Tin Tin's Sailing Calendar

Friday 20 April 2018

Keeping an eye on progress

My trip home was exciting enough to make me almost forget my intense disappointment to have left Tin Tin.  But here I am in the UK, and my efficient insurance company, Pantaenius,  had arranged an immediate appointment with an ophthalmology consultant, who gave me a good going over and then (since I had come SO far) referred me to retinal specialist.  After a very intense examination, he concluded that my retina is still attached, and I heaved a huge sigh of relief! I had heard that if they needed to spot-weld the retina back on, then the gas bubble inserted to hold it in place would stop me from flying for two to three months. Thank goodness I can get back to Tin Tin for the last leg.

However Tin Tin was making very slow progress across the South Atlantic, with reports from Mark and Justin of very little wind.   My main anxiety was about the steady failure of the batteries and the possibility that the autopilot would stop working which would force Mark and Justin to steer the whole way.  It's tiring anyway standing 4 hour watches, and over that distance I was worried that they would get exhausted.  I spent time trying to find battery solutions, and to get advice from people in the industry and was reassured to find that we can probably get replacements in French Guyana.  

Meanwhile it was wonderful to get swept up in family life again as all my daughters and my six grand-children came to stay.  Was kept busy with the many jobs that needed doing around the house and took great pleasure in doing things such as re-roofing a shed.  Our central heating had broken down so the cold weather of April kept me busy feeding the log fire, or staying close to the Aga.  It was also lovely to spend a couple of days with my parents and generally catch up with friends on the 'phone.   It's almost as though the voyage has already ended, even though I've got another month of exploration ahead.

Now the summer weather has come, with the hottest April days for 70-odd years, and on Monday 23rd April I am flying to French Guiana to meet Mark and Justin.   Their progress has speeded up a lot now that the wind has finally settled in and it will be interesting to see who gets there first.  Justin will be looking for a flight home to get to a wedding, and Mark and I will be joined by Richard and his friend who are coming to explore Papillon's Devils Island, poke our noses up some steamy jungle rivers, and then explore along to Dutch Suriname and the ex-British country of Guyana.

Here's Tin Tin's position approaching the mouth of the Amazon which, I heard on the news, has a newly discovered, and rather unique, coral reef which is now at risk from oil drilling.

Below is the map showing historical hurricane tracks, with the few that have passed near Trinidad highlighted.  We are aiming to store Tin Tin in Trinidad which is at the southernmost reach of hurricanes.   If Cayenne in French Guiana had better facilities I'd probably park there as it has never been affected.







Sunday 15 April 2018

Marooned on Ascension!


Today I have to wave goodbye to Tin Tin from the dock in Ascension Island, as Mark and Justin set sail for French Guyana 2500 miles away.

Unfortunately I have to be flown out because of a possible detached retina, which has sufficiently serious potential to warrant the insurers flying me home. However this is the most difficult place to do it from. I may be allowed onto the RAF flight to Cape Verde and then shipped back by commercial flight to the UK.

It could still take quite a while to get home, kicking my heels in the NAAFI canteen, while I dream of being on board Tin Tin!  I'm staying in Syrena's Bed and Breakfast up at Two Boats while I await the next move.


On route to Ascension Island on 26th March I started to see white flashing lights in my right eye. Once we arrived on the 30th I tried to see a doctor at the hospital but, being the Easter weekend it wasn't until Monday 2nd April that I was seen.  Luckily Dr Bill Hardy had a retinal camera, and we were soon emailing images off to be looked at by specialists in the UK.  No obvious damage could be seen, but the symptoms suggested a real, but low, risk that retinal damage could ensue. I contacted Pantaenius insurance, and they said that they would find a way to get me to see an ophthalmologist somewhere.  Might be Brazil, South Africa, the Canaries, or UK. The problem is that there are only monthly civilian flights off Ascension because of the damaged runway, and the military flights won't usually accept civilian passengers.

After much discussion I decided that Tin Tin should set off without me, so that Justin had a chance of getting to a wedding that he was committed to, and I organised to stay in the island's only Bed and Breakfast until a flight could be arranged.  The doctor had tried to get me onto an RAF flight, but the Base Commander had refused.  A previous civilian casualty had apparently cost £40,000 to fly out via the RAF!    In fact I didn't have to wait long after Tin Tin left before my amazing insurers had managed to get me onto the fortnightly RAF flight to the UK.  I loved the cool command of the person who told me that she used to be stationed on Ascension in the RAF and if the Base Commander wasn't going to let me fly out, that she would "escalate it up the chain of command".    Otherwise I would have had to wait until the fortnightly flight St Helena, or await a charter plane from Germany, South Africa or Brazil.  

