The Western Capes Marine Recources

Have you ever thought about why we spend money on marine protection vessels,well this group of cray fishing boats milling around the Hout Bay cray fish dock will give you some idea,they are all waiting to off laod the days catch.

Motor yacht,Amberes,a Banjer 37 pictured in Hout Bay

We do not see many yachts like this in South Africa, it would be nice to add a true motor sailer to our range of kits, we can source a designer I am sure.

This is a picture I found of the Banjer 37 builders yard.

LOA 36 ft 6 in 11,13 m

LWL 33 ft 6 in 10,21 m

Beam 11 ft 5 in 3,48 m

Draft 4 ft 7 in 1,40 m

Ballast 8.800 lb 4 Tm

Displacement 26.400 lb 12 Tm

Sail area (Gaff rig & small bermudan rig) 301 sq ft 28 m2

Sail area (Large bermudan rig, no bowsprit) 452 sq ft 42 m2

Sail area (Transoceanique version ) 807 sq ft 75 m2

Sail area (Trans. version A. Gérard Borg) 667 sq ft 62 m2

Sail area (Trans. version B. Gérad Borg) 1.000 sq ft 97 m2



I used to crew on Amberes each Easter TBA Regatta  for Rob, her owner,so I know the boat quite well. There was always a hot shower available when I was using another boat, this went on for about
four years while I was in between boats, thanks Rob!



Picture by R McBride using a Canon G11 set on auto.

This boat makes so much sense when the weather pipes up,the helm is fully protected, its faster under motor than sail and easily makes 8 knots with its 85 hp Volvo diesel.

Roy.

The Stadt Amsterdam underway

We had a SW breeze on sunday,so any chance of a tall ship sailing out of Hout Bay was lost,we would need a North for that,Stadt Amsterdam did set some sail however and once she was around the corner on her way back to Cape Town if the breeze came up strong enough she could sail there.

The last train to San Fernado

There are a number of references to the song but it seems one of the singers of the song about the last train to San Fernando,from Port of Spain,Trinidad,I assume ,was the original Cecil Anderson,I was told the credits to the words were never paid to him,he got paid for the original recording but never for the lyrics.

We had arrived on Ocean Cloud in Trinidad and decided to stay a while,we met some Trinidadians and were taken by car on some day trips,on one of them . I was surprised to know we were in San Fernando its self,when we were being driven around the Island by Diana on a tour of Trinidad,hand delivering invoices to every school on the island for company services rendered,it was the only sure way to know the invoice arrived,such was the state of the island postal service,it took us two days but we sure got to see all of Trinidad in the process!

DUKE OF IRON

REAL NAME: Cecil Anderson

DATE OF BIRTH: 1906

PLACE OF BIRTH: ..., Trinidad

EDUCATION: ...

CAREER: Anderson learned music from his father who was a musician; he went on to play the flute, clarinet, saxaphone, and quatro. He moved to New York, USA, in 1923 where he began playing professionally and, by the late-1930s, had become one of the best-known calypsonians in the USA. He was one of three calypsonians who operated from New York, in the 1940s; the others were Lord Invader and Macbeth the Great. He later formed a band and toured Europe before returning to the USA in 1956 at the height of Harry Belafonte's popularity singing calypso music. He appeared in the 1957 American movie "Calypso Joe" which starred actress Angie Dickinson. During the 1950s and 1960s, he performed regularly at numerous New York nightclubs, and appeared at Carnegie Hall and the Apollo Theatre. Anderson's calypsoes included:

Man Smart, Woman Smarter; Music Teacher; Man Centipede; Calypso Samba; Woman Police; Merengue Jenny; Big Bamboo; Last Train; Lost Watch; Creole Girl; Undercover Man; The Naughty Fly; Coldest Woman; Woman Love; Tie Up Me Dress; Wide Screen; I Left Her Behind for You; Postman; Parakeets; Druscilla; Walter Winchell; Calypso Invasion; Ugly Woman; Three Friends' Advice; Don't Stop the Carnival; Roosevelt in Trinidad; Fire Down There; Clear De Road; Zets Calypso; Gefeeltah Fish; Rice and Tanya; Song of Cecilia; Monkey See Monkey Do; Sally Waters; Samson & Delilah; Calypso War (with Lord Invader and Macbeth the Great); The GI and the Lady (with Lord Invader and Macbeth the Great); Edward III (with Lord Invader and Macbeth the Great); Happy Land of Canaan (with Lord Invader)

DIED: 1968

Were these  the original lyrics?

