Blog

We just had word from yacht Entheos who left yesterday for another marina where she is supposed to be lifted out of the water for some engine/sail drive repairs - and then it will take another week to have the repairs done. Despite promises and arrangements that she will be lifted out of the water upon arrival, Entheos will now only be taken out of the water some time Wednesday or Thursday next week. The problem is that there is another yacht already loaded onto the cradle which must go back into the water. This can't be done as the boat propellers has not arrived in Brazil and this  must first be fitted before the yacht can go into the water. As of now, they expect the propellers to arrive some time next week and then only will the cradle be available to take Entheos out of the water.

So, another week of frustrating delay before we can really start looking at departing Salvador. We have now been in Salvador for about 2 months already and many other yachts have arrived and departed again whilst we are stuck here. Jeez, despite being in Brazil for 2 months already, we have only seen Salvador and some surrounding areas! At this rate, we need a couple of years to see more of Brazil. But this is not an option as we only have a three month visa to stay in Brazil and is only valid for another month - so we will have to apply for an visa extension.

It seems Salvador is clinging onto to us and is reluctant to let us leave!

Instead of making progress, we seem to regress in some respects. Sailing around the past couple of days, I smelled burnt plastic when we used the Lewmar electric winch to hoist sails. We opened the winch enclosure this morning and found a 8 mm thick electrical cable badly burned due to some short or arching - a couple of days before Christmas with most companies already closed. This is a major problem as it would be very difficult to hoist the heavy sails manually. It was a crazy rush to find somebody capable of fixing this problem and as yet, I have no idea whether this can be done before we depart.

The second setback was when the scuba compressor people arrived to start the system. The sophisticated Bauer compressor huffed and puffed, did everything it should not do. "It need to come out and go back to the workshop - I don't know if we have spares." This is a major setback for us as we are avid scuba divers and without a compressor - no diving for quite some time. Then there is the added problem of possibly having it fixed in Brazil where there is a considerable language barrier.

The third problem was when the desalinator (water maker or reverse osmosis) people arrived to show us how to pickle the system. Recently repaired, why in heavens name are some high pressure pipe leaking? "I don't know if we have spare high pressure pipes in stock! But I will make a plan!" These problems at the 11th hour is of serious concern - especially with all the suppliers now closed for the holidays.

But we also had some success but only after several struggles. We finally managed to get the International yacht insurance sorted out, signed the papers and paid the money. With this policy in hand and several other documents, we were able to complete and submit a NEP form at our bank. The NEP form is to seek the Reserve Banks approval for the yacht to be taken out of South African waters subject to certain conditions - we will not sell the yacht whilst outside South Africa, we will return within 2 years from date of departure and a couple of others.

Yesterday and today was spend attending to last minute details - some successfully whilst a couple not done.

We had to go the the bank and get a NEP form filled in and stamped. This is a declaration to the South African Reserve Bank about the value we will be taking out of the country (yacht value, personal effects value, etc.). But this opened another can of worms with more red tape and bureaucracy. So more driving up and down getting various bits and pieces together to obtain this document.

We felt that we need more rocket distress flares than the minimum specified for Category A as stipulated by SAMSA. Category A is a category of yachts allowed to go outside the South African territorial waters and cross oceans. We bought an additional 4 x 300 meter height red distress rocket flares.

We had our spiffy helm console cover altered at BCanvas and fetch it a couple of hours later. We also pick up our black canvas rope bags which was ready for collection the past month or so.

We popped in at the dive shop to buy the remainder of our dive kit - but again walked out empty handed. The BC I am interested in was still not available and again a barrage of very confusing sales talk about the best regulators caused us to abandon the process. Way to much double talk and confusion to make a good buying decision.

We also bought 100's of meters of rope (like thin ski rope) for trading with fishermen when the possibility lends itself.

Then we dropped in at IMTECH and gave them a mouthful about the incomplete AIS system and the navigation software which does not interface correctly with the chart plotter. Three days of work on this costing many thousands of Rands without any success is no joke!

Steve Searle came back with the reconditioned B&G autopilot system, climbed into the engine room and fitted everything.

The guys from High Pressure Systems came around to start up the Bauer dive compressor we have on board. A whole new pile of worms emerged from this causing further delays and more money to get it all sorted.

A computer expert came around to check out the "something wrong with the PC" PC. As suspected, no fault of any kind was found and the PC was given a clean bill of health. I'm now wondering what the AIS and SailMail experts will say next!?

Then a visit to Central Boating where we bought 2 x Lewmar 90 mm HTX Single Blocks for the spinnaker sail and a bunch of other stuff.

