19th August
The regatta went off without a hitch, it was cancelled for the Thursday which worked out perfectly and allowed Barry to come with us to the airport to see Rauen off. We discovered our anchor holds, how to get our bridle to work once all the chain is out and we are using warp and that we can still manage to sail this huge yacht at 1.2 knots in as little as 2 knots of wind. Anchoring was fantastic…can’t wait for it be all the time. But lifting that huge anchor is a great deal of work. We discussed an electric windlass but decided to give our manual one a chance as we will not normally be anchored in 25m of water with 80m of scope that takes over an hour to hoist. We will normally be sitting with 3 -5m of water and 15 – 20 metres of scope and Rauen and I have lifted that in a few minutes without a problem.
We have dropped off our EPRIB at SMD in town once again, this time for a battery replacement. We had to have our brand new navigation computer tested and the BIOS updated…we had better make a plan to reboot that today and check that it is now fully functional before we have to leave in a few weeks!
Today is that special day of the year for Barry and me…our wedding anniversary. We have officially been married for 12 years today! We have never done gift exchange or major celebration, it usually ends up a trip to a restaurant that cost more than R30 a head for a quick lunch or supper with all the kids. Today we have only 1 kid with us and we have a yacht club AGM to go to so our celebration will be even more subdued than normal. Oh well, it is technically just a number…we enjoy everyday together and when Barry asks me how long we’ve been married for…he always says “That’s impossible! It’s only been a year…we are still on honeymoon!” As long as we feel like that about each other I think we are on the right path here.
Happy Anniversary Honey!
22nd September
Yes, it has been a whole month!
We took a trip to Joburg for a couple of weeks but did not manage to see everyone in that time to say goodbye. I feel really sad about not seeing Tara, my sister and Lella, Rauen’s gran, we also promised Warren we would pop past before left again and just did not make it! I’m really sorry everyone, but my itinerary did not go according to plan and the main plan was to see Amy and Keagan, so we prioritised them and went with their plans.
When I went up there I realised I never want to live there again. That is not just the rat race, that I may end up back in at some stage, hopefully somewhere else…but the scenery, the landscape, the rudeness of the people in general, the hurried way they push past you, the way they cut you off when they drive and never apologise. I don’t know all these things coupled with high crime and that nervous feeling when I try to sleep at night or have to drive at night to go out after dark…nope I don’t see me returning to Joburg again…definitely not to live!
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