Day 8: Night time visitors

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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 washboards.

Sit down…..stop, wait! There is something sitting on my seat.

First off was a skinny little fish who thought it could fly or for whatever reason had taken his last breath and was just lying there.

Next it was the smallest crab. This fella was about the size of my baby fingernail. It was the white /pink colour of a prawn. It was sitting in the dead centre of the seat just staring at me through two tiny blue dots that must have been its eyes.  I vaguely remember reading about crabs that drift across oceans and land where they may or get eaten on the way. Maybe that’s what the Storm Petrels are doing when inflight.

Then this morning’s visitor was one of the flat plate blue bottles. I gave the seat a good rinse to make sure nothing was left behind to sting my backside.

We are in the Trade winds now. 12 to 15 knots from the SE. Puffy white clouds and a calmer sea state.

When loading Osiyeza I packed my food into 11 piles. Each pile is meant to be enough calories for a week. So, enough food for 77 days, give or take. Each pile then got tossed into a waterproof bag and these got dumped into the aft locker which is behind my seat. The hatch cover has the big white satellite antennae attached to it.

The idea is at the beginning of a new week I would fetch a bag and unpack it into the cabin and the rubbish from the week before would go into the dry bag and back into the aft hatch so it can be correctly disposed of when I reach Brazil. I have always been conscious about our waste and keeping it out of the ocean. It reminds me of a crossing and a stop off at St Helena Island.

After doing all the formalities it was customary to go to Anne’s place for a meal ashore and a few good English rum and coke, if there is such a thing. We would take our trash ashore and put in one of the bins proud that sometime in the future this would make a young child called Greta very pleased.

We were there for a few more days waiting for the RMS St Helena to arrive from Cape Town to bring us a new glass sliding door that fell victim to a flying beach bat during an intense game of table tennis inside the salon of the Catamaran. True story! Circa ’95.

We took a dingy ride around to the NW side of the island to explore a bit. On this side of the island there was what can only be described as a land slide of garbage and at the top was a bulldozer pushing it over the edge into the sea. Out of sight out of mind. I am sure this practice no longer takes place.

Bird of the day spotted a few days ago but could not ID until today, the Artic Tern. In breeding plumage its bill goes from black to red. There is even record of them migrating from the South pole all the way to the North pole and back. Quite fascinating stuff. (Google makes me this clever)

Position
S 29°32’38”
E011°25’01”

No of smiles: 13, total raised R73,667. Thank you to everyone for your generous donations to Operation Smile SA.

Day 7: Bucket Over Board aka BOB

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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 eye I glimpsed something red. Dam salt water in my eyes. I wipe them with the back of the paddling gloves and look to my left.

The red bucket (washing up bucket) had been washed out of the flooded cockpit and was floating in the ocean next to me. I looked at it for a second a little confused as to what had just happened. As I reached out to grab it a little wave tilted it away from me and I missed. Oh no! Try again. Too late.

It was now out of reach and Osiyeza was not going to wait. She had other things to contend with. First to empty the flooded cockpit. This is done with the help of gravity via a large drain hole that goes right through the hull just like a drain plug in a bath.

My next priority was to see how much sea water hopped over the washboards. I peered over the top and into the cabin. It was wet inside but in volume it was not much.

Still having not seen the housekeeper I was forced to mop up down below. I did such a good job that I rewarded myself with a long lie down. Truth be told having my head below my waist is still not ideal.

This was not the only flooding of the day. The second one was my fault entirely but there are those who will blame me for the first one because I had left the main hatch open. Fair call, I guess.

I had just finished making drinking water and had stepped outside to fetch the other daily water bladder.  Watch the video now on my social media accounts! 🎞🎦

I have 10 of these three litre bladders on board. (Thanks to Tripper Sports). 8 are stored below as emergency water rations. One I have in the cockpit under the seat to drink while paddling and the other inside under the cockpit which I use for cooking and coffee.

Back home we use these bladders when we race mostly long distance either on the rivers or on surf ski’s. The one golden rule it to make sure the clip sealing the pipe off is closed when not in use. There has been many a shocked and depressed paddler after putting the pipe in their mouth to find there is no juice left. It’s all run out because the clip came undone! This is exactly what happened. As I stepped out, I must have stood on the clip forcing it open spilling 2L of precious water.

