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°