Day 13, Year 6 Strong Winds from the Southwest
Date: Saturday, November 6, 2010
Weather: Overcast, Winds SW 25-35
Location: Tuzi Gazi Marina, Richards Bay, South Africa
It seems it is windy here all the time, but when the winds blow from the southwest, they really blow. Today there were times when the gusts were so strong that I had to hold on to the rigging while hanging clothes out to dry. I spent my morning doing laundry and hanging it ‘temporary” to drip dry in the wind before bringing it back into the cockpit to finish drying. I was afraid that everything would blow away if I left it outside too long. While I was doing this, Mark and Ed drove over the chandlery at the Zululand Yacht Club to buy a few needed items. Mark needed a piece of hose for the discharge side of the new toilet he installed in the aft head yesterday. The piece that was there was just a bit too short.
And speaking of heads, we got a couple of responses to my comment that I have no idea why bathrooms on a boat are called heads. Our son-in-law Jed wrote: “I think it’s called the head because they used to be in the ‘head’ of the ship (at the bow). There were a variety of reasons that they were located there: smells (square-riggers usually sailed more-or-less downwind) and cleaning (continuous ‘rinsing’ of the bow) being the most
convincing to me.” Our friends Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg in Concord, NH wrote: “According to the Sailor’s Illustrated Dictionary: head n. (1) The toilet on a vessel. Today the term is often used to mean the space in which the toilet, basin and other conveniences are found. The use of this definition comes from the days when the crew relieved themselves standing on a wooden grating near the water’s edge at the bow or head of the ship. To go to the head was quite literally to go to the head of the ship.” So these responses prompted me to search further. Wikipedia says: “The term derives from sailing ships in which the toilet area for the regular sailors was placed at the head or bow of the ship. In sailing ships this position was sensible for two reasons. First, since most vessels of the era could not sail directly into the wind, the winds came mostly across the rear of the ship placing the head essentially downwind. Secondly, if placed somewhat above the water line, vents or slots cut near the floor level would allow normal wave action to wash out the facility.” So thank you Jed and Alan for your responses. I’m just thankful that things have progressed so that I don’t have to go to the head of the boat to relieve myself. I much prefer my modern facilities below decks.
We spent our afternoon going into Richards Bay to the Boardwalk Mall to do a little provisioning. I bought all of the raisins that I will need to make granola for the next eight months, as well as all of the sunflower seeds, mayonnaise, and rice. I stopped at one store to order five cases of canned tuna and another store to order twenty-four kilo of rolled oats. We also inquired about getting new print cartridges for our Hewlett-Packard printer, but we are told that we will not find the cartridges we need in South Africa. The recommendation was to buy a new printer. So we will have to continue to research this one. Surely there must be a way to get the cartridges we need. I was also ale to pick up my new glasses.
This evening we went to dinner with Peter and Carla of Odulphus. Mark had pork and I had beef filet. Both of us felt we had never had such good and tender meat. The event of the evening was the rugby match on TV between Ireland and South Africa. We didn’t stay through to the end so we will be checking for the results tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning, weather permitting, we are hoping to drive out to the Enseleni Nature Reserve that is not far out of Richards Bay. Here we should see zebra, hippopotamus, and impala as well as a number of other species. So we’ll report in about our findings tomorrow night.