I have been at sea for 7 days.


I have managed 370nm/684km as the crow flies.
Yes, I am tired, stiff, and sore but it becomes insignificant when I look around me and see my dream unfolding.

PS it may have taken a while but I found the second mobile phone without the housekeepers assistance.🧐

Position:
S30°23’55”
E012°25’52”

No of smiles: 10!

Day 6: On Autopilot

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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 Cableman) depending on the direction Osiyeza is facing versus the compass point selected on the autopilot. It helps keeps Osiyeza drifting in the desired direction while I am doing things other than paddling.

There are surprisingly many “other things” to do. The autopilot is like having another person on board. Considering the housekeeper has yet to arrive it’s comforting to have someone else here. Surely this someone needs a name. Autopilot is too impersonal, and it doesn’t roll off the tongue very well.

So please say hello to “Maverick”. Yes, I know it’s his call sign and not his real name but when you are the best of the best you can get away with it. He should make a good wing man for this trip 😉

There are two autopilots on board so keeping with the spirit of things meet “Goose”, Mavericks side kick.

A lone whale passed me by today. Unfortunately, it was camera shy. I felt a little foolish talking and encouraging it to pop up close enough to be seen on the video. Things never look very impressive when it’s on film. Unfortunately, it was camera shy, but I did get a great video of an empty ocean.

I spotted a lone feather that’s been floating around long enough for a few barnacles to start growing on it.

It was overcast and grey with drizzle the whole morning. Depressive stuff they say. Oh! That reminds me. How are all my mates doing in the UK today? Unlike the UK, it cleared up around midday.

OK the SE trade winds are starting to make their presence felt. This is good for me. I am still just plodding along. So far, I am a little shy of the daily requirement of 100Km for a 70-day crossing but I hope to make that up when Mother Nature get back to her usual ways.

Here’s a great video that Weather Router Rob has put together to show you how we track and predecit the weather using various weather models.

Bird of the day: Leach’s Storm Petrel
Water temp 23°C Max cabin 25°C
Hours paddling: I guess maybe 11 hours
Distance covered: 593km
Position:
S 31°24’17”
E013°18’43”

Day 5: Collision course

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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 inside Osiyeza rather uncomfortable. Waves and swell from all directions.

An hour later the AIS alarm starts screaming for attention…a cargo ship has strayed into my safe zone, and it looked like this one was on track for the bullseye. I tried to call them over the radio, but I am sure they were all asleep or watching Netflix. Who does that?

It’s a helpless feeling trying to paddle out of a ships path in the dead of night and no matter how much effort you put in the bearing remained the same. Put simply – we were on a collision course.

We passed each other with enough room in the end.🤏
How much is enough room you ask? In this case more is better, but I’ll take not getting Osiyeza’s paint job scratched as a sign.

The magic black box, my AIS. Thanks Seaport Supply.

Feeling a bit worn out from the interaction with the bulk carrier and the messy sea pushing me the wrong direction so I decided to try my sea anchor for the first time. To be more accurate it’s a series drogue.

A conventional “sea anchor” is a marine parachute. A para-anchor. You set it in the water at the end of a long line attached the bow of the boat. The parachute fills with water, instead of air, and slows the boats downwind drift while keeping the front of the boat facing into the oncoming sea and wind.

A series drogue is many small cones attached to the long line at regular intervals. The area of all these cones is like the area of the parachute anchor but it has a few advantages. The main one being it has a lot smoother action on the boat. A single large Para-anchor tends to open and close from the pull of the boat and the stretch in the line making for quite a jerky action. The Series drogue spreads the load all along the line.

The deployment went as well as can be expected. And in 15 min I was in my bunk. I stayed like this for only two hours when the wind vanished. The drogue worked pleasingly well. Bringing it all back on board I may need another practice run but nothing got hooked around the keel or rudder so a job well done.

What’s a great way to start a new day on the ocean in a small ocean crossing Surfski?

Why Bacon and eggs of cause.! Freeze dried B&E!

I set up the spare cooker in the galley. When I say galley (kitchen) think a single piece of plywood 400mm x 15mm wide. Luxury.

