This is the latest tale of travelling adventure, for previous logs visit the archives. If you are new to Bad Latitude and wish to get a better idea of the whole adventure then it is best to start at the very beginning. The logs are updated when we get the chance, due to the erratic nature of sailing it is difficult to know exactly when we will be able to update the site, so for this reason we have the update alerter which will inform of any update via e-mail.

Issue 3 - 23/04/01 Durban, South Africa

We were met by Mabel Sellars at Durban airport, the sailing academy had recommended her superb Bed and Breakfast Palm Cottage. Mabel was an excellent hostess who found the time to give us a personal tour of Durban before our sailing started....

The day of the sail training came around and I have to say I was quite nervous, not so much for the sailing but the whole idea of our travels are based around sailing so the big question was would we like it? What if we hated it!? We spent the morning getting acquainted with the other members of the course; Marco, Mike, and Simon (See the crew page) - and learning the basics of sailing. We were temporary members for the duration of our course of the Royal Natal Yacht Club (beef curry for about a quid fifty, beer around a pound - what more could a man want!) and after lunch there we set out for our first sailing session.

After motor sailing out of the port we put the foresail up and cut the engine.....straight into a 2 metre swell. (See the video archive for an idea of the conditions). There's a sand bar right outside the mouth of the harbour entrance which really jacks up the waves, this was the first real test of everyone's stomach! Mike was the first to go, and made a spectacular offering to Neptune over the windward side of the boat - not the thing to do as you tend to get covered in your lunch. Tracy was next to go, she managed to avoid getting too close to her lunch though. The rest of us sat trying to hold the queasiness down for two hours. I just about managed, and was relieved that I wasn't sick, and elated that I knew we had made the right decision to sail.

The course went on and we all became more proficient around the yacht Sea Mole , no-one was ever physically sea sick again after the first day, though a few of the lads had a problem going down below to do chart work...

We had some great days anchoring and swimming off the boat, sailing along the coast and learning all the time something new. Unfortunately all good things come to an end, we did our final day Skipper exam and it was time to move on.

For Tracy and myself we scored a lift from Simon to our dilapidated hotel 'The Parade' on Durban's main beach front - to be fair it was being renovated and had clean sheets so that's the main thing -but the first impressions weren't too hot. One thing it did have though was great views of Dairy Beach, I managed to get some excellent footage of the best swell that I saw while we were there. If you're interested in surfing I have a right up about my (limited) surf experience of Durban on the sport page.

The whole experience of Durban was a great one, and I recommend anyone to go there. The one downside of the place is the crime, you can take a wrong turn down the wrong street and easily find yourself feeling very uneasy. It was for this reason I didn't flash my camera equipment around too much as I didn't want to become a target, its a shame really as the place could be so smart.

Since our return to the UK we have contacted Pete in Oz just to confirm the dates for our Australian adventure. The date we agreed on is July 30th, so until then.......

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