Rope Splices and Stove Repair

Our dock lines were 25 years old and served us well. We will always remember buying them off the bargain table at the Fisheries Supply swap meet all those years ago, but it's time for new ones (Africa finally put paid to the old ones) so a trip to Southern Ropes was in order. Soon we had 100 feet of new 18mm twelve braid nylon (in dark blue) which only needed a few eye splices to be ready to go into service. I got out the fids and went to work.

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wingssail images-judy jensen
Got my tools

Burying the core

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Finished Splices


Stove rebuild

We have been avoiding working on the Force-10 but there were too many problems; we knew we could not head out across the Atlantic with a stove which barely worked, so finally we took it out of the galley and put it on the bench.

Major dissasembly followed.

Stove on The Work Bench

New Valve and Custom Clamp

We found a couple of new gas valves for the burner and the oven but the clamps for the gas rail was different, and for the new valves, were missing. So we made this one from brass stock and it worked perfectly.

wingssail images-judy jensen
Hard at work

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Finished Stove

These Force-10 stoves are unreliable and finicky, and the parts and service support is really poor, so we don't expect that this nicely refurbished unit will be trouble free for us, but right at the moment, it looks nice and everything works,

Simonstown and trip around Table Mountain

We drove south around the Cape Penninsula to Simonstown to see our friends Carol and Jim. Nice scenery. Next trip we will go to Cape of Good Hope.

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wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Simonstown

Windy Day

We're learning that summer in Cape Town and the surrounding False Bay area, including Simonstown, is windy. Days are often filled with gusting SE winds over 30 knots, often over 40, and it is not storms, just Cape Weather.

Simonstown

Clock and boats

The Boulders

Hout Bay

Hout Bay Marina

Hout Bay

Good Place for Fish and Chips

On the road home the late day's sun and the clouds over the Twelve Apostles provided stunning views.

Twelve Apostles

Clouds over Apostles

Mountains and Clouds

World of Birds

In Hout Bay, near Cape Town, we visited another bird park, World of Birds (also had monkeys and small mammals, which we didn't get a chance to photograph). In this park, even though they were caged instead of free flying, we liked seeing them and were able to get up close to many.

Amazing creatures; it makes us again feel awed at nature.

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wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Scarlet Ibis

Egret

Great Blue Heron

White Pea Hen

Hawk

Crowned Crane

Vulture

Vulture

Secretary Bird

Secretary Bird

Ibis

Stork

Stork

Stork

Stork with Orange Beak

Stork

Bright Colors

Owl

Owl

? Bird

Head of Green Bird

Scruffy Beak

Bird of Prey

Brown Pelican

Porcupine

Carol Meets a Porcupine

African Penguins

These last two guys were not in the park. We spotted them in the bush near Simonstown, a place called the boulders.

Anasazi Girl

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wingssail images-fredrick roswold

Anasazi Girl

In RCYC Cape Town

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wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Wings in Royal Cape Yacht Club, Cape Town

Seagulls

Seagulls

Fourteen years ago in Puerto Vallarta we met Jim Burwick. He had a different boat then, and now he has a family, but he was then and still is now a wild and crazy sailor. You can read Jim and Somira and Tormentia, and Riavo on thier web site/blog at www.anasaziracing.blogspot.com

Somira, Jim, Tormentina on Anasazi Girl

Tormentina & Raivo