Ascension Island

Well it was a splash and dash in Acension, we arrived Monday 1300 BST and I would have loved to stay there longer, its so beautiful there, the people were
so nice and the beaches looked stunning, but we had no time. It was a little tricky as we had to ferry everything by water taxi, but we did it. We wanted
to eat ashore on Monday night but I run out of pounds and the bank shut at 1500, so we ended up having a traditional SA braai onboard.

On Tuesday morning we made our last run ashore to fill the last few water containers. At 1000 we tried to raise our anchor but i think it had snagged on
the bottom, so Dusty had to go for an early morning swim (we knew we might have a problem as dusty always checks the anchor when we drop it) but the
problem was made more difficult as the island was being replenished by diesel. This was done by a huge tanker at anchor about half a mile offshore and a
long line from the boat to shore, its seems quite a task. Anyway the floating line was getting closer and closer and ended up right over our anchor, so we
had to get the tanker to put on it stern thruster to move the pipe away from us to enable us to get our anchor free, all in a days work!!

So far we have caught 2 fish but let them go as they were too small, but just as we came in to Ascension we had a huge sailfish on the line but it snapped
the line and we are using 100kg line. I suffered slight rope burn just, i think it would have been to big to bring aboard in any case.

We are now heading 350 degrees straight towards cape verde, mindelo, we have 350 miles to the equator (at wed 0900) so should cross friday lunchtime.

Everyone is in great health and enjoying life at sea. We are having some amazing meals, well apart from the banana bread which went a little wrong!!! ha
ha.

From everyone onboard

Vol de Nuit out........

Its a hard knot life

The last few days the clouds have cleared and the sun has finally come
out. We have had beautiful sunrises, amazing sunsets and lots of
swimming in the bluest of sea. We have had very little wind therefore we
have been motoring a lot. We have used more diesel than forcast so I have
decided to make an unschedulled stop in Ascension Island. We should arrive
there Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. The island has been notified of our
arrival and apparently they are excited! However this will be a 'splash and
dash' stop, fill with diesel and water then back out to sea. Leaving Ascension
we will head north and cross the equator with 3 days then up to Mindelo, St
Vincent, Cape Verde where we will stop for a for a rest. Everyone seems
excited about stopping in Acension. It will be interesting to see land again
as the last land we saw was Saldanha Bay which was on the first day we left
Cape Town.

Oh by the way we have put a hammock up and you cant get me out of it! it's
been so warm at night I decided to sleep in it for the past 2 nights and the
early hours of this morning woke up swinging voilently and nearly got
caterpulted out!! Roxy was on watch and was laughing her head off.

Last night at sundown we were all on the bow and just as the sun was going
down a few pilot whales went passed us, stunning!

Water temp is currently at 25 deg and rising and air temp has been the same,
we are all starting to gain a tan!! whoop whoop.

Position 12 21 98S & 005 47 94W

Thats all for now.

Vol de Nuit out.......

Its a hard knot life

The last few days the clouds have cleared and the sun has finally come
out. We have had beautiful sunrises, amazing sunsets and lots of
swimming in the bluest of sea. We have had very little wind therefore we
have been motoring a lot. We have used more diesel than forcast so I have
decided to make an unschedulled stop in Ascension Island. We should arrive
there Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. The island has been notified of our
arrival and apparently they are excited! However this will be a 'splash and
dash' stop, fill with diesel and water then back out to sea. Leaving Ascension
we will head north and cross the equator with 3 days then up to Mindelo, St
Vincent, Cape Verde where we will stop for a for a rest. Everyone seems
excited about stopping in Acension. It will be interesting to see land again
as the last land we saw was Saldanha Bay which was on the first day we left
Cape Town.

Oh by the way we have put a hammock up and you cant get me out of it! it's
been so warm at night I decided to sleep in it for the past 2 nights and the
early hours of this morning woke up swinging voilently and nearly got
caterpulted out!! Roxy was on watch and was laughing her head off.

Last night at sundown we were all on the bow and just as the sun was going
down a few pilot whales went passed us, stunning!