Once Tin Tin had sailed over the horizon, my feelings of despair and loss were soon subsumed by the enjoyable company of Juergen and Claudia from "La Belle Époque", who had just sailed in from the Falklands via St Helena.  Luckily I was able to hire a car from my hostess, Syrena, at her JAMS Bed and Breakfast. A nice new room, all freshly kitted out, greeted me and I was shown the kitchen supplied with all the supplies needed for a good breakfast.



We drove to English Beach, empty of people because of the swimming ban caused by two recent shark attacks, and then up Green Mountain.   We found a delightful walk along a path cut into the volcanic cliff overhung with all sorts of exotic tropical plants, with glimpses to the blue sea far below, and the occasional golden beach white fringed with surf.
I had another day there waiting for my delayed RAF flight, and we took advantage of the cool green of the heights again, and walked Elliot's Pass round the mountain for a couple of hours.  

Later I was collected by The Administrator, Justine, in her black Land Rover Discovery with its British flag discreetly sheathed, but proudly displaying the number plate AA1.  I was taken to Wide-Awake Airfield to board a huge grey RAF A400 transport plane.  It landed with a great puff of blue smoke from the array of tyres just showing beneath the hull, disappearing from sight amongst the red volcanic cones along the runway.  I was told that this airfield was designed to be able to receive the Space Shuttle when America still had one.  I met the attractive blonde Base Commander and it turned out that we had both been watching for the re-entry of the Chinese Space Station that could easily have splashed down near Ascension.






The sun set on the rusty coloured scoria (volcanic vents) and it was a dark star-lit evening when we walked out to the massive hull of the plane with its four 8-bladed turbo props.  I climbed the fold-down ladder and found myself in a cavernous interior that must have been about 25 feet high, and long enough to have carried 50 foot long Tin Tin and her 60 foot mast.  There were two small pallets of luggage on the load bed, but otherwise there was a creditable badminton court sized space, lined with 25 black hammock-like jump seats each side.  The seat itself turned out to be a hard board, with nothing much in the way of padding, as my bottom soon began to appreciate.  My neighbour then informed me that on reaching Cape Verde we would not be transferring to a passenger flight but could look forward to taking the same plane for the 8 hours to Brize Norton. What a privilege!

We were all issued with earplugs, and the load deck commander in his green jumpsuit ran us through emergency exits, which include ladders dropping from the ceiling  so that we can climb out of this tunnel if we ditch at sea.  He also pointed out a pile of cardboard boxes containing our in-flight sandwiches and, surprisingly stale, packet of crisps.   Without windows, the take-off was a novel experience and sitting sideways accentuated the amazingly short take-off at a steep angle.  The air conditioning vent above me delivered a torrent of icy water that would have passed as a luxury shower in drought-stricken Cape Town!   

Later I picked up one of the only two snack boxes marked V for Veggie, but it wasn't until I had eaten one of the plain cheese sandwiches that I noticed the outgoing Ascension Island Government Administrator, Nick, and his wife Polly looking disconsolately at the contents of a single Veggie box. Through the noise of the plane I managed to convey by hand signals that I had  inadvertently nicked their pre-booked supper box, and made my way across the empty hold to hand it back, albeit minus one cheese sandwich!

We arrived in Cape Verde late at night, and whilst the military went one way I was whisked off in a taxi to the town of Santa Maria on the island of Sal. It was nice that it was only a few yards along the beach from the apartment that Anne, Becky and family stayed in when they visited Tin Tin here in December 2016.

I had a troubled night for some reason, but woke to enjoy a relaxed sunny day and a delicious hotel buffet breakfast.
Cape Verde
My beach holiday passed all too quickly and that evening we were off again for the longer haul to the UK.  Luckily I managed to buy an inflatable neck cushion from duty free, and with that in my soft laptop case I had a much less painful bottom!   I was also lucky to be allowed into the cockpit which had an awe-inspiring array of green lit knobs and instruments, apparently bring the same as the Airbus A380.  

My journey ended with a comfortable taxi ride which delivered me home at 4 a.m. and a very welcome bed.

Tuesday 3 April 2018

Ascension Island

 It has been very peaceful here over the quiet Easter weekend. Communications have been tricky as one buys an hour of Wi-fi from The Saints Club for £5 which runs out awfully quickly with slow connections! I should have paid £70 for a week perhaps - it would probably have been cheaper!.

