Plan C: What now?

So, what now?

Yes, a very good question! Let me try to answer it.

Warning: This may be a little technical and boring.

Let’s call this PLAN C.

1) By now you know the reason for the hard right hand turn to get to Walvis Bay was triggered by the failure of the main solar panels, on the aft deck, to charge the batteries.

When I was doing my research on what was the most common issues on ocean rowing boats (very few kayaks that have crossed an ocean) a thread that repeated itself was the lack of power from the batteries for a variety of reasons.

The power issues are almost always a knock-on effect of too little charge from the PV panel from a fault or corrosion, like I have, or too little sun light or just not enough solar panels for the boats power consumption.

We had to redesign the back deck of Osiyeza to take the massive panels. I did not want to be in a situation as described above. I have 470Watts of PV Panels which is a LOT. I also chose the best flexible marine panels in the market and imported them from Italy. The Super Rugged Solbian panels are completely waterproof and tough enough to walk on. They are glued to the back deck with pre attached 3M peel and stick.

The wiring runs inside a watertight buoyancy box.  Basically, the top half of the back deck, so “should” have no contact with sea water. The wire connectors are also waterproof so if water does get in then it should still not be a problem.

For them to fail means that both defences have been breached.

We know water got into the sealed buoyancy box. The second defence breach I am yet to identify. Is it the connectors or the panel junction box?

To access the wires an inspection hole will need to be cut into the side of Osiyeza that is big enough to get hands and equipment inside. Then it’s to identify where the leak is and seal it. Once that’s completed the inspection hole that was cut out needs to be bonded back in place making sure that the hull is still structured sound.

And that’s if it’s not a problem with a panel. In that case I would have to remove the faulty panel and find a replacement. Not a small job and let’s not forget Osiyeza is constructed out of carbon fibre so a little more skill and material is required.

2) From discussions over the past two days with several experts it seems the autopilot system will need to be redesigned, manufactured, installed, and tested. Not a small project.

The autopilot cable inside Osiyeza.

3) A solution to stopping the air that is being sucked in through the water maker intake needs to be found. With Osiyeza being so light the water intake is only 200mm below the waterline and with all the rocking and rolling air bubbles get sucked in along with the water. I did install a small sea chest to remove the air bubbles but 200mm is just not enough height for it to work in anything other than flat water.

4) The solution to the chart plotter GPS signal is to find and install an external antenna.

Chartplotter hanging by strings to get better GPS signal.

5) The rudder had a loud knocking noise which I think is the movement between the pin and bush. How serious an issue this is I don’t know but it needs to be looked at.

6) My floating bridle is cunning design but a practical failure. It needs to be redesigned.

7) The seat is super comfy, but it’s not made to be used 24/7. I need to find someone who can make up a new cover.

8) The canard cover was ripped off while on sea anchor. This needs to be replaced and hopefully the modified bridle system will avoid a repeat.

With all these items to attend to we have made the call to get Osiyeza back to Cape Town where the marine industry is best equipped to assist. We hope to have her on a truck and in Cape Town this weekend. I plan to fly back on Friday after loading Osiyeza onto the truck.

Hopefully it’s a quick turn around with no major hiccups.

Plan D

Right now, is to get Osiyeza back to Walvis Bay ASAP to continue the crossing to Salvador.

Fingers crossed 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

No of smiles changed: 20. Thank you to everyone who has donated.

Walvis Bay

My first shower in 16 days was glorious. I was convinced that I had started getting a bit of a tan but much to my disappointment it seemed to wash away down the drain.

I am trying to scribe this blog sandwiched between white 1000 count Egyptian cotton sheets with soft fluffy pillows. All very surreal and a little eery with everything still and quiet.

My eyelids feel like lead. My brain feels like a television screen without reception. That snow pattern. I fell asleep twice before accepting the blog will have to be completed tomorrow.

14hrs later I return to the world with many questions needing answers.

The day and night before arriving was intense. The wind had increased with the forecast suggesting gust of 40knt. Not something you want to hear when you thought you had reached your limit already.

Maverick and Goose had finally crashed and burned. Flown their final hop.

I was left to steer through the night and then some more. That’s a tough ask normally but when the waves are breaking over the stern and the white water pushes over you back and head and floods the cockpit it’s an impossible ask.

Chris Bertish encourages you to change the impossible to “I’m Possible” and with little options I followed his lead.