All in all, another R40,000 to R50,000 spent getting Revelations in state of readiness to start our world cruise. But with this, more things are sorted in our bucket list. Hopefully all this running around, endless red tape and frantic buying frenzy will all come to pass. Damn, it is so difficult and full of shit to get to leave. All these years, we have been dreaming about this part of our lives and genuinely thought it would be an exciting phase. But sad to say, for us there is very little excitement in most of this. Our experience has been heaps and heaps of damn hard work and endless frustrations. We meet people on a daily basis and they all expect us to be incredibly excited about all of this. Is this expectation simply because they do not know first hand what's involved or is the problem possibly us!? Don't know the answer to this - all I know is that we have been working our arses off to get to this point and encountered piles of shit mostly everywhere and causing endless frustrations for us. Hopefully all of this will fade into the background once we get going? What do you think?

Been spending fruitless time (days) to get the Icom 802 SSB radio, Pactor Modem Dragon 4 and Airmail v3.xx to work correctly. The experts came, installed the software and made sure everything was wired up correctly. Initially, we were able to send and receive a couple of emails and it was great seeing all of this working. Then, it stopped working in that the Airmail software no longer controlled (took charge) the SSB radio remotely. I initially thought I inadvertently changed a setting or something, so I called the expert. So the expert came back to have a look but after a couple of hours, could not get it to work. Something to do with the Comm ports available within the Airmail software.

"Do you have another PC or Laptop we could try?" he asks. So, out comes a laptop and the install process start all over again - this time, the laptop talks to the Pactor Modem via Bluetooth. Once again, everything works and we are able to send a couple of emails. With this victory, the experts claims that there is something wrong with the PC and that is why things were not working, "Ahh ... this is much better, this is a great laptop. It is definitely the PC - there is something not right!" he says. "Look, it is working perfectly on the laptop. I suggest that you do your emails from the laptop and not the PC".

So now we have two machines instead of one. The PC is connected to the yacht's navigation, GPS, AIS and satellite phone/email systems. To receive emails and GRIB weather files via the SSB radio, we must use the laptop. This is a pain in the arse and requires us to move files back and fro between these machines. "Yes,, but there is nothing we can do. there is 'something' wrong with the PC." This 'something' is ever elusive and not defined - it is just "something". But hey, at least it's working.

But now this great laptop also did it's nut! Once again, it is unable to remotely control the radio. Once again, there seems to be a Comm port probllem of some sort. So, seems like this "great laptop" is not so great after all! It's back to square one after many hours of battling with this shit. Once again, we are unable to send emails via SSB radio!

My guess is that the problem is elsewhere and not with the PC or the laptop. Seems like we need another expert!

The guys from Associated Rigging came around and did the mast modification. But the solution for the one thing, created another problem. The pad eye was installed too low and the result is that the sheet touches the deflector block. This is a huge problem and in time, the sheet will be chafed where it touches the deflector block. Why did the guy not measure and check first how it will all work out before drilling and pop riveting the pad eye? Then when discussing it, telling me it is not a problem.

We are frustrated to no end trying to get things done here in Cape Town! This place marches to a different drum beat than the one we know. Everything is slooooooowwwwwwwwww! So damn slow, "Ek kan in my broek kak!".

"He is not in his office, but please leave a massage and I will make sure he calls you back."
"Okay, my number is xxxxxxxxx - plase ask him to call me."
Two days later; "I left my number two days ago and he did not call back!"
"Yes, but he is not here. Give me your number again."
Another 2 days later; "I would like to see XYZ."
"He is not in. Do you have an appointment?"
"No, I left messages for him to call me but he has not done so. Neither does he respond to emails. So I drove here (40 Km) to see him."
"Well you actually need to make an appointment to see him."
"Can I then make an appoint to see him?"
"Yes, but you have to call him to make the appointment."

WTF? What wrong with this picture? Is this guy even alive? At this rate, you have a better chance of getting an appointment with your long time deceased great-great-grand father! So days and weeks go by trying to get things done, trying to see somebody. You get blocked and side stepped all the time. We have been in Cape Town now for almost a month and we have not had a single day to ourselves. We do not have a single day to waste and it is so frustrating dealing with the "slapgat" bureaucracy, untold red tape and lethargic pace of most officials, companies and people. Seldom can we drive to a place once only and get things done. Oh no, not in this place! It takes weeks, numerous calls and many repeat visits before you are sorted.

