Day 8 Night time visitors A cuppa java, the rising sun and the thought of endless hours of paddling. Wouldn’t that get your juices flowing? Slap on some sunscreen. Leggings and armies on. Hat and gloves on Safety harness on. Sunnies on. Hatch open, safety line clipped on. Washboards out. Jump out. Turn around. Close […]
Day 7: ⚠️ Man Over Board (MOB) 💀 In this case BOB. Bucket overboard. The wave swept over the back deck, over my head, flooding the cockpit and splashed up against the washboards. With its dyeing momentum it slipped up and over the top washboard and sloshed into the cabin. Out the corner of my […]
Day 6 Last night while I rested, I needed to use the autopilot due to the wind direction and state of the sea. What’s an autopilot? ✈️ It’s a mechanical ram driven by an electric motor which is controlled by an internal compass. It pushes or pulls the rudder via a cable (thanks to The […]
Day 5 Around 2 am the previous night the fickle wind picked up from the Northwest. Obviously, the direction I want to go! Along with the SW swell the sea was like a schoolboy band trying to march for the first time. Hands and legs with minds of their own. Nothing coordinated. This made life […]
Day 4 The sea was calm all night and should be for the rest of the day or until the return of the trade winds which “Router Man” Robin tells me may only start late on Wednesday. I guess this is what happens when you announce a departure date and stick to it regardless. LOL […]
Day 3 Today the sea has been flat with very little wind which is now coming from the North. Not going anywhere at much pace because my body is a little tired from the first two days of going insanely hard. Had two thunderstorms pass me today, lots of thunder and even a little rain. […]
Day 2: I am so chuffed at the design and build of Osiyeza. Once the momentum gets going, she seems to go faster and faster, especially when angling across the ocean swells. The first night was a downwind rollercoaster with surges over 10km/hr and super high averages. My “Weather Router Robin” says keep going West… […]
What a send off. Thank you to everyone who came out to see Richard depart on this epic journey. Richard was escourted out by the paddling community as he heads West towards Brazil. Day 1: Started off with easy flat paddling conditions tying to get West. SW wind picked up making the sea choppy […]
With 3 weeks until I prepare to find my departure weather window, Osiyeza finally got the makeover she deserved! Local Cape Town designer and artist Quasiem Gamiet aka “Fersyndicate” spent a day giving Osiyeza her new skin. The collaboration took 6 hours to create this eye catching and original design, influenced by South African street […]
“You must be nuts” is a common response after mentioning crossing the Southern Atlantic Ocean in a kayak. But there is some truth to it. To kayak hour after hour across the Atlantic Ocean I need to keep myself fueled correctly. The challenge is to take enough food for 90 days on a small kayak […]