Egg powder and water. Let it soak in the pot for a bit. Light the gas and in two ticks its cooked scrambled eggs. Same thing with FD cubed bacon only fry in a bit of olive oil.

The galley plank.

What’s next on the agenda.

I have a daily 08h00 Zulu schedule with Router Rob to get the low-down of mother nature’s plans and what the best path for Osiyeza is for the next while.

Flat and calm all day. So easy paddle West was what I did until….guess what direction she blows? Yip 🙊

At first with the ocean so calm and flat I got to see close hand all the creatures floating about. No trash spotted yet.

Portuguese men of War by the hundreds. Some with their blue stinger pulled tight to their underside as if the water was ice cold and others showing off with it dangling way below them. I guess those reasons might not be accurate but descriptively accurate. Maybe one is feeding and the other not?

The other jelly fish look like a small round plate with green/ blue frilly edges and many legs. Half a plate stands erect in the middle acting as it’s sail. It reminds me of a Gary Larson cartoon with the amoebas.

At midday when the sun is highest, I switch on the water maker. It’s one of the highest power consumers on board but with full sun the batteries stay at max capacity.

Not a cloud in the sky for most of the day. I need to be a bit more careful of the sun. Took a bit more than I needed today.

Two days before I left, I noticed a crack on my Garmin watch screen. Not much I could do to get it repaired so I super glued over the crack keep any water out. Today it started cycling through the menu screen without stopping. Besides being a nice watch, I use it to see my speed when paddling as there are no instruments outside. Bugger!

Just after midnight the SE wind arrived. Getting up to 15 knots but when day broke it settled around 11/12 knots. These winds strengths Osiyeza and I both love. Nose down and off we go. Even without my help Osiyeza enjoys keeping the averages high.

100%cloud cover.
Batteries at 89%.
🎵I’m feeling good🎵
Temp water 23°C outside 28°C
Hours paddling: I am starting to loose track of hours paddled. They all blur into each other. Let say 10 hours. Mentioning hours I have crossed a Time Zone so am now 1hr behind South Africa.
Position:
S 32°10’51”
E014°16’07”
No of smiles changed: 9 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
Please help me reach my target of R500k for Operation Smile SA. So far at 10% of target. Thank you to everyone who has donated.

Day 4: Poop Pirate

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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

“Wednesday late brings SE at this stage. You won’t make much progress until then. Recommend down time until then, what progress you make today you will only lose tomorrow. Get your head around that and wait for the SE train to arrive, it’s on its way at last.”
He also tossed in a “HTFU” for good measure.

Right! Time to get my head around it…How should I take this news? Standing up? Actually, I took it lying down, literally.
If my efforts over the next day or so are going to be wasted why not take it easy and let the favourable wind and sea come to me? Much of today was a drift-a-thon but I got some precious time off. I had a good easy night. Paddled on and off as the mood took me. A lot fewer ships about which is good for sleep with the AIS alarm all quiet. Even got a 45 min uninterrupted sleep session in.

The highlight was watching “14 Peaks” on Netflix. Inspirational stuff. Would like to have watched it as a 14-part series. So much glossed over but what an incredible feat. (Yip downloaded a few before I left)

This morning after a nice cuppa java history on Osiyeza was made. I used the “BLACK” bucket for the first time. It’s amazing how an everyday event can be such a triumph out here.
PS the “RED” bucket is for washing up only – do not get these confused.

I put out the fishing line for something to do. Wonder if I am moving fast enough to entice a strike? No strike yet but it has brought about some entertainment. The birds get all excited for a second and consider an easy meal only to realise they have been duped.

Revenge was quick in making. One little bugger, without asking permission to come aboard, landed on the aft deck, and proceeded to poop over my solar panels. Osiyeza is a cunning craft however, and she simply bobbed this way that way and heeled over and let the next wave poop the aft deck which washed it clean. Saved me the perilous trip to the back on the slippery solar panel to clean up. Good girl!
FYI “poop deck” & “to be pooped by a wave” is a thing. Google it if you don’t believe me!

The Poop Pirate!

Still can’t find my second cell phone. Bizarre but not totally unbelievable. You see, my housekeeper is still absent. I use it to connect the Victron Venus GX monitor box which downloads the data to the cloud so my shore team can check for any issues that may be lurking in the data.