Without transport we have been a bit confined to Georgetown, exploring the Museum and Fort, the old Exiles Club (closed) with its deep-set verandahs to maintain a cool interior. The clock tower above it stands eternally at 11:47 and was erected to avoid having to fire the cannon every hour!  It is said that time hangs so heavy on those stationed here that when the new clock struck every quarter hour, it is said to have elicited groans of “Oh Gawd!” from the Exiles Club Members.

We walked a hot road up to the US Army base, where we found hot dogs and pizzas, and a lively bar with cheap beers. On an island riven with the stress of infrequent supplies of fresh vegetables, the Volcano Club is currently the only place we could get a salad.  The British and US military bases independently stock produce, but don’t seem to share it, much to the annoyance of islanders. A hydroponic farm produces some fresh vegetables, but we met its manager who is struggling with a blight that has swept through the tomatoes and other produce, and getting irate customers desperate for their vegetables.

Ascension really is one of the most remote places on earth.  There’s a monthly air service from South Africa via St Helena, with the next one due on the 14th April. Military flights arrive from Florida or Brize Norton every two weeks but no longer carry any civilian passengers. A ship comes every month, but the last one had technical problems, and the cargo of fresh vegetables was on the verge of being sold off in St Helena when a cruise ship was commandeered to deliver it next week. So the island’s few shops are very low on stock.  There are two places to eat out on the two bases, but each offer only burgers or pizza (although I did get fish n chips at the US Volcano Club).

Finally on Easter Monday I made contact with Serena, who runs a little shop and BnB up at Two Boats village, and managed to rent her car.  As always it’s a great liberation to be able to set off to explore by road and we were soon grinding  in first gear up the steep single track hairpins of Green Mountain. Suddenly the cooler air was refreshed with scents of eucalyptus, and the smell of moist earth and ferns.

Lush rainforest vegetation has been established since the 19th century initiative of Sir Joseph Hooker and Charles Darwin which planted the mountain to change its microclimate to a wetter one.  We passed the Residency of the Island Administrator, and then up to The Red Lion, an abandoned social club with a fine clock tower perched high above the island.  I found a shady bench at a deserted cottage called "Cronks", overlooking the amazing view down to the harbour and settled down to try a bit of sketching while Mark and Justin headed off for a couple of hours of adventure on Elliot’s Trail round the mountain through various tunnels.

Georgetown from Green Mountain

Ascension Island

That evening we met the Nature Comservancy team just before 9pm and, after an excellent video about the wildlife of Ascension, we walked through the brightest moonlight to the silver sands where huge turtles were hauling themselves slowly out of the surf, digging great pits in the sand and then laboriously laying hundreds of eggs.  We watched one 200kg female finish laying her brood, then carefully covering the hole with sand using her back flippers, before disguising the whole site with her powerful front flippers.  The little hatchlings will emerge in 60 days and struggle to the sea, from which perhaps one in a thousand will survive to adulthood to return to the place of their birth.   They aren’t mature until about 20 years old, and until that time circulate on the currents of the Atlantic, finally returning the 1200 miles from Brazil when they are ready to mate at the full moon.  No one as yet understands how they navigate, although like many animals they do detect magnetic lines of force.

There are the remains of turtle pens which are flooded at high tide, with low stone walls to prevent the turtles from escaping.  A narrow gauge railway still has trolleys which transported the turtles to waiting ships, which used to stock up with live turtles to provide fresh food on voyages.



Sunday 1 April 2018

Arriving in Ascension Island

30th March 2018

We arrived in Ascension Island, finding a barren volcanic rock, and a rather exposed anchorage off Georgetown.

There was one other yacht already there, which turned out to be "Peregrine" and we were delighted to meet up with them again.

Rounding at the northern end of Ascension Island at first light

We dinghied to the dock, past a big swell breaking over a rocky reef.  Tying up was a challenge with the surge, and the technique we used was to attach a pulley to a buoy and run a long mooring line through it so that the dinghy could be hauled away from the wall, but retrieved when we needed it.


The quay at Georgetown, Ascension Island

Dirk and Gretchen visit us from "Peregrine"

Ashore we found that most things were shut for Easter Bank Holiday weekend, not that there's much there anyway! Formalities were carried out the Port Office, and our entry forms eventually updated and stamped as we had arrived much later than the dates I had applied for.


The view over Georgetown and the bay, Ascension Island. 

Giant turtles drag themselves up the beaches every night to lay their eggs. Behind rear the red volcanic cones devoid of plants. Inland there is Green Mountain which we would love to climb. On Darwin's suggestion it was planted with trees and has transformed the microclimate resulting in much more rain, which in turn has now washed away the airport runway so that the island is steadily losing its connections to the world.