I build a lot of character that night. I swore at myself. I crapped myself. Gave myself a long lecture and made all sorts of promises about “never again” and so on. It’s buried someplace in the back of my mind where it waits patiently until that moment it jumps out and shout “TOLD YOU SO”

One moment when I thought things might not end well was when a thunderous wave smashed into Osiyeza shoving her forward. Her nose started to drop and drop. It felt like we were tipping over the edge of a precipice. Instinctively I pushed myself into the seat as far back as I could. Not that this would make any difference.

Down the precipice dropped Osiyeza in the pitch dark.  Water spraying outwards from the bow. She was surfing down the face of large wave.

What lay at the bottom for us I did not know? Where we going to nosedive or pitch pole.

I did not know. Thankfully nothing untoward happen.

Osiyeza has a massive amount of bouncy in the bow and she took it all in her stride. I could feel that she was a little disappointed in my lack of faith in her, but she earned a bucket load of respect from me right there and then.

Mercifully the conditions calmed down relatively quickly. Had it not I would have needed to deploy the sea anchor which I had prepared the morning before in anticipation of these conditions.

By daybreak I was so tired I could hardly function but when daylight hits the retina the body somehow flips some switches, and you are alert again. The body is quite something. Sure, this new alertness does not last terribly long but it certainly makes a difference.

By now I could hear the waves breaking on the beach to my right but could not see the shore. There was a light haze and visibility was less than a mile.

We had set up several contact schedules through the night with the shore team. The challenge for me was I needed to be in the cockpit steering when usually I am inside for the communications.

The problem with being outside, besides having to use the phone in a waterproof pouch is that I am sitting right in front of the satellite antennae. There are warning stickers all over it indicating that a safe distance of 1.5m must be kept from it when in use.

Not sure how much of my brain I nuked but on the bright side perhaps the “told you so” bit has been erased. 😉 I know some might argue there was not much to nuke anyway. 😎

As I got to Pelican Point, which is the Harbour limit, I spotted a boat coming my way. It was Ciske one our Namibian surf ski friends. They had come out to tow me into the harbour. What a relief it was to finally arrive in Walvis Bay

The seven days since changing the “Go West plan” to “Go East self-rescue plan” have been the most challenging that I can recall. I know it’s not saying much because I am so forgetful, but it was truly physically and mentally tough.

What’s next?

First is to do the official paperwork.

My 16 days if self-isolation apparently does not count so I need to go and get a PCR test and if negative I can clear in with customs and Immigration. 🙃🤣

As for Osiyeza I am trying to formulate the quickest but best plan to get her ship shape and back on route towards Brazil.

Bird of the day: Flamingo. Lots of them in the shallows around the yacht club.
Position: WALVIS BAY

Day 15: FELIZ AÑO NUEVO

Day 15

The ocean has gone from a deep crystal blue colour to a strange green. The wind has turned a little cooler. Not a cloud in the sky. Classic sunburn weather. I suspect that the Agulhas current is stronger closer to the shore and that’s the reason for the good milage. 👍

Had a brief chat to a Mersk ship to remind him about little old me bobbing over here in front of him.

In a captain authoritarian voice, he commanded that he will pass 1nm away and then wished me a Happy New Year. Not long after that he was just a speck on the horizon.

Yes, it’s the last day of 2021. When you read this, it will be 2022.

💥HAPPY NEW YEAR💥

And to my new Brazilian friends

💥FELIZ AÑO NUEVO! 💥

I had some mates over for a new year bash. They are a rather strange bunch but nagging similar.

ETA Walvis Bay should be early Monday. 🤞🤞

Bird if the day. A White-chinned Procellarias Petrel.

Position:

-23.975300°

14.299420°

The morning I took the kids to the pool

An extract from Life on Osiyeza, by Richard Kohler

These blogs are snippets of my life, living onboard Osiyeza while trying to paddle across an ocean.

All too often social conversation stoops down to the gutter with toilet talk especially after a few drinks. 🍻 Well in certain circles its known to go all the way down to Lucifers basement but I won’t do that to you.

A true story, a black bucket story titled “The morning I took the kids to the pool.”

Reader beware 💩 feel free to skip this one! Really you can and probably should.

It was a typical morning like many before. Perhaps the swell was a little more restless than most mornings but there comes that time when you find yourself with no other thoughts other than I must drop the kids off at the pool.

