SAFETY INSPECTION:
The boat was inspected for its annual safety ceritficate: http://www.sasailing.co.za/downloads/services/2006SASSpecialRegulations.pdf. The boat carries the highest safety clearace as that of Catagory A. This means that the boat is cleared to sail anywhere in the world.
Ian and Dale Prepared the boat for this audit.

DOUBLE HANDED RACE:
On Sunday, the 19th November, Dale and Ian entered the Double handed club race, Cape Town to Hout Bay. They got off to a god start, starting with the 0.5oz which they held till off Sea Point where they changed to a Code Zero, which carried them to Clifton. The Genoa was used and then back to the Code Zero. A huge private hole at Sandy bay, then with rising breeze topping at about 35knts, with us with small genoa and a reef. At the sentinal another huge private hole, Code Zero up, till the finish. A quick lunch and back to Cape Town, we motored where there was no wind, in the blow we topped 13knots boat speed. Boat performed well. We would have done well if we could have avoided our "private" holes. Our position was:.... (Pic enclosed of a tern which landed on Dale's head and stayed there for about 5 minutes.)

MINI REFIT:
HocusPocus is undegoing a mini rfit. It will go in phases so as to allow sailing between. Currently the varnish work has been done in the interior. Trimming has been removed as well as the cupboards on the STB side. (lighten the boat). The bulkhead has been repainted. The sides of the interior will be faired in. Currently the boat looks like a work site. We have used various contactors with varied degrees of success. The job is mid sized, most contractors are not interested in that. The types we get are basically unreliable. This has caused huge delays. (Pic of the interior and of the boat resting at moorings)

UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCE:
HocusPocus was set up with shorthanded sailing in mind. To ensure this we needed to make the boat and its systems as reliable as possible, therefore the boat has the following differences to other Farr 38's to ensure this:

1. Hank on Foresails.
2. Batt car system.
3. Smaller genoas.
4. Double spreader rig (some of the newer rigs have this as standard)
5. Overspec stay dimensions.
6. Tac Tic instruments (wireless)
7. Minimal electrics.
8. Higher amperage alternator.
9. Not Kevlar sails. (Making hand stitching repairs easier)

There are lots of smaller items as well. The philosophy is to keep the boat simple.

Herewith a few nice pics in the collection..... These are aken on the delivery to Maputo, at Inhacca and Maputo, as ell as at Clube Navall the start of the race and back in Durban.

AFTER VASCO:
The boat was shipped back to Cape Town. During this voyage the ship was hit by an almighty storm. Fortunately everything was fine. The good people of MACS shipping made sure that the boat was unharmed. The next event planned was to race from Houth Bay to Simons Town(around Cape Point). The boat was sailed to Hout Bay by Ian, Dennis and some guests. On the morning of the race Dale was not feeling well and the rest of the crew did not want to sail it without him so they sailed the boat back to Cape Town instead. The plan in Cape Town was to put effort into making the interior look smart. We had not fucussed on this as the boat was going to sail twice across the atlantic, which puts a lot of wear and tear on the interior of a boat. This behind us meant that it was time to neaten up a little. The intended date of completion is hopefully to coincide with the Double Handed Race: Cape Town to Hout Bay which will be sailed with Dale and Ian aboard. After this we will start to sail club events etc...

VASCO RACE (Maputo to Durban)
Kobus left to return to JHB and Thomas Swana joined the boat in Maputo. We started the race at midday or just after as there was no wind at the start(The start is always planned to coincide with the tide). We beat out of the bay following the shipping channel or thereabout as there are shallows and the area can be very tidal. Once out of the bay we sailed for CABO Inhacca which we reached at sunset. The angle started to fee so we could use the spinnaker. Throughout the night the wind and sea increased, by sunrise we had very big seas and winds of approx 35knots. We managed to keep up a big kite and full main at this time. During the morning our highest speed obtained was 21.2knots. After this we decided as the angle had hotted we needed to drop the kite. We damaged the kite in this process. We then skiped along at a very good speed and we were starting to forecast ETA's foe well before sunset. Alas, this was not to be. The wind started to die. Then eventually it came from the SW, increasing at times. The sun set and we were no where near Durban. We had to put in a reef, shortly after this we had to remove it again. We blew two batt cars in the process. We sailed for the shoreline hoping to pick up an early morning breeze. It became very light which allowed us to test our new Code Zero. This sail worked like a wind seeker. Eventually the wind increased allowing us to drop this sail, we then sailed for Durban which we reacked mid morning. It was a great sail with great people. Unfortunately due to the wind shutting off the big boat were able to capitalise on this on IRC. Oh well maybe another time. GREAT SAILING THOUGH..... (Unfortuantely pics were not tasken suring the race, pic enclosed os of the boat just aftetr the start)

