Stars.

A pic from tonight, the Southern Cross (not sure how it will look on your screen, but looks OK on mine):


About 30 sec. exposure - the first time this constellation's appeared over the eastern horizon (which is why it's pointing up!) at a reasonable time. It will be with us for the next six months at least!

Oh, and I now have my (official) Skippers Ticket! Now legally allowed to drive a boat on the sea!

What weekends are for...

Having fun!






Oh, and if any family reads this today, it's the First Mate's birthday tomorrow!

Sunrise.

Taken from the front gate this morning (click on image for larger version).

Enjoy:

The joys of dog ownership...

The First Mate was wearing these yesterday, and this is what was left when we woke up this morning:

Minor observation #1...

...they are still playing the same music on the radio.

It's like a time warp; move back to South Africa, move back to the '80s!

Uuurgh!

Our home!

Thought I'd show what it looks like here.

View from the street, showing the front of the house:

A view from the stoep (that's "porch" or "veranda" in other parts of the world):

And the back garden:


Notice the nice boat! Taken it out twice now, and both times other skippers have commented on what a nice boat it is.. ;) - note, none have them have asked me to build one for them yet... :(

The boat goes faster that it should. Dunno why or how, but theoretical top speed on a 17" pitch prop at 5500 rpm is 53km/h. That's assuming no slippage (which always happens). So how come I'm doing 55km/h? Magic boat? Must be! Anyway, I'm more than happy with it!

As to the skipper's ticket, did my eye test (I can see) and medical (I'm not dead) so now only have to tally up my hours to get approved. After that, skipper for life - no re-tests, unless I want to extend my range. For now, I will be limited to one nautical mile offshore. I'm going to up-rate that to 5 miles (a bit of navigation theory needed, but not much).

Oh, and for those up north, only 34ºC here today. Starting to acclimatise: I put a coat on at 22º.

Skipper's a skipper now!

Called my examiner today, passed everything! Now all I need to do is get my medical and eye test done, and I will be a certified SKIPPER!!!

In the mean time though, we haven't been holding back with the boat usage - "Three Summers" got launched on the 29th of last month, and managed to achieve just a bit under 55km/h on the river. Not bad for a 17" foot boat with 'only' 60hp!

Me, happy? You bet!


Quite a nice river here, about 8km from home (slipway is 3 blocks from our house) to the lagoon which we unfortunately can't get to due to a sand bar, but much between here and there to keep our attention, mostly bird life (saw a fish eagle today!).

New Year's day was spent on something a bit bigger!


I tried fishing for the first time in about 25 years - caught nothing, which is just as well, as I wouldn't know what to do with it if I had!

Spent the day today again on "Three Summers", did about 40km up and down the river, trying to sort out trim and ideal throttle positions, and have settled on 35km/h@3500rpm as a perfect cruise speed - fast enough to be planing and making progress; slow enough for conversation on board. It seems we're getting about 5km per litre of petrol, which is better than the boat above, which uses about 3 litres per kilometre!!! I know which I'd rather feed!!!!

So, anyway, that's news for the beginning of 2009 - may it be a good one for everyone!

(Knackered and sunburned) SKIPPER!

Merry Christmas...

We're off to Cape Town tomorrow, meeting up with some boaty forumites at the Royal Cape Yacht Club for dinner, then Christmas Eve dinner at sister-in-law's place the next day!

In the mean time though, been quite busy here - have started working, sort of, fixing up old houses and their furnishings. Hopefully this will help pay to get some more boats built in future. Talking of boats, I should get my Skipper's test results back tomorrow - for some reason I don't think I did too well; I'm not very good at remembering parrot-fashion type questions. Oh well, we'll see.

Strange thing about that, to get your ticket, you have to have a certain amount of hours (50) on a power boat, but it's retrospective - so there's me thinking, oh dear, going to have to come up with something... but the more I think about when I've been on boats, the more (genuine) hours I can come up with! No problem. So far I have managed to account for over 100 hours, if I go back far enough and include driving Navy Zodiacs (and minesweepers, but I'm not sure if they count!?), so I think all's OK on that front.

We've also acquired a DOG! Meet Dusty:


He's kind of a mixture of everything; we got him from animal welfare, and is estimated to be three and a half months old. No guarantees though. He's bright, learns quickly, and grows even quicker. In the two weeks he's been around, he's gone from a tad under 5kg to a tad over 10kg!!! Wow! The pic above was taken the day we brought him home!

Well, I'll leave for now, and anyone reading have a great Christmas, and New year. Those of you who are going skiing (you know who) - I'm jealous. Very jealous. Still, sunshine and warm (hot) days are better than cold wet London.

Later,

(Still not sure if I am or not...) a Skipper.

Tomorrow I start living up to my username!

Skipper, that is.

Yup, I do my Skipper's course tomorrow - three hours in the classroom, then an exam on Thursday. After that I get a temporary Skipper's Ticket, which becomes permanent after a certain amount of hours at sea have been achieved. Not sure how many hours it is as it varies depending on who you talk to, so the easiest thing will be to find out from the instructor tomorrow.

After that, hopefully "Three Summers" (pictured below on the Thames) will get wet for the first time in Africa!


(Nearly a Skipper) Skip.

T'internet...

...is now connected to my 'puter...

Expect some older posts to be updated with photo's over the next few days, and perhaps a few new ones...

Oh, and it's HOT here. Haven't had a tan like this for fifteen years! Pity it's only on the arms, neck and face; I'm scared to expose my transparently white legs to the sun, mostly 'cos they will blind passers by with their whiter-than-whiteness.... (Oh, and I don't really fancy sunburn!).

(Sweating) Skip.