Happy New Year!!

Last night we had a party at the Royal Cape Yacht Club who were hosting a bring and Braai (BBQ) where you take your own food to cook on the Braai and whatever sides and snacks you want to eat along with your own plates cutlery etc. We managed to secure a good table for the 8 people in our group of the boats Zoe (Zoe Ed George & Lynda) and Dreamcatcher (Charles and Marie) and Trompeta (Peter and Jane). Everyone had brought plenty of food and we even had party hats and horns courtesy of Zoe & Ed who had just returned back from the USA where they spent Christmas. There was a good band playing and some of us danced into the early hours of the morning. At midnight we toasted the New Year and watched the fireworks which were being set off on the quay at the V&A. Today it is just as windy as it was yesterday with gusts of up to 45 knots in the Marina. It was a little difficult for the men last night who did the cooking as it was so windy and I have already washed our clothes from last night as they reeked of smoke!! We did see Paul and Suzana from World ARC Rally control yesterday as they are here to set up the Rally Office on 2 January at the RCYC. There is a farewell dinner at the yacht club on 3 January as we are due to set sail again on 5 January 2013! The first leg to St Helena is around 1700 nm which will take us around 12 days. The stop at St Helena is just 48 hours then on to Brazil and Salvador for the carnival. This leg is around 1900 nm so will take us a little longer probably 13 to 14 days. So we need to provision for a month now. My freezer is already filling up as we have eaten so well over the last few weeks there is plenty of cooked turkey ham and beef for sandwiches at lunch time. The freezer got defrosted whilst the boat was out of the water so it is just a matter of topping up with a few more frozen items. The boat is looking very clean and shiny as she has had her bottom painted and also the hull and topsides buffed and polished. We have been lucky enough to find a buyer for our Windpilot which was taking up space at the back as our Insurers are now happy for us to sail double handed without a windvane self steering system. Just as well as we have not really used the windvane since we set off from England! The four holes in the stern left when the Windpilot was removed have been filled in and the stern will get sanded and polished before we leave. Now we can use the dinghy davits whenever we want to lift the dinghy out of the water for short journeys and at anchor. It is much safer and better to hoist your dinghy out of the water if you are at anchor as it is less likely to get stolen than if it was simply tied on by a rope. This is especially true in the Caribbean as dinghies seem to go missing on a regular basis there. There are just a couple of jobs to do on the boat before we leave. We had a new gas solenoid/sensor installed before Christmas so this needs an Electrician to complete the wiring and test the system. Hopefully the Electrician will be here tomorrow. Peter also needs to fill up with fuel but as it has been so windy in the Marina it has not been possible to move the boat onto the fuel dock without creating havoc! Our 9 jerry cans will get filled up and Peter will then transfer enough to top up the fuel tank and then refill any jerry cans used. Happy New Year to all our friends and family. May 2013 be a good one for you all and we look forward to catching up with everyone sometime this summer.