Delivery: Durban (SA) to Maputo (Mozambique)
Ian and Dale flew up to Durban late afternoon, they were met by Rael at the airport who took them to the local yacht club. The boat was checked over, the crew were given the safety briefing. The crew for the delivery were: Dale Kushner, Ian Coward, Rael Kassel, Kobus Pienaar, Assaf Yechiel, Moshe Liebowitz. Everyone then went off together for dinner. After this the paperwork was completed with the final stamping of the passports. The boat departed at midnight. On departing the sea was very lumpy, within 20 minutes we were in windless conditions so we had to motor. Fortunately we forecasted this, so we ensured that we had sufficient Diesel aboard. We motored to about St Lucia(Approx 18 Hours) we were then able to sail the next 12 or so hours, after this it was back to the motor. We arrived at Cabo Inhacca at about 6am, approx 54 hours. It must be noted on this type of trip one has to contend with the strong Mozambique current. We were fortuante to have had an easy trip. As our intention on this trip was to go to Inhacca island for one night first we had to navigate past Portugese Island and find the anchorage at Inhacca. There are narrow channels that you need to keep to. They are unmarked. Once at the anchorage we dropped the anchor. There are very strong currents in this area with the result that the boat faces into the current and not the wind, therefore one needs to ensure that your anchor is set properly. Some of the crew spent time swimming around the boat etc.. We were able to attract the attention of one of the local fisherman to give us a lift ashore. All you do is aggree on an amount etc... basicaly they are happy to be at your disposal thereafter and will wait for you. We explored the small town and had a "long" lunch at a local restaurant called "Lucas". They serve all the local dishes. After this we returned to the boat fior the evening. That night we had stronger winds at anchor, but the boat held well. The next morning we motored to Maputo. This year we were not able to use the harbour so we had to anchor off Clubbe Naval. The crew spent time getting to know Maputo. Maputo is a very interesting place, well worth a visit.

Boat returns:
Once the boat returned we needed to go through the boat again. She had just competed 2 Atlantic crossings in the first 3 moths of the year. We went through the boat again fixing all the niggly items. As she heared completion Rael Kassel of SA Mortgage Brokers approached us to do the Vasco race. He offered to provide sponsorship for this event. SA Mortgage Brokers is a company that specializes in providing home load finiance, they also provide the full legal support to this, including the legal advice, contract reviews, bond registration and even property transfers making them a one stop shop.(www.samortgagebrokers.co.za) The boat was shipped to Durban. Rael went to Durban ahead of the crew to orginize to Wittel the boat. The boat arrived with no problems. It was shipped by MACs shipping who gave us a really good rate. (www.macs.co.za) They ship the boat on a normal cradle with the rig up. This time around we even left the boom conver on, so the boat was fully ready to go. Sandy and Dave of SAS KZN (the orginizers) arranged for the boat to be off loaded and put onto a marina. In fact it was Brandon Smith who actually did it in the end.

SALVADOR TO CAPE TOWN:
Chris du Toit was the delivery skipper. We chose him as we felt that he had a good technical and sailing background having done extensive sailing. He is also conservative as a sailor which is good for the boat. He has a crew of three when leaving Salvador. They sailed onto Rio where they lost one crew member. The prepared the boat for their Atlantic crossing. They had a very tough crossing with a few gales which slowed them down, they encoutered a few technical issues en route. They were fortuante to get a weather window which allowed them to stop at Tristan du Cuhna, they spent two nights there. They then sailed onto Cape Town. They had a long tough voyage. Chris did a good job in bringing the boat. Some other boats at this time did not fair as well.