On another note, there is still an unpleasant pong hanging about in the cabin. Might need to wash those socks again.

On my ocean crossings before, to break up the shift systems, there would be a 2 hour “happy hour” with everyone on watch around sunset time. Each could have a beer, never two, and then dinner. It was a time to bond and discuss any personal issues to avoid bottling up problems. Osiyeza is as dry as the Sahara Desert when it comes to alcohol. In all other respects she pretty wet.

Sunset Happy Hour

So, my happy hour treat, while watching the sun go down, is a small slab of sugar free chocolate from CarbSmart and time for me to “clear the air” with my own thoughts.

Food consumed:
Coffee x 2
Banana smoothie with added milk & flaxseed powder
Pork sausage x 2 (before they go off)
Coconut Yogurt & nuts.
Handful of supplements from kale and turmeric to Vitamin D and Zinc.
30g dark chocolate bar.

Water temp: 21.6°C
Hours paddling: only 5 hours
Total distance moved 390km
Position:
S 32°27’21”
E015°06’52”

Day 3: Stinky Socks

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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. I was surprised to spot a turtle during one of the thunderstorms.

Chatted via WhatsApp to Robin my weather routing guru. The forecast still says head West for another day or so before the system returns to a bit of normality. He is using an amazingly powerful App called Predictwind who have sponsored me their Pro Package for the trip. Good to have all the pros in my corner.

I am feeling much better and no more sea sickness. I fixed my water maker again and been making drinking water at midday when I have maximum sunlight on the solar panels. I am making about 4.5L of water per hour, very pleased its working again for now. I have only drunk 6L today so definitely need to drink more.

Food consumed:
Coffee x1
Nuts and Freeze-dried yogurt
Tablespoon ButterNut Macadamia/pecan
Carb Smart Chocolate bar x 1
Forever Fresh Moroccan Chicken

I could not work out why the cabin was starting to smell until I found the culprit, the waterproof socks that I had worn wet inside neoprene socks for two days. Eeeek! Even the little car freshener swinging next to the fan was outperformed by the socks. The socks were washed quickly before they had a chance to attack me in my sleep. I have not changed out of my Marino leggings and waterproof pants, sleep in them too. They are next on the laundry list.

Mentioning sleep, not a lot of that at the moment, nothing longer than 30min at a time so far. Now you know why I needed that nonstop Breede paddle to see if I can manage with little sleep. Seems I can 🙃

I am getting used to the cramped quarters and starting to work out my routine and where everything is kept. Now I just need to find where I put my spare cell phone. I used it yesterday!

Water temp 20.6°C and 25°C inside
Total distance covered: 333km
Hours paddling: 13
Position:
S 32°41’13”
E015°30’25”
No of smiles changed: 8

dehydrated food

Day 2: Blowing Chunks

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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…

I’ve had a few minor challenges. Ran the water maker today but after only a few litres it started sucking in air bubbles. Made 4L in 2 hours but will need to make 12L from tomorrow.

I spent some time sealing off a loose fitting. Unfortunately, with my head below my legs on this bucking bronco I ended up blowing chunks for the first time this century! On a positive note, I think the water maker is back in action.

So far all I have managed to put inside me is a handful of nuts, a pork sausage, water and a cup of coffee. After emptying my stomach, I felt a lot better and about an hour later I had my first real meal, a chicken curry. So far so good and it was delicious.

I have an autopilot that I connect when I need to take a rest inside. It is connected to the rudder via a push pull cable. On the test run a few weeks ago the unit I used started to make a terrible noise. I took it to the agents, and they replaced a drive belt.

I have two units and last night I decided to use the new one. After a short time, it too started making the same noise! I switched to the old one and thankfully it seems to be OK.

Had my first wash. More like a sponge rub. Glad to have done it and feel a bit better. The feet however were not appealing after two days in “Waterproof socks” and booties. Nasty!

Still lots of shipping and AIS alarms going off. I wonder if they can actually see me from their ship’s bridges.

Sea Life: First sighting of flying fish and had a few Sunfish flop by. Black Browed Mollymawks cruising the swells and giving this curious craft a fly by and several Southern Giant Petrels and Portuguese men of war swimming alongside.