For many that moment arrives just as you finish that first cup of coffee. This morning was no different.

Timing is critical. Over many years we have somehow developed a 7th sense. That sense of knowing exactly how much time you have from that moment until drop off time. Some days you have a bit more urgency than others, but your 7th sense gets it right 99.9% of the time.

No one ever talks about the 0.1% EVER!

Preparation and timing on my little Surfski are key to a successful outing. Do I leave the pants below the knees or go without pants? I discovered quickly without is best. Oh and don’t forget to wear the harness because that would be a crappy way to end up overboard (too much? OK.)

I have a strip of plywood the fits across one corner of the cockpit. Making a sort of “D” shape seat with the cockpit rim.

The pool, for those not following is the black bucket, is filled halfway with sea water and placed strategically below the “D”. How simple. Well not quite. Remember the “restless sea”. This means I need to hold on with both hands and things tend to slide about on their own.

I am sure it’s the same for most of us. When there’s a no 2 there’s a no 1 lurking as well. Now the problem with the plank and the human anatomy is only one end is over the pool. The other is hanging over the plank facing the rest of the cockpit. I’ll just say that I had to flush a few buckets of water into the cockpit at the end of the outing to rinse the no 1 and my feet. 🥴

Back to the kids who have been patiently waiting to go for that dip. Who am I to hold back any longer? Into the pool they go.

As a parent you are pretty confident how many kids you brought to the party and in this case I thought so too. Once dads’ taxi was given a quick but thorough valet it was time to toss the kids over the side with the pool water. On doing so I felt cheated. As if I had brought more kids to this pool party than I was sending over the side?

Plank goes back into its storage spot. The black bucket into its home and only then do I spot the naughty kids. The ones who missed the pool casually lying in the cockpit up against the left foot peddle.

Remember that restless sea?  Restless enough that the pool shifted leaving me with a really bad start to the day!

Day 14: Taking a dip

Day 14

The forecast was for 20 to 25knt SE wind. Back at home we would be jumping for joy and arranging the car shuffle for a downwind paddle on our Surf skis.

Out here it is a little different. I need to keep crossing the wind and sea as much as humanly possible to get more East and that human limit understandably and regrettably is getting less and less as the days of executing my “Self-Rescue” or Plan B take its toll.

I’ve had a good innings but at midnight I opted to toss the sea anchor over the side and then get some rest. The sea anchor deployment was an utter shamble. How could I have messed this up so spectacularly? Half the drogues were hooked up and facing the wrong way. Offering no help to the cause.

I decided not to muck about in the dark and left it as it was. There seemed to be enough drag to keep Osiyeza facing into the breaking waves. “Well done chap” I thought. Now it’s time to sleep. Oh, how wrong was I. It was like Osiyeza was being stung by a swarm of wasps. She was lurching from side to side, up and down seemingly in panic, without a moment of calm feels like being on a bucking bronco.

I must have managed some sleep because I felt a lot better by the time day broke. Conditions have not changed, and I stayed on sea anchor till about 10h00 when I decided it was time to make another push for Walvis Bay.

But first I needed to bring the sea anchor back on board. It was not as tricky as I first thought it was going to be. Yes, there were lots of lines and drogues in the cockpit but all in all a smooth operation.

Now to secure the bridle line and get going again. Oh no, it’s underneath Osiyeza! I thought I had planned by making the bridle float, but it turned out to be as useful as one of Baldrick’s cunning plans in The Blackadder series.

When it Osiyezas bow rode up and out of the water the bridle would drop down and under the hull. It would indeed float but hard up against the hull and no matter what I tried to do I could not get it to float forwards so I could yank it onto the deck and out if the water.

I eventually accepted that I would need to take a dip and push it up onto the deck by hand. Moments later wearing only my harness around my waist I slipped over the side and into the deep blue ocean. I thought the water was surprisingly warm.

The harness tether was attached to the side grab line and slid forward as I pulled myself along it. At the bow I flipped the bridle into the correct position and pulled myself back to the cockpit. At this moment a breaking wave barged into Osiyeza and over my head. I was not prepared for the force and push that wave had. I ended up holding onto the grab line with an outstretched arm giving my best superman pose. I had sincerely hoped that the adrenaline rushes were over for the day.

Clearly not!

With that big messy sea, I managed to perfect the use of the black bucket inside the cabin. Who said you can’t teach old dogs’ new tricks?

