Betwixt

 To Cape Town with a few stops, first stop Durban.  We left the Zululand Yacht Club, our boat's home for the last 7 months under sail.  This leg was familiar, 20 hours, with the help of Hiero the windvane self-steering, and a lot of motoring.  The autopilot did not work again so back to hand steering when we motored.  In the evening we saw a storm overland which slowly moved above and around us.  If it was not so terrifying it would have been beautiful.  Thunderbolt and lightning, very very frightening me!  The squall brought 40kn wind. The engine hiccupped entering Durban port which meant a day of checking engine fuel lines etc.  Nothing obvious found.   We left next day for East London. Gentle winds again with sailing and motoring for 2 days.  A pod of dolphins came to check us out and found John taking a shower on our stern platform.  The sight of those black fins gave a brief skrik.  Not sharks.  We were 22 n...

The last two months saw us doubling down on work, but the more we did on the boat, the more new jobs popped up;  including re-doing and repairing things.  The weather window to leave Richards Bay is closing.  Cold fronts hitting the notorious South African coast line is not the place to be in a small boat; especially not on this maiden voyage. John designed and made the self-steering devise and succeeded after two tries.  We dropped the electronic auto pilot on a sea-trial and had to send it back to JHB for repairs.  No time to test these again, so worst case we will have to hand steer to Durban and fix it there. Electrics and plumbing were fitted which gave us lights, electronics and water.  My tech skills were challenged with the navigation system, trying to build one using Raspberry Pi.  Back to good old paper charts. The dodger was completed to shelter us from splashing waves.  My prescription sunglasses are ruined from salty water splashes ju...