Total miles covered: 132nm or 244km
Hours paddling: 14hrs
Position:
S 33°00’59”
E016°10’32”

Helping to change lives, one smile at a time. I am raising funds for Operation Smile SA, for every R5500 a child receives a life changing operation and a new smile.
No of new smiles: 6
😀😀😀😀😀😀
DONATE HERE

Ocean X: Departure and day 1

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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 and a side on wind. Sea gradually increased in size and the Southerly started to blow. Progress improved but started getting the occasional wave over the side.
As night fell sea and wind now SE increased.
Mostly good currents helping my progress.
Planned not to have a big paddle day on day 1 but that never worked out having done 141km on in first 24 hours.
Did lots of night time paddling to easy the sea sick feeling being down below.
Quite a busy night for traffic. AIS alarm going off every other hour.
Osiyesa goes so well through the water and her speeds is amazing.
This morning I am shattered. Every muscle aches from the constant rolling.
The swell got quite big and the peaks where crumbling all around. The wave would crumble 3 or 4 times before losing its energy. At night it sounds like a freight train rushing towards you. At least the moon was bright but that also meant you could see them coming and there is little one can do to avoid them.
Had a mini knock down during the night when one of these freight trains ran over me and Osiyeza.

Sea Life:
Lots of whales close to Cape Town. Seen plenty of seals, dolphins and have my own stowaway fish.
This morning there are more birds gliding along the swells. Will try to ID them later.
Position:
S 33°20’37.1″
E 017°02’31.9′

fersyndicate

Osiyeza gets a makeover

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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 culture and graffiti.

 fersyndicate

Check out this 18 second time-lapse video of the creative process.

Thank you Fersyndicate, LOVE IT!

Follow him on @fersyndicate

dehydrated food

Food for thought

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“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 without refrigeration and keeping it as light as possible. Freeze dried and dehydrated foods are some of the best methods to achieve this and I have started my own “test kitchen.”

May be an image of foodMay be an image of food

Check out this video of me rehydrating a test meal that I made a few weeks ago. Durban curry with chicken, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and a dash of MCT powdered oil. Delicious!

I will consume 80% of my calories in the form of healthy fats. I will consume mainly dehydrated freeze dried food with minimal carbohydrates.
As a fat adapted athlete I will get all my energy from healthy fats like Olive oil, nut butter and raw nuts and keeping my body in a state of Ketosis (fat burning). Carbsmart have been amazing in helping me eat healthy meals with low carbs to maintain my keto diet.
NUTS will be a big part of the fuel to get me to the other side.
ButtaNutt Spreads were so generous when they heard about my adventure they sent me a huge hamper of their goodies. From Nut milks to nut butter in jars and squeeze packs. We decided that the squeeze packs would generate a sticky mess over 3 month (no plastic over board) so I have opted to decant the 1kg glass jars into smaller lighter plastic containers. Oh boy this stuff is AMAZING! The energy bang for the weight is off the charts and with the different flavors I will never tire of it.
The one downside of a ketogenic diet on a three month ocean crossing is you can’t dehydrate or freeze dry fat so liquid is the best option.
To help maintain the 80% and use “fat” (ketones) as fuel I will consume about 5 tablespoons of oil each day.

That’s about 6L for the crossing.

May be an image of text that says 'Medium PURE MCT OIL UNFLAVOURED Triglycerídes (MCTs) (ketogenic) source eneray preferentially o delivenng protelns metabolis carbohydrato 2 Litre THERU BANTING SPAR THENTIC South African OLIVE OIL Carb smart. EXTRA VIRGIN COLD PRESSED Absolutely THE HEALTHOF ST2020 JUSTFR FOR Nut HIGHOMEGA MONOUNSATURATED SUNFLOWER OIL MACADAMIA OIL HIGH VITAMIN PALEOT BANTING Natural Extra Virain'
Keeping the correct hydration levels while I paddle hour after hour without cover from the elements will be essential. Revive Daily Electrolytes are Sugar-Free and Calorie-Free daily hydration formulas.
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How in the world will I keep my food fresh for 90 days on a small kayak in the middle of the ocean without refrigeration?
More to be revealed soon.