South Atlantic Summary:

WE CAME THIRD IN OUR CLASS

• The Farr 38 was a great boat for this event.
• The only damages we sustained were: The binnacle and an electrical problem with the Galley light and minor chafe on the spreader points on the main.. Other then this everything went perfectly.
• A crew of three was ideal. Shifts were well balanced and it help control boredom.
• We had more then enough food and water.
• Crew choice is important: We had the right crew. We were probably the happiest crew together after this event.
• Good boat preparation pays off.(did for us)
• More books to read would be good.

1. Will we be back??? Hopefully yes. The main concern is getting the boat back and the related costs, so we will have to see.
2. Would we sail together as a team??? Without doubt.
3. Would we do it on a Farr 38 again??? Without doubt. Reliable and a pleasure to sail.

SAILING IS FUN

SOUTH ATLANTIC CONT...
We were able to maintain good SSB communication with Cape Town right to the last day, having conversations with wives and familiers etc.. We were approaching Brazil and Salvador fast. We tried to get hold of race control on the designated SSB frequency which they informed us if. There was no response. We knew we were clsing in fast, we were on a tight reacy maintaining 10-11 knots. Our intention was to go between the shoal and the shore. This was right off the point of Salvador making us come within 100m. We hoisted the Brazilian courtesy flag in preapration(It is marine custom to always fly the flag of the coutry you are visiting while in their waters) Soon after this we got visual. We tried Race Control on VHF. We managed to get through, we informed them of our ETA. We sailed upto the coast around the point, dropped the kite and fetched along at 6-7 knots for the last 2 miles. We tried again to let Race Control know of our position. We could not reach them. Other boats in the anchorage responded though. The sun set and we crossed the line in the dark taking our own time. We dropped our sails and made for the moorings. We arrived at our moorings with all the yachties present, we moored stern on. The voyage took us 22.5 days.

SOuth Atlantic Race cont.....
We made good daily averages. It was time to ficus on a position and daily averages of us and our competition. A navigation error would cost us time in this area. Fortunately everything went according to plan.

SOUTH ATLANTIC RACE cont...
We monitored the movements of the other competitors on SSB in order to help establish the effect of the High.. As we were not one of the faster boats in terms of IRC we used this info to help route us better. Unlike most other boats we entered the high but never stopped dead. Some boats came to a full stand still for many hours, we managed to keep moving through the high albeit at reduced speeds. Once through this section which totalled about 3 days we were back in the trade winds. The winds altered in strenth from time to time, mostly influneced by rain squalls. We seldom got wet by these squalls though. Everyone was in full routine, the sunrises and sensets were amazing, food was good. We actually had too much food and water aboard if you can beleive that. Spinnaker was kept up all the time. During the mid day section the priority was to keep out of direct sunlight. It was very hot at those times. Night time was hot as well with the air temprature not going below 28c and a water temprature of about the same.

Over the first few days and nights we had to keep a sharp watch for shipping as we were still in the shipping lanes. On the second night we had a ship running parrelel to us, slowly converging, we altered course radically in order to clear them over their stern. During that night we were hit by a rogue wave, which brought water in the cabin and bent the railings which held the liferings. Ian's lifeharness/life jacket also deployed. It was a policy on the boat to always wear a harness when up on deck at night. Our planned tactic was to sail parrelel to the African coastline towards Valdiva banks, slowly arcing for St Helena Island, taking it to Starboard bu about 100-15NM. The intention was to pick up their local radio station which can be heard from about 250NM out. We therefore were concernd when the fleet started to make westing so early. We were concenred that to break from the fleet might be unwise. We therefore decided to start making westing early knowing that we risked getting caught in the South Atlantic High Pressure System. Approx 4 days out the wind freed, the days became warmer, the water warmer and the sea flattened out. We were in the trades. The Spinnakers were easier to fly, the boat was dried out and life set into a routine. There were plenty of flying fish and eveidence of big game fish around. The ocean was extremely clean with its beutifull Mid atlantic clear colour.