Departing Earlier and Passage to Cape Town

Pachuca in the Angra Region

First Leg, to Tristan da Cunha

Second Leg, to Cape Town

C-Map Chart of Tristan da Cunha

Anchorage Just off the Coast

The weather has been pretty bleak for the last few days, though warm, and my boat preparations are almost completed.  Given that, I will try to leave Bracui one day earlier than planned, on Thursday 29 November.  This will allow me an extra day for dealing with any unexpected obstacle and besides, I could use the extra time in my quest to reach Australia as early in April 2013 as possible.

Here are some screen shots from OpenCPN running on the navigation laptop computer.

There is a chart of the Angra region.  The large island in the middle is Ilha Grande, with interesting anchorages all around it.  At the top and slightly to the left is a red boat symbol indicating the current position of Pachuca in the marina at Bracui.  The blue squares are waypoints that I have up at recommended anchorages.  (Note that there are many, many more anchorages than that.)

Another photo shows the first leg of the passage, to the island of Tristan da Cunha, 1890 miles away on a bearing of 116 degrees True.

Another shows the leg to Cape Town as 1475 miles long on a bearing of 082T.  The total distance of the passage is 3360 miles.  (Bear in mind that due to the vagaries of the wind I will actually cover about 20% more distance. )

Then there are two C-Map charts of Tristan da Cunha.  The settlement of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas is represented by that black circle on the NW side.  The anchorage area is shown on the close up chart.  The island is the top of a volcano, with the crater in the middle.

I will make contact on VHF 16 as I approach the island to obtain permission to visit and take advice on anchoring.  I will have to anchor offshore in open water and there will be issues of swell, general weather, and holding ground.  I am hoping that there may be a  mooring available for my use.