Wednesday evening sail on the 30/01/2019

Crew on board : Sieger, Wilhelm, Antonio, Aaron and Ian ( as skipper).

The crew gathered on Yolo, just back from her solo Cape to St Helena race, in which Dale did very well to get a 4^th place overall, in his solo entry.

We put the racing black sail back on the boom at the club, before proceeding out to Table Bay. The wind was averaging between 18 -30knts, though the wind speed indicator only showed 9 – 11knts!

We used the J4 upfront for good balance. We decided it was not worth it to enter the race, as we had already missed all the proceeding races for the series. So we reached off towards the Milnerton mark and sailed around, waiting for the big class 1 boats to arrive. And they did so in style. The powerful Cape Fling always impresses at 25+ knots and the more pedestrian Nitro was not too bad either as she screamed pass us. Not far behind three C31’s with Windpower hot on their heels.

After all the gybe action at the Milnerton mark, we reached off to Granger Bay for some more sedate sailing conditions. The dropped sails in the shelter of the V& A mall, and headed back the RCYC mariner, for some after action beers and a chat.

A great evening on the water. Good to be back on board Yolo…

Interview by Sail MAg with Dale

Check out the interview with Sail Mag:

http://sailing.co.za/interview-with-dale-kushner/

Cape to St Helena 2018

Clip from last day at sea.

Cape to St Helena-More start pics

Cape to StHelena -more pics

Pics of the boat at her mooring.. note sporting her SA flag on the backstay and the StHelena courtesy flag on the spreader.. all proper... sails packed away...  this pic was taken soon after finishing.

Cape to St Helena - more pics

Pic taken of Dale, jut after finishing.. he had assistance from another yacht to moor.. Dale immediately went into boat pack mode... after which the pic was taken with the cliffs of the island in the background...

Cape to St Helena - More pics

More pics from the race

Cape to St Helana Race Yolo

Some pics during the race

Cape to StHelana Race 2018 Start Pics Yolo

A few pics of the race start. More to follow.

Cape to St Helena Race YOLO

RESULTS

FINISH - 6 January 2019

The past 24 hours have been very slow with light wind and wind switches requiring lots of attention. Kite up all the time. 

The eta getting later and later. Closer to the island the wind filled in then a gybe around the island into its lee and a final drift to the finish line. 

Finished at 07h28 SA time. A really great race. Boat is now moored in james bay. 

Dale to fly out on the 8th and the yacht should load onto the ship on the 22nd. Now to see the results. 

Many thanks to all for all the moral support. Dale

5 January 2019 - 23h00 SA time

It has been a pleasant day on the water today only thing is that the wind is fickle making progress slow and likely to be the slowest day's run so far. 

With the evening there is now a bit of breeze which i hope will last around ten knots.

 Fortunately i an on a slight reaching angle which helps a bit. 

The sailing is pleasant though but the eta has been moved out quite a bit. Around 40nm left as at 11pm sa time. All good.

5 January 2019 - Day 10

Yolo position as follows:. S17.27.920 by. W4.33.011 

All going well my last position report at sea. 

Hopefully this time tomorrow will be at Annes place eating breakfast on the island if the weather allows. Right now very light. Thanks for all the support. Dale

The past 24 hours has been in downwind trade conditions. With variable strength and osccilations. Becoming light at times. Requiring constant attention particularly during the night hours. 

Other then that not much to report. Currently happy with the trajectory to the island.

Will try keep posted later in the day or when the island is sighted.

4 January 2019 - day 9

10am reported position:

Yolo position. S19.21.060 by. W2.25.690 all good.

Yesterday was typical trade wind sailing. 

The bonus is that the trades seem good this year. Usual sea state one expects. So besides monitoring it and where required change kite when the wind strength changes. 

It does get a bit rolly though night was similar. But with cloud cover and movement there were lots of oscillations in the wind that required regular course changes. 

Cleared a few flying fish off the deck this am. Deck wet with the humidity from the evening. Other then that not too much to report. 

Leaderboard as of 10am:

crossing the meridian!!!

Early this morning YOLO crossed the meridian - entering the western hemisphere. 
To put into practical sense the local time for YOLO is exactly gmt.[greenwich mean time] all good aboard.

January 3 2019 - day 8

Hi all,

I received the following info from Dale at 10am..

Yolo position report. S21.34.480 by. W0.17.390 all good aboard. Dale

"Yesterday The barometer settled as expected. Breeze was light for most of the day 8-11 knots. Not good for vmg but pleasant sailing.

 As the evening came the breeze increased again and the usual clouds started to build. Not wanted to be caught out two nights in a row the conservative option was taken. Albeit it ended up not blowing that strong in the end. But it still had its moments. 

Between the clouds there is an incredible star studded sky to enjoy. After this settled down kite up again. This morning nice breeze and overcast sky. Very humid. Otherwise all good. Dale"

Leaderboard as of 10am:

January 2 2019 - Day 7

YOLO position as of 10am today :

S23.22.670 by. E1.41.797.

All well aboard. 

Yesterday as expected the barometer rose slightly giving for some lighter winds so a gybe to in a bit further north. 

By late afternoon the barometer was looking good again so another gybe. So a fairly slow day. 

The sea is azurite in colour best understood by those who have sailed in these areas. Since the second day no shipping or boats have been sighted, but then we are out of the shipping lanes. 

In the first few days there was a lot of sea birds. An albatross, shearwaters and some brown terns. Since then mainly flying fish. Last night the wind picked up quite strongly at around 2.15am while charging the batteries. The kite was up and things were getting squirrelly so it needed to come down fast. Not so easy if you want to risk a poor drop. First to the foredeck to drop and puny the antiwrap then connect the jib all while working on a foredeck that is awash all this while being limited in movement by your harness. Then back to the cockpit hoist the jib set it all up and execute a great drop.

So satisfying. 

Not over get coat tidied sold sorted for next sail and all sails trimmed then downstairs to pack the kite and drink water. 

Today i should be crossing the meridian. Barometer has climbed. Lets see what today's weather brings. Best dale

Day 6 - Happy New Year - 1 January 2019

Hi all..

10am:

Yolo position. S24.48.066 by. E3.58.193 all well aboard. Dale

Blog entry 10am :

Yesterday was good sailing in good conditions with good progress.

 As night bore on it shifted and dropped a bit but the barometer held. 

At nights cloud often forms as the water temp is high so there is a lot of humidity.

 During the day the sun normally melts it off. That together with a very late moon rising makes it a inky dark where you struggle to see the horizon. 

By early morning the barometer had risen as the high has come north. This hopefully wont last long.

Game plan is to be near or even west of rhumb line to place well pop the easterlies as one gets closer to the island. I will still be doing the odd gybe today to try keep moving. All well aboard. Happy new year to all. Dale

Blog entry received 3.35pm:

More blog. Sometime yesterday we[dale and yolo] sailed through valdiva banks. This is a very small area where the seas become shallow causing the seas to build vs. Known to be good fishing ground. Always an interesting area to transit. 

The water depth it the south atlantic can be 5000m plus in some parts. Currently the water temp is 22.5deg with the temp inside the boat at 28.5deg as interior is ventilated. Outside a lot more. The highest speed on the log is 15.5knots. Likely done in the early hours of the third day.Dale

leader board 10am 1 January 2019