Water temp is currently at 25 deg and rising and air temp has been the same,
we are all starting to gain a tan!! whoop whoop.

Thats all for now.

Vol de Nuit out.......

One Lazy Sunday Afternoon

What a day it has been so far. I took CiCi (My stuffed animal from good old
checkers) for a walk and she loved it so much. With no wind we stopped the boat
and had a swim, it feels great to be clean again. The roast in the oven smells
divine. The weather is clearing up and we're looking forward to some sunny
days. At the moment we're at 19 degrees 33. 64' S and 1 degree 39. 81' E. The
vibe onboard is good and we're looking forward to be crossing the Meridian of
Greenwhich and into the Western hemisphere, which will be later today or
early tomorrow morning. we're 620 mile off the Namimbian coast soon to be
level with the Angola boarder.

All our love
Adam, Dusty, Lande, Roxy and CiCi!

Its a rough day at the office!!

Well its day 5 and firstly I would like to say everyone is healthy and in
high spirits! We are longing for warmer weather but I think this weekend
it looks like better weather in on the cards, however its not hampering
our moral! We had up to 35 knots last night and this morning, squall after
squall and they are still coming, but lucky they are coming from behind
us. We have had wind from behind nearly the whole time so far and blowing
us right in the direction we need! The swell has been around 3.5m - 4m but
it too is from behind thus also helping with the speed. We are still
fishing but no luck yet apart from catching some toilet paper!! Whoop,
whoop, I cant wait to catch a Dorado.

As I mentioned before Ci Ci (my dog) is also loving the trip, I took her
for a walk around the boat this morning and as soon as we get to land I am
sure we will upload some pictures!

Our current position is 25 degrees 00 00S and 007 degrees 25 46E, we are
780nm from CT and heading is 335 degrees and should be close to St Helena
and well in to the tropics by Monday.

We had a braai the day before yesterday, Dustin cooked awesome wors and I
look forward to many more! What a difference having a braai onboard!
(sorry for last year Herc, you were so right!)

Well everyone says a really big HI! we are blowing our vuvuzela and really
upsetting our neighbours!

P.S Any comments on the blog are recieved onboard

Vol de Neit out......

Awesome Day!

Its day 3 and we woke to a wonderful sunrise, yep you guess it, the shorts came out today!! goodbye jeans! We also got the fishing line out, but took an
hour to sort the tangled line out. The fish got lucky today but fingers crossed for tomorrow!! As the wind and swell have been better today we caught up on
some jobs onboard, life onboard is cool and I seem to be less stressed this time round! Much to Dustin delight!

If we were on land we would be over the Namibian boarder today, we are still heading in a North Westerly direction and those of you who are interested our
current position is @ 21:00 on Monday 12/7/2010:-

30 degress 00 42S
012 degress 58 55E

We are 358 miles from Cape Town.

Oh I nearly forgot Dustin gave me a dog on day 2, we have named her Ci Ci! she has a lead and everything! So now apparently I have to take her for walks
and feed her!! Things you do whilst at sea!

Well thats us for now Vol de Nuit out......

Leaving Cape Town

'Vol de Nuit' left Cape Town at 1500 on Saturday 10th July, thanks for all
of you who came down to see us off, most kind! Well its now Sunday and as
of 1200 we had already 141nm from Cape Town heading in a NW direction out
towards the Benguela current.

Our current position as of 12:45 is
32 degress 02'83S
016 degress 21'41E

Water temp is 16.6 and max speed so far is 10.6 knots, sea state is still
a little choppy but should recide during this afternoon.

Everyone is safe and in good spirits.

Will write again soon, Vol de Nuit out......

Final Preparation

Been on board for a week now...but we are still alongside. We finally got our stick on Wednesday so we have gone from a powercat to a Sailing vessel. Got some good food for the trip! Tomorrow we will be clearing out of Customs, on Tuesday we will get all our fresh produce and final last minute things. We are looking to leave on Wednesday morning. Took our boat out on Saturday, had 15 to 20 knots Westerly with the Genoa out, engines off. Got wacked without a paddle but as soon as we leave it will go in hibernation.