SAMSA - 5 phone calls, 4 visits spanning 2 weeks and they still cannot give us the single piece of paper we require.
Dive Shop - 2 quotes, money paid, 3 phone calls, 4 visits spanning 3 weeks and still unable to get the scuba gear we ordered and paid for.
Mast modification - 8 months to find a simple solution, numerous phones calls and emails - still no date when the job will be done.
Bank- it took almost a month, numerous visits, several unhelpful staff, many frustrating delays - to finally open a simple bank account.

Like I said to Sue yesterday, the past month has been nothing but total cruciating frustration. God forbid if this is what sailing around the world is all about! The quicker I get to leave Cape Town, the better for me - this place is most certainly NOT for me.

You will never see anything quite like the "Fucked Up Half Dead" drivers you will encounter in Cape Town. They are fast asleep behind the wheel, texting and chatting away on their cell phones, drive like lethargic half deads, disobey road rules, refuse to move out of the fast lane for cars driving faster than themselves, drive 40 kilometers per hour in a 120 kilometer zone, totally self consumed and oblivious to anything going on around them and a host of other shit. Plain and simple - they are fucked up! There are no other or better words to describe these "half deads" with an IQ less than an ant. You will find them all over the Cape Town area and this must surely be the source and original place of creation for this parculiar sub human species. Outside of their cars, these things look and behave like ordinary people going about their business. But the true nature of this specie, the "Fucked Up Half Deads" are revealed when they get into their cars. Then there is no question anymore about who and what they are - no more camouflage and hiding amongst us ordinary folk.

So straight ahead of me, was a car approaching us at about 40 kilometers per hour. Coming from the opposite direction, I was in my lane and also travelling at about 40 kilometer per hour - everything seemed quite normal. Now only about 20 meters apart, the "Fucked Up Half Dead" specie revealed himself. Fiddling with his cell phone and not looking were he was driving, he completely ventures over into my lane - driving on the wrong side of the road. At the last split second, the last remaining IQ in his brain wakes him up and he starts to swerves - but all too late!

So here is my car, in broad daylight, clear skies, dry road with no obstructions smashed in by this damn "Half Dead". "What's wrong with you?" I asked. He proves his half dead status by saying; "I don't know what happened!" What??? You don't even know that you were fiddling with your phone and not looking where you were driving??? Damn moron!

For more than 26 years, at the best of times driving at high speeds - sometimes in access of 300 kilometer per hour, I have never had an accident. Here I find myself in the mother city of the "Fucked Up Half Dead's" and this thing smashes into my car whilst driving at 40 kilometers per hour on the wrong side of the road. You have been warned! Make sure that you are on the lookout for this sub standard specie - the "Fucked Up Half Dead's" of Cape Town. Brent Gray, a real human, came to our rescue - thank you!

It is so damn frustrating dealing with people who feel shit for you, your stuff or your money!

Sue wanted her own little tool box. So she carefully selected the very essence of what she thought was require, carefully inspecting each tool, assessing it's function and deliberating whether a particular tool should be in her toolbox. So, over time she built up this small and compact toolbox of handy yet crucial tools - carefully packed and arranged. Yesterday, I required a Alan Key and Sue goes to her toolbox - only to find that some tools are missing, other tools have been used and now filthy, stuffed back into the toolbox. All this whilst everybody was told in no uncertain terms to leave Sue's toolbox alone. Jacque Basson and your helper Jonathan, thank you for this!

So, I'm at the nav station doing routine checks - starting the engines, switching on the navigation equipment, the chart plotter and the AIS system. I see some local boats reflected on the AIS and wonder whether they can see Revelations on their AIS system. So I call a couple of yachts on the VHF but get no response. So I walk to a fishing trawler close by and ask the captain to have a look for Revelations. No, he replies, nothing. The same story with another boat. So whilst we can see other boats on our AIS system, they can't see Revelations. Thank you Des Holtman, DH Auto Marine Electrical, Cape Town for adding this to your LONG LIST of fuck ups! You must certainly rank as the most useless marine electrician out there. Sitting on your fat arse all day whilst your "cheap" (read incompetent) labour does the work for you is certainly not good business savvy!

Then, there is the fuel polishing system which has now taking more than 5 months to complete. The first attempt was a cock up of note. Diesel spilling everywhere, no fuel return lines from the engines - a real disaster caught in the nick of time. So, it was all redone costing thousands of Rands in material and labour. Now I found out that it is nothing else but a fuel transfer system with a couple of filters in between. This was exactly what we had prior to starting this so-called "fuel polishing system"! Thank you Jacque for not looking at the schematics/drawings, doing your own things and then building this system over the past 5 months which is nothing more than a fuel transfer pump between two tanks.

