Roving Rear Commodore Report from Brazil and beyond
by Stuart & Anne Letton 22 Mar 2023 19:54 UTC
Time Bandit in St Helena anchorage © Stuart and Anne Letton
Time Bandit completes her circumnavigation at St George's, Grenada, leaving them with a big decision... Where next?
Somehow I'd got it into my head that once we turned the bottom corner of Africa we were almost home. You might remember from geography class this corner was originally named by the early seafaring folk as the Cape of Storms. And with good reason. However, somewhere along the line the marketing folk got involved and they hoodwinked the likes of us by renaming it Cape of Good Hope. More like Cape of 'You're Nowhere Near Home Yet Sonny Boy'.
It was a bit sporty. Our buddies in their enormous Amel 54 got pooped at said Cape, white water washing across the aft sun deck, through the cockpit and down below. We simply unleashed the power of the Outremer to outrun the crazy following seas. Or rather, having previously ignored Anne's suggestion that we reef, we simply clutched our pants and were off to the races, setting a new personal best of 21.5kt and me getting another stern lecture about reefing when she says to. A few hours later we were tucked up in a safe berth in Cape Town's V&A Marina and at the start of what became eight fabulous months touring around South Africa and adjacent countries.
All good things come to an end and, while we could have stayed forever, we finally tore ourselves away and headed out for another thrashing getting north to Luderitz, Namibia, where we also got to enjoy a sandblasting with half the Namibian desert landing on our new sails and freshly washed decks. We spent a week there surreptitiously looking for diamonds. Back in the day, diamonds just lay strewn around the desert, glistening in the sunlight for anyone, but mostly vastly underpaid workers, to pick up and hand over to their wealthy colonial visitors. Luderitz is one of the most out-of-the-way places we've been to, 80 miles from the next town and an 8-hour drive from the capital, Windhoek. Luderitz is now, and has been for a long time, largely a De Beers diamond-mining port with a touch of tourist town thrown in. There's not that much to see other than the deserted diamond-mining settlement slowly being reclaimed by what sand hadn't blown onto our decks. There's also an annual speed sailing event where windsurfers fly along a ditch dug out of the sand. I don't know why!
From there, we headed to our next metropolis, St Helena and, of course, got another thrashing. What happened to easing along downwind in the sunny trades? I mean, we're meant to be roving not thrashing. Maybe leaving mid-winter had something to do with it.
St Helena had just emerged from a complete Covid lockdown. For nearly two years no one got in and no one got out. Napoleon had a similar fate. So, we blew in six weeks after they lifted the travel ban and six weeks after Covid got its first grip. By the time we got there, 10% of the population had the bug. The schools were closed, shops were shut - offering only emergency hours - but fortunately the yachties' hotel, the Consulate, was open and we were made more than welcome. In fact, they couldn't get rid of us it was so comfy
After an island tour, a few walks and a broken tooth rebuilt, we headed out once again, next stop Recife, or Heh-see-fay as they confusingly call it. This was our first visit to Brazil and I don't think our couple of weeks did it justice. (I did a rather lovely but under-appreciated video of the old town on YouTube if you're so inclined:
Much like South Africa, we'd been warned about our personal security in Brazil but again, all we got were smiles and waves.
Onwards and northwest we headed for Suriname where old Dutch plantations, rotting wooden homes, smart new bungalows and allegedly drug-baron mansions lined the banks of the muddy river. We've been up a few rivers in our time, mostly with a paddle, and while I wouldn't rate the Suriname very highly on the picturesque scale, it was up there for relaxation.
Finally, you'll be relieved to know, we set off on the last leg of our circumnavigation, crossing the line (or is it tying the knot?) at St George's, Grenada, umpteen thousand miles and eight years later.
The question is: now what? Suggestions on a postcard to Time Bandit.
(Stuart & Anne post on the Ocean Cruising Club Facebook page, their highly insightful blog and, when the mood allows, stunningly artistic, yet amateurish videos on YouTube: SV Time Bandit)
This article has been provided by the courtesy of Ocean Cruising Club.