Mighty Dictator - Last Train To San Fernando




It's the last train to San Fernando

The last train to San Fernando

And if you miss this one

There'll never be another one

So let's bitty-bitty boom-boom

To San Fernando



Last night I met sweet Dorothy

Said, "Tomorrow I am joining in matrimony."

("Do it now, John!")

She said, "If you act right

You can take me out tonight

And we'll wine and dine but be back on time."



It's the last train to San Fernando

It's the last train to San Fernando

And if you miss this one

There'll never be another one

So let's bitty-bitty boom-boom

To San Fernando



Said, "I'm marrying right into society

Be careful of the place you are taking me

Because if you slip, I'll slide

And I'll never get to be a bride."

And we'll bitty-bitty boom-boom to San Fernando

("What is this?")



It's the last train to San Fernando

("Bitty-bitty-bitty!")

Last train to San Fernando

And if you miss this one

There'll never be another one

So let's bitty-bitty boom-boom

To San Fernando



("Sing it, Keely!")

Diplomatically, I asked Dorothy to dance

("How else?")

There was nothing on my mind but romance

I said to myself, "Oooh boy

Better beat this iron while it's hot."

And we'll bitty-bitty boom-boom to San Fernando



It's the last train to San Fernando

("Hush-a-baby!")

Last train to San Fernando

And if you miss this one

There'll never be another one

So let's bitty-bitty boom-boom

To San Fernando



It's the last train to San Fernando

The last train to San Fernando

(quiet)



Let's bitty-bitty boom-boom to San Fernando!

(loud)

______________

The lyrics as changed by Johnny Duncan and recorded in 1957,Lonnie Donegan sang the song too.


Last train to San Fernando, last train to San Fernando


If you miss the one, you'll never get another one

Bee-dee-dee-dee-bom-bom to San Fernando.



Last night I met my sweet Dorothy

She said, tomorrow I join in sweet matrimony

But if you act all right

Oh, you can take me out tonight

We can wine and dine and get back in time

For the last train to San Fernando.



Last train to San Fernando, last train to San Fernando

If you miss the one, you'll never get another one

Bee-dee-dee-dee-bom-bom to San Fernando.



Well, I married into high society

Be carefull of the places you're a-takin' me

'Casue if you slip, I'll slide and I may never be your bride

Bee-dee-dee-dee-bom-bom to San Fernando.

Last train to San Fernando, last train to San Fernando

If you miss the one, you'll never get another one

Bee-dee-dee-dee-bom-bom to San Fernando.

Last train (to San Fernando)

Last train (to San Fernando)

Last train (to San Fernando)

Last train (to San Fernando...)

From a distance,the ship Stadt Amsterdam

We are fortunate to live in a village that has such a lovely bay and attracts visitors,yachts and from time to time the odd tall ship,yesterday it was the Stadt Amsterdam,all 252 feet of her,she was hosted by the Hout Bay Yacht Club and was a fine site for us all.

All pictures taken using a Canon G11 on an auto setting but using three ranges,taken by Roy McBride.

The clipper ship,Stad Amsterdam in Hout Bay

More on this later but here is a picture to start with.

Jessica Watson is heading for Tasmania

My original interest came about due to Vesper Marines Watchmate AIS being installed on Jessicas yacht,as CKD Boats are the South African agents for Vesper Marine,that was over six months and 22,000 miles back,since then I have tracked this sixteen year old girl as she has worked her way around the world,starting at Sydney with the one and only stop being Sydney.http://www.vespermarine.com/buy.html  go to their web site and view the operating video on line.