We recently installed 2 x 90 Liter Indel Inox freezer in the port hull. "Is the job done?" I asked calling from Johannesburg. "Yes" replies Jacque. "Are the freezers working?" me again. "Yes, they started getting cold after a couple of minutes. They are working although I did not run them for too long" Jacque replies. Anxious to demonstrate the new freezers to Sue, yesterday I switch them on. A couple hours later I go and check the temperature. Not only is it not cold, it is luke warm! Seems like a another botched up job! We work - but we do not check to see whether things actually works! Just not caring enough!

Look, I'm an old hacker of sorts and have forever been playing around with code. Self taught and thus not very articulate how I do things, but I mostly get the job done. For years now, I have been playing around with decryption and reverse processing. Yeah, you noble souls out there will no doubt lecture me and cast me to the devil himself. Well, fortunately for me, I don't believe in the devil and if he exists, he is certainly one big arsehole of note.

Anyways, over the years this has saved me a ton of money in forever buying new and updated software. I would simply download the trial version of software and hack away until I find a work around. So when I met Gary again, my brother in-law on Revelations recently, we started talking about him making videos of his diving. He is a diver and spear fisherman of note! Not only has he been doing this for years and years, he is damn good at it. He recently acquire a GoPro HD video camera and started taking footage when he goes diving. So, he was asking about which video editing software to use, how to do it, video editing techniques and a bunch of other stuff. But I'm 'mos' the right person he should speak to and I can help him right in many regards. "No sweat!" I say, "I've got this professional video editing software which I recently hacked. Let me show you quickly!"

It took me in the region of 2 hours to get everything to work on my PC. I had to install and uninstall the software repeatedly before I finally got past the usual registration processes. Gary looked at all of this with growing skepticism and wondered aloud how the hell was he was to duplicated everything I was doing. "No problem" I say, "I now know what's going on. I will write you a step by step instruction on exactly what to do."

So, a week after all this, I start my step by step instructions. But ... for the life of me, I cannot get it right! After trying for some 3 days solid, I finally decided to give up and find him some other video editing software. Is it a matter of "the hacker got hacked" by his own system? I guess it is.

Well, it is another day later and guess what?

GoDaddy.com hosting company has still not responded to their support tickets!
This is pathetic! Shit, we get better service here in the darkness of Africa!

We have been using DreamHost for the past 6 years now to host a number of different websites I created. This very website was also hosted by DreamHost. But of late, there has been issues which is a nightmare for every website owner; the website was sllllooooowwwww (very slow), the website was down on a number of occasions, support is reliable but it takes hours before getting a response,  functions in the control panel is not "all together" in one central place, etc. This is not good for things to run smoothly and this did not change after a couple of complaints.

It was time to look for another hosting company! After looking around at various possible solutions, we decided to move this website to GoDaddy - another hosting company. Reading about various hosting solutions on their website, things looked fairly straight forward and easy. GoDaddy boldly state word class support and even claim "Award Winning Support 24/7" on their website. Impressively, they show a timing script on their website how long it will take for support to provide answers and solutions. Based on this and their claim of lighting fast servers, we decided to move our website domain and host our website with GoDaddy.

Here is our experience;

1. It was damn easy to order, checkout and pay for the domain transfer fee.
2. But unfortunately, that was the only good part as things started going wrong from there.
3. When ordering the domain transfer, we also ordered a hosting solution - but somehow this product disappeared at checkout.
4. I could not find the control panel - it took a whole day before support finally gave me an answer to a simple question.
5. Nothing in the GoDaddy control panel is easy to understand nor is it user friendly.
6. Their are multiple different user names and passwords to be typed in at various place and functions making it confusing.
7. No use clicking "Remember Password" as this does not work on the GoDaddy control panel.
8. You get logged out on a regular basis and have to continually re-enter usernames and passwords - confusing and frustrating!
9. Almost 2 days later, I still have no answers from the so-called "Award Wining Support Team" about simple issues!!!
10. You will have to write new support tickets asking them to respond to previous support tickets!
11. There is a tremendous lack of support documents one can read yourself to see how things should be done.
12. The only apparent solution to get answers is to contact support.
13. This is now day THREE and I still cannot get my website to work on the GoDaddy servers!!!
14. Despite correct settings, for THREE days I could not FTP any file to GoDaddy servers!!!
15. Forget about using their filemanager to upload files - they throttled the bandwidth and it takes forever!
16. If you loose connection with your 3G during an upload, when re-connected, you will have to upload the entire file again.
17. Dealing with this big mouth but non responsive company has been nothing but TOTAL FRUSTRATION!!!!

With this hindsight, DreamHost is actually a 'dream' to work with compared to GoDaddy!