Quite a few fishing boats in the area which always reduces the chance of good sleep with the AIS alarm chirping with a variety of details from DANGEROUS TARGET FOUND to LOST TARGET SIGNAL etc.

Bird of the day: Wandering Albatross. Such a huge, majestic creature working the pressure waves created by the moving swell

Distance covered: 91km
Averaging 4km/hourPosition:
S25° 14’ 33”
E13° 52’ 47”

Day 13: Stargazing

Day 13

After sunset I used to watch out for Saturn (Capricornus) right in front of me in the “Go West” version of this adventure. Now it’s “Go East” towards Sirius (Canis Major).

The evening sky was cloudless and with the moon visiting the other side of the earth the stars had little to compete against and were spectacular. I spent much of the time star gazing and looking for satellites but perhaps due to the motion of Osiyeza or my ’95 specs not cutting it anymore I was not able to spot any. I did however get to see a few shooting stars which cheered me up.

Unfortunately, it has not been possible to make enough distance East over the past few days. My route to Walvis Bay is NE and the strong SE winds forecast will be on the beam which does not fit into Osiyeza’s design portfolio. My feeling is it is going to be incredibly challenging to paddle across 20 – 30knts of wind.

Robin and Albert have been very good keeping me positive and motivated, but I think things are about to get real!

Options? I don’t have any at this stage. It’s about making the best of a bad situation. 🥺

On the bright side if the wind forecast is a little off and it’s a South wind all the way, that would be fabulous. It would then be a 500km downwind to Walvis Bay. 🤞🤞🤞

ETA during the night on Sunday currently but, that changes radically by the hour based on conditions.

Walvis team in full swing. The Community is getting involved, from arranging everything from tow boats, accommodation, workshop, repairs etc. Ciske Howard is the hero in Walvis for us, thank you Ciske and your team for your monumental effort in helping with this detour.

PS: whatever happens don’t miss Walvis Bay!🙃

Position:
S 26.135500°
E 13.191530°

Day 12: Prepped for what lies ahead

Day 12

What a pleasing sun rise. Great start to the day. Black bucket duty successful completed. Full sun on the forward solar panels. Charging the best, they can.

The only electronics I am using at the moment is the AIS, at night the compass light and a USB charger for my phone. The big user is the Thales Satellite system which is used for a short period three time a day.

It’s been a very frustrating day. Mentally and physically. It started off with a light head wind changing to zero wind and hot. I just can’t seem to get any speed up. Mentally it’s been tough. Trying to get East as fast as possible. Before the winds start to dominate our plan to get to Walvis Bay.

Ever since things turned from “We are flying towards Brazil” to oh crap, “Self-rescue Walvis Bay” there has been an odd vibe on-board. It’s taken me a while to figure it out and this is how I see it.

The BLAME GAME.

Osiyeza is sulking and refusing to speed up. I think she blames me for the solar problem since I was the one who installed it. I, on the other hand, I feel that she could have done a better job of keeping the salt water out of the “sealed compartment ” or indicated earlier that there was a problem.

This is a not a healthy game for us to be playing especially when neither of us know if we are going to make it to Walvis Bay to find the answer. ❌

We need to focus on what’s ahead and not on something that has passed and especially something we have no control to change. ✅

GOT IT!

Over the next six days we are going to be tested to the max. If we can keep moving downwind with just enough right rudder we are in for a chance. It will be very wet and Osiyeza will be rocking and rolling like never before. If the sea gets too big and the wind too strong running across the swell becomes unadvisable. We run the risk of a capsize and neither of us want that.

I spent some time today adding another section of drogues to my sea anchor to give a little more holding power should the condition become too extreme. I also added a quick release clip to the right side of my harness. This should stop me getting tossed out of my seat every time Osiyeza heals over more than 45°.

It was super calm earlier when I came across some floating Kelp that must have been ripped off the rocks by big swell a while back. Crystal clear water. 💧 The Kelp has not been at sea long enough to get its own ecosystem going but I did see a few big splashes which may suggest Dorado are hanging about. 🐟

When the SW tail wind started to tease me a whale pass by in the distance. I kept on hearing this noise and thought it was the paddle leash brushing against pants. It took a while to figure out it was a whale blowing out. 🐳

I started sprouting my beans the other day. I sprout them for 4 days before eating them. With fresh water being limited I drink the bean infused water after their daily rinse. Wonder if it could be the next big hit in the heath shops “Mung bean infused spring water?”

