfing just a couple of meters from us, regarding us with one eye and turning their flukes sideways so that they looked like giant dorsal fins. The first time that happened, it gave Liping quite a fright! Fortunately we didn't hit one of them, as happened to ADIO. Apparently the whale got quite angry, for he rammed them full power in the side, so that they now have giant dent in their boat. Which is fortunately made of metal.
Our arrival was just as peaceful. While almost all the other boats head for the marina in Salvador de Bahia, we decided to bypass that horrible city altogether and sailed on to the island of Itaparica. Much more peace and quiet and also much safer. Salvador has one of the worst reputations anywhere and people here call it The Black Hole. Not only because of the predominant skin color of the population, but because everything disappears there on an astronomical scale. Post office, customs, theft, robbery, muggings - you name it. We were told that they had to move the Cape Town race back to Rio de Janeiro after only three years here, because about 80% of the sailors got mugged in the first few days, often right between the two marinas. But that must surely be exaggerated!
By now we even can take showers in the cockpit again, because it finally got a bit warmer. Only in the daytime, though. At night temperatures fall to 27°C or even lower. Right now it is winter and the rainy season, so we can expect rain for weeks on end and squalls of up to 40 knots. Hmmm...
Just before our arrival here, Aurora was so excited that she couldn't sleep any more. She tried it on the sofa in the salon and that seemed to work. You don't miss any excitement there, see. One day before our arrival, the clouds were lit up all over the horizon from the lights of Salvador. Amazing how much electricity we humans waste. The closer we got, the more I got reminded of Belem in the Amazon delta. One skyscraper standing next to the other. Apparently everything is falling into ruin and is very dirty and neglected.
Here in Itaparica there is a more village-like atmosphere of a small tourist attraction. I was reminded of Soure in Marajó where my brother Birger and I went on DHARMA BUM I together with Dede and Riton on the VILLE DE SAINT NAZAIRE in 1989. Hard to describe, same architecture and flat land. Typically Brazilian.
Right after arrival I launched and pumped up the dinghy, put on the outboard and went to visit Reinhart & Marlene on ADIO from Cuxhafen. We met before in Mauritius and they are good friends of Michael on TANOA, who is by now back in Germany. The next day we went to visit the German boat UI, as there were two little girls for Ulani to play with. They swim like fish and climb like monkeys, very independent minded. Their father is working in Germany while the mother is staying here with the children.
Many boats here come from Europe and are new to the Yachtie lifestyle. We managed to get cash out of a machine and buy a cucumber for Hamsti. Back home we had the good instant noodles Made in Taiwan. Unfortunately our supplies are dwindling. Next project was WiFi and Internet. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and if it does, it is excruciatingly slow. Still can do eMails once in a while, which is very nice indeed.
Through my long-time friend Roy Starkey on SEALOONE (we met 1989 in Kourou) we got to know Ron Llewellyn, who lives in a house right here at the anchorage. Ex-Special Forces in Australia, specialized in "High Altitude, Low Opening" parachute jumps with oxygen and special gear. You only open up the chute when it is almost too late. Often at night, as the idea is to penetrate enemy lines this way. He did that for ten years, cross-trained and instructed Americans, the Brits and the like. After that he quit and opened up his own sky-diving school. Did that for many years and then went sailing. After the first circumnavigation he thought it might be a good idea to sail from New Zealand non-stop and single-handed around Cape Horn.
There he got caught by a big storm. The military observatory at Cape Horn measured wind velocities at 120 knots. My God! He was under bare poles, capsized, a Norseman terminal broke and that was that. The mast came down and trapped the forward hatch in the open position. Ron was only wearing a T-shirt and some kind of jumpsuit pants. He stood on the ceiling and thought that this was most likely going to be the end, as SULA didn't seem to want to right herself again. Fortunately she did after all and he could make it on deck and to that hatch crawling on his stomach. But no way to do anything, as the broken mast was way too heavy. Every wave put in many liters of 5°C cold water into SULA. If he didn't fix the problem, she would surely sink. He managed to destroy the hinges and wired the hatch into place. Then back inside. That's when he realized that he was now just about to die of hypothermia. This was the second time he thought he wasn't going to make it. Everything was wet, cold, full of diesel - an unbelievable mess. I've seen the pictures. He put on all the stuff he could find, so that he looked somewhat like the Michelin man.
Then it took him two days to get the engine started. Next was the radio and an emergency antenna. The Chilean navy treated him very badly. Heavy duty fines and it looked pretty sure that he would never get his boat out again if he took it to the military outpost in Puerto Williams. Finally Ron had it and went under engine, just as the boat was, around the Horn to Ushuaia in Argentina. His life was one big adventure. Now he lives here with his young Brazilian wife Marli and baby Ronzinho.
Life here can be very inexpensive. A full meal with chicken, rice, noodles, beans, fruit-juice and a cafezinho is less than US$ 2!
The other day we all had a barbecue on SEUTE DEERN from Cape Town. Hans (72) hails from Hamburg and SangHee Lee from Korea. Our friends Henry (Oz) and Tuk (Thailand) from PARPAR had bought three lobsters from a boat that morning and the three Asian "girls" all cooked specialties from their country. Delicious! We had beer, red wine, Caipirinhas and good conversation. Hans left Germany around 40 years ago and Henry always has excellent stories to tell from his life as a field geologist in remote areas all over the planet.
By now Aurora Ulani is in the 4th grade of Calvert School, which alone means 6 1/2 hours of school every day. Add to that Chinese and German lessons and you can imagine how busy we are. At least it looks as if we will not have any visa-troubles for once. As long as Liping is listed as crew on the boat, she gets pretty much the same deal as Ulani and I in Trinidad. That is important as everybody told us it is not a good idea at all to attempt major repairs while here. Spare parts never arrive, everything is always slow, late and costs more money than originally agreed on. So we won't be staying all that long. Got to get DHARMA BUM III back to the Caribbean - and after we have sold her, our sailing lifestyle will have come to an end. Whether we can sell her up there or have to go to Australia or elsewhere is a different chapter again. : - )
Here is the updated position tracker:
All the best, cheers and ciao!
Holger, Liping & Aurora Ulani Jacobsen
Catamaran DHARMA BUM III
Itaparica, Brazil, 12°53.22'S 038°41.31'W
HolgPhone +557197039908
GloriaPhone +557183422235 (Data)
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