Skippers log #33
56 10s 70 44w at 16:20 Gmt with Cape Horn 118 miles due east.
The wind has freshened again, the barometer is falling, now 998 mb, but with just a staysail set I am progressing towards the Horn. If all goes well tonight, tomorrow will be the big day. Last night before sunset I examined the damage to the mainsail and found that the stitching parted on a seam and another place. I stitched the one seam together, but was too cold to tackle the long seam. I had hoped to do it today, but conditions here are not nice. So I will wait a few more hours and hope for an improvement. I am not sure yet when tomorrow I will round, but will let you know the time of rounding and those details. It has taken a lifetime of dreams to bring me this far. But alone out here I am, but alone I did not do it. Without the help of countless people and companies, tomorrows dream might never had a chance. If you will indulge me, want to thank some of the companies and people who helped get me so far, and in no particular order...SC Ports, Phillips Industrial Services, Citadel Agency of Prudential, News Printing Company, Netcare, St. John's Parish Rotary Club, Passport Internation, The Source, Fast Signs, Thompson Trucking and Construction, KZ Marine, Manex and Power Marine, Anderson winches, Profurl, Spinlock, Simrad, Cold Chon, Gilby's, Airtime, Irish Distillers, Brookside Publishing, John Killeen, Malcomb Goodbody, Robin Deacy, Eugene Walters, Ronnie Robins, Brian Lynch, Rosie Coyne, Rob Kamhoort, Jim Fahy, Post and Courier, Charleston Maritime Center, Royal Cape Yacht Club, Minister of Sport-Steve Tshwete, Hobcaw Yacht Club, Michael Cowling, Newport Yacht Club, Ann and Trevor Hackett, Livingston High School, Rosemead Primary School, Roger February, Dr. Katrina Lewis, Wesley Misrole, Pierre Kay, Mark and Michelle Schrader, Avis, Bob and Diane Woodruff, Jane Dyke, Jane Eastman, Bob Richard, Meran Williams, Chris Mertivier and his team, Jack Gansle, Don Harris, Peter McDonough, Paddie and Willy, The Herns, Jim Hagerty, Danny and Dusty Dukes, Dallas Moore from Common Sense Solutions, Mark Parkins, Merran Williams, Markley Gordon, M1, Mike Coble, Mark Durlack, Graham Bougardt, Angelo Laveranos, Chuck Hooker, Virginia Taylor, Alan Vandall & family, College of Charleston, Chris Star & Family, Sam and Sandra Reese, Bob Lane. These are just a few of the people around the Globe. To name all would take pages, but without the support of my sister Jan, my Dad who helped sow the dream seed, my Mother who taught me how to realize the dream, and Gwen who helped me build it, I might have remained just a dreamer and not grown to realize these dreams. Tomorrow will be a big day, and the beginning of a new dawn.
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Skippers log #34
56 01s 67 13.6 west at 10:00 GMT Cape Horn 2 miles to my north.
Yes, I have arrived. Greetings from Cape Horn. Named after the Dutch Town of Hoorn by Isaac Le Maire, who sailed with two boats from England in 1615 for the Dutch East India Company. In February 1900 Josha Slocam from Boston rounded this patch of desolate land to become the first known person to sail past here single handed. The draw that the Horn has had on many people has been huge. Great adventures like Sir Francis Chichester, Sir Alec Rose, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Niomi James, Clare Frances, Bernard Montesiure, Mark Schrader, and many more have been the story tellers of great feats to round this epic piece of land. I was a young boy of 10 when I began reading the books about these great challenges. Then in 1982 I was on the dock in Cape Town, a mere boy of 14 years old, when I met Richard Broadhead racing in the first BOC Challenge. I had fantasies of sailing the world solo, and rounding this notorious landfall. But it was not till I met Broadhead, that I realized this wild dream could become my reality. A dream becomes a goal when one makes the commitment. There and then, silently I vowed that some day I will become a Cape Horner. My school friends laughed when I shared the dream, but I held the dream none the less in my heart and soul. Every day since then I have taken steps to prepare me for this long lonely journey, from dreaming to building the boat that many South African's said would never leave the marina. These have been difficult years, trying to find sponsorship and support to aid me in my quest. In 1994, racing against my friend and mentor, Harry Mitchell, whose dream too was rounding the Horn, I made my first attempt, only to have a setback when I was dismasted in this very vessel in the Indian Ocean. It was not a failure, as it taught me lessons in preparation, and made me further hone my skills. Harry died and did not achieve his goal, teaching me in the process not to put off till tomorrow what you must do today. In 1996 I lost another friend, Jerry Rouf who too tried to race solo past this corner, non stop in the Globe Challenge. Then last year with support from a few sponsors, my family and Gwen, I set off again to attempt rounding the Horn and racing solo around the globe. Today is my 35th day at sea since leaving Aukland. I have fought calms, I have fought storms. I have damaged sails hand stitched back together. My life has been threatened. This morning I had to take avoidance action with a ship coming up for a close look at me in the dark. During the night I took knockdowns, but I kept coming. Now here this morning, at first light, I look upon the land that has been my 17 year old dream. I am 31 years old, and everything I have dreamt of, I have achieved. When people doubted me, I kept going, believing in the dream, seeking those who too could share in the dream, and so learnt more lessons. Now the dream is a reality. I became the fourth South African to race solo past this piece of land, but the first South African to do it in a class 2 boat, built on a shoestring, hope and hard work. I celebrate eating Biltong and drinking Appletizer as I admire the view in between the rain squalls. I have paid tribute to my friends who lost there lives. The question on my mind is now what? Where do I go from here? What next? I do not have all the answers, but I do know that to get here took immense courage, determination, dedication, perseverance, perspiration, stamina, innovation and many more skills. It has not been luck, but engineering to bring me here. If I could come from the background where I come from, with the few tools I had, and achieve my goal, then the billions of youth out in this world too can make their dreams a reality. So from here on, my next goal is to help as many young people to find what they need within to achieve their own success. I could not achieve this alone. I might be single-handed, but not alone in spirit. So I see it as my duty to pass on what has been handed to me. A dream is a powerful force. It is the reality with must live with. Thus, in life, there are no barriers, there are only solutions. Let us make our future a part of the global solutions. Mom, Dad, Jan, and to me most important, Gwen, I love you all, and could not have done this without you. Thank you, and all my sponsors and the people who shared my vision and helped bring me here. I would phone you, but sadly my phone drowned in the last storm. Now I must return to the cockpit, and will the winds back. Since writing this log, the wind has dropped to 5 knots. I guess this is Cape Horn's way of wishing me a good passage.