The most useful items to date?

No 1 would be my Forever Fresh silicone bag with sealer. Almost every meal is eaten out of this and a simple dip in the ocean to clean. Shake it dry and it’s ready and salted for the next meal. 🤩

No 2 is a silicone coated spoon. When eating out of any dish a skilled silicone spooner may never need to wash a dish. It gets ever last bit of tucker off the dish and into the mouth. 🥄

Not a single bird today.🕊 Wonder what sort of omen that is? 🥺

Very proud of my nautical htfu t-shirt so I thought I would share it with you. Please not the model used in this shoot is one of a kind. 🥰

Everything is prepped and ready for what lies ahead.

Position:
S 26.786700°
E 12.656920°
No of smiles changed: 16 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰. Please continue to help support Operation Smile, changing lives one smile at a time.
Donate here 

Day 11: Houston we have a problem

Day 11

By now you would have heard that not all is well aboard the good vessel Osiyeza and I am now trying to make landfall in Walvis Bay, Namibia to take stock of the situation.

But I don’t see any reason not to keep the good folk like yourself up to date with life out in the Atlantic on a tiny Surfski. I say tiny because the moment I was out of sight of land Osiyeza seemed to shrink. Bizarre, I know right?

Thank you for the Christmas wishes. It’s very uplifting to see so many of them. Please do keep the comments coming and I try and respond to everyone even if it’s just a 👍. How do I do this from the ocean?

Via satellite but not the traditional Sat Phone. I do have one, but it is for emergencies, and I keep in the grab bag with all the other safety gear. The non-traditional call to me is the WhatsApp call. Believe it or not out here I have satellite Wi-Fi.

My Communications partners SMD Africa Marine and AST arranged the Thales Vessel Link which works on the Iridium Certus network with super-fast transfer speeds. It feels like I am on my home Wi-Fi. The antennae dome sits on the aft locker hatch behind the seat and the brain box is well protected from water far inside the cabin. All l to do is flick a switch and a few minutes later my messages come flooding in. This is how the images and video etc find their way to your social media feeds.

Back to Christmas day.

I mentioned in the previous blog that Maverick and Goose had been grounded. With both autopilots out of action I needed to do some repairs. Together with my shore team we got the diagrams of the internal workings and guidance from yachting forums I felt equipping to start surgery. Maverick’s insides were covered with black dust. The drive belt had been slipping. I replaced the belt with a spare but there still seemed to be too little tension. There was a gap between the motor and its housing. I made a shim from a cable tie and glued it in place.

Goose had suffered a similar fate but only having one spare belt I made do with what was there. The gap on Goose’s motor housing was a little bigger so I used a bigger cable tie. In testing Goose work fine until he developed a squeak which I put down to the motor bearing. Belt may be too tight.

Maverick ran like a dream, and I left him all night. Unfortunately, he started acting up by the morning. My confidence in my wing men is low right now.

Every day after the morning sun routine I check the state of the batteries and the panel charge rates. The battery was the lowest it’s been but nothing to be concerned about, but the aft solar panels had not yet started charging. That’s odd! A while later when they had good direct sunlight I checked again.
Houston, we have a problem was the first thought.
The second was WTF?
The third thing that happened was my heart sank low very low.

“Got to be a simple reason” I muttered to myself. I flicked the sat com switch and in five min I was in WhatsApp communications with my shore team. I felt terrible. Bugging them on Christmas day and now again on Boxing Day. So, I started to push and pull and test and prod as instructed. They also have direct coms with my onboard Victron controllers so they can see exactly what’s happening and can even adjust settings.

This went on for almost 5 hrs. My head in the locker below my bunk contorted in every which way. Nausea coming and going.  At one stage I was asked to feel all the solar cells for heat indicating a possible faulty cell. As a good boy I duly clipped on and did what was asked.

Oh boy it’s slippery when those things are wet. I made up two stops that attach to the side of my harness and then to the aft grab lines that run down the side of the hull. Thus, should I need to do any rudder repairs I could not slide off sideways. I did not use these to check the solar panel. One moment I was trying to climb over and back into the cockpit, the next I am in the water.

MAN OVERBOARD!