As a father of two grown up girls myself,I can only sit in wonder at this girls acheivement,to dream of doing such a trip is one thing,to even make the start line is ,quite something in my mind but to do all the miles  she has with no stops and now be back in home waters is a fantastic acheivement,it would be a great thing to be there on the dock to welcome her home,if your in Sydney,why not get there yourself.

Roy

The galley after the knockdown. See if you can pick the things that shouldn't be there? To name just a few, there's the white floor board from under the nav table, the pencil sharpener pierced on the stove, the USB cord that was plugged into the Toughbook and see that bit of white string in the top right? I didn't drape it around the switch box like that.

Yesterday as the wind and sea was rising, with the mainsail lashed to the boom and the orange storm jib flying in the background

Saturday, April 24, 2010


Despite the fact that today started with a knockdown, a wet bunk, a headache and some pretty huge seas, I've had a great day. I know the words knockdown and great don't belong in the same sentence, but right now I'm feeling better than I have all week. And I don't mean that I've been feeling lousy all week, I mean that right now I've got sore cheeks from smiling all afternoon.

The wind started coming up yesterday and sat on about 35 knots all night with maybe the odd gust reaching close to 40, which isn't really a big deal with Ella’s Pink Lady sailing under just the storm jib, because I was being extra conservative (i.e. my nerves weren't really feeling up to any fast surfing!).

It was the swell that got interesting. The big seas were from a nasty low pressure system passing to the south and although we missed most of its wind, we sure copped some big seas. Probably the biggest I've seen so far (the sea during that storm in the Atlantic was nastier though because it was steeper and more closely spaced.) These swells were 10 metre liquid mountains, rolling past with tumbling white tops. Ella's Pink Lady was handling it all beautifully though and when we were knocked down just after it got light this morning, I'd actually started relaxing because the wind and sea had already started easing.

I was in my bunk asleep this time when we went over and was woken up when various objects (see Pic 2 below) and a whole lot of water landed on top of me. Seriously whatever happed to gently shaking someone awake and handing them a cup of coffee?

Anyway it wasn't too bad as far as knockdowns go. I'd say the mast only just touched the water and there wasn't any damage. But having a whole lot of bilge water in my bunk didn't have me thrilled. Annoyingly, I'd only just turned the outside cameras off half an hour before. If the cameras had been on just a little longer, you could well have been watching this instead of reading about it - how annoying!

After Ella's Pink Lady picked herself back up I figured there wasn't anything I could do till things calmed down a bit more, so I put my wet weather gear on, pulled up the hood and climbed back into my soaking bunk. It doesn't compare to comfy PJ's (pyjamas) and a soft double bed with fresh sheets, but I couldn't have slept better!

When I got up again, the sun was shining and the sea had dropped off some more but was still spectacular. Totally amazing to watch from under the dodger, which was what I was doing when the wind generator suddenly started roaring like crazy. I quickly climbed out into the cockpit to see that the roaring wasn't coming from the wind genny, but a plane just over head!

It was the Australian customs sent to investigate the suspicious looking pink boat. Nah, just kidding. They were on a routine flight and dropped by to say hi and to remind me to check into with the appropriate authorities when I reach Sydney, which seems kinda strange, seeing as I haven't stopped anywhere. But I suppose it’s regulation and my shore team has all that under control.

After that, with some more sail up as the wind kept dropping, I had a really fun afternoon hand steering in the sunshine, surfing along and taking in the amazing sea. The rest of the week isn't going to be any easier with another front and low pressure system expected, but unlike a few days ago, I'm not dreading it anymore. Just looking forward to getting down under Tasmania and doing some fast sailing.

It’s Anzac day tomorrow so I'll make a special effort to watch the sunrise, take a minute to think about all our soldiers away from home and maybe I'll have a crack at making some Anzac cookies.



Jesse