It happened so quickly. Getting back on was not that simple. The leash would not let me move to the side of the cockpit where it is easy to pull yourself on-board. I was not about to undo the leash so I had no option but to try pull myself up onto the solar panels again but there is nothing to grab hold of.🏊‍♂️

Eventually I managed it but by then I was a little frazzled. I had to ask my team for a short break. Never a dull moment out here. 😎

To cut to the chase, everything except the voltage from the PV Panels is working. Why?

Still unknown. Perhaps saltwater corrosion somehow. Unlikely with such high-quality panels. Time will tell.

It was agreed that trying to continue with Osiyeza in her current state would be foolish. My option now is to try and get to Walvis Bay, Namibia. It’s the only option I have of a self-rescue.

So East is the new direction 😔 It will take about a week to get there and it’s not going to be easy.

Bird of the day: European Storm Petrel
After making the Walvis Bay call, I was sitting back contemplating life when this Storm Petrel flew and dance around Osiyeza for about 10min. The water touching that I though was them feeding is actually water touching their feet. This fella was putting on quite a ballet show around me. Privileged to have seen this. Who knows the reason for this foot touching, but it made my day? Thanks, little guy.

Position: Don’t know right now. All electronics are switched off during the day to conserve battery charge. Which means no AIS during the day.
-27.272820°
11.974580°

PS: Started using the emergency water rations. Should be enough for the rest of the week 🤞

Day 10: Detour to Walvis Bay

Day 9: Christmas Treats

Day 9

🎅🥳🎁🎄🍾🥂

Christmas Day. A time to be jolly.

Well, I certainly hope you all had a wonderful day with friends, family and loved ones and you ate sufficiently enough to fit the next size jean pant. Don’t worry about it. You will make up enough New Year resolutions and be back to your new old self again in no time.

Me! What did I do? I am guessing other than paddling because you know that takes up most of the day light. In the early hours I was keeping eye out for a yacht called ROXY that had just left Cape Town and was now right on my tail. I was half hoping that we would pass in the daylight and perhaps they would offer a Christmas treat or at least a cheer.

Unfortunately, it was 03h00 local time and they came only as close as 2.5miles. All I saw of them was their red port light get closer, it eventually changed to white as they sailed away. I thought about calling them on the radio and decided that if they wanted to chat, they would call me up.  So, we never spoke.

Later I watched the sun struggle to make an appearance through the clouds. Waiting for the first glimpse to welcome it to my Christmas day with my “morning sun” routine.

Sleep was a not easy that night. Maverick had been getting more and more noisy till I could no longer take it. Maverick was grounded! Handed in his wings. I switched over to Goose. Goose has only a single hop under his belt. Basically, brand new.

Whether it was the workload, which was not much as Osiyeza was just drifting in the breeze, or he knew his wingman was grounded. Goose too gave up the ghost!

Merry Christmas to me😩

More on Maverick, Goose and the voices later.

What would the day be without a Santa video? Had a chuckle to myself went an hour after taking the video I realised I still had the hat on. 🎅 I suspect that’s the reason my👃is a bit redder than normal cause it isn’t from any tipple.

I got to phone Judy (my first wife) and her family. I spoke to mine the evening before. So wonderful to hear them all having a fab time. I admit it made me feel jealous and had a brief ponder on what the fok I was thinking and doing here. Emphasis on “brief.”

So, to spoil myself I had a fresh water full body wipe down. Double dipped the bum cream. Changed into clean clothes for the first time since getting dressed the morning of departure. I feel like a million bucks.

Next, I fetched the next 7 days’ worth of food from the aft hatch to the cabin. It was just like opening Christmas presents.

Treats:
2 bags of biltong (Chilli and regular wet fatty beef)
Dorewors
A big bag of pork scratching.
A 0.5kg mixed nuts
7 x little sugar free chocolate.
Macadamia Butter Nutt

Who can guess which one of these I opened first?

Thank you to everyone who commented and wished me a Merry Christmas. I try to read them all, reply or give a 👍

Bird of the day:
Southern Giant Petrel
I have seen them almost every day. They do flyby’s when they see Osiyeza. Often doing more than one but occasionally they miss time it and must pull up at the last second. Very funny for such a graceful bird.

Total distance paddled: 1071km (176km today)
Average speed: 7.7km per hour
Position:
S 28°34’06”
E010°55’44”

Total riased for Operation Smile: R87,187 (15 smiles)