Frustration in Cape Town

skwinty (Steve) · #1 15-03-2008, 09:04 AM

Hello All
Things looked so good today.
This evening finally got set up and polar aligned.Big break through.
Moon out !!!

Wind starts howling%%$^%&&

Telescope shaking.**&^%$

Head cracking stuff.!@#$#^^

Now midnight and only been observing visually and happy with alignment.
Packed camera away hours ago.
What a disappointment.
Better get used to the intransigence of the elements.
Good night Irene

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #2 15-03-2008, 09:08 AM

Skwinty - what side of the Cape are you on - the city (Table Bay) side or the west side down near Fish Hoek?

One of my favourite towns on earth.....

Dennis · #3 15-03-2008, 09:50 AM

Hey Steve

Don't knock visual observing! I'm inexorably being drawn into the unfettered life of eyeballing due to a (hopefully) temporary phase of techno overdose. The equipment set up, system calibration, tear down and post processing demands are getting a little tedious!

Oh for the simple life!

Cheers

Dennis

Ric · #4 15-03-2008, 12:00 PM

Hi Skwinty, I have found that you must appease the Astronomy gods first in order to have a good night

A couple of lamb chops on the barbie usually works a treat

Hope you get a better night tonight.

skwinty (Steve) · #5 15-03-2008, 05:15 PM

Hi Ric, Dennis and Omaroo,
am awake now and the wind is still pumping.

should perhaps take up sailing or kite flying.
Strange that you mention Fish Hoek.
I lived there for the first 18 years of my life.
I now live in Table View which is on the City bowl side of Cape Town.
As far as appeasing the astro gods with a lamb chop barbie, I had one and that doesnt work. This time I will sacrifice a few astrologers on the barbie and see if I get better results.

I do enjoy visual observing as thats all I did last night, but with all the pressure to get a photo taken, well nuff said. Heres hoping the wind dies down today.
Regards
Steve

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #6 15-03-2008, 05:29 PM

Excellent spot Steve. I stayed in Fish Hoek for a while while we were starting to do some business in CT. I was based in Australia but flew to South Africa every month for a week to our offices just outside of JoBurg in Midrand. You can have JoBurg, but I'll take CT any day. Love that place. I still remember watching two oceans meet around the point of the Cape - a great site.

Hey - you'd be putting some boerewors on the braai wouldn't you?

skwinty (Steve) · #7 15-03-2008, 05:57 PM

Hi Omaroo
fish Hoek is a nice quite place. As teenagers we use to say that if you put a roof over Fish Hoek you'd have an old age home. The town still has no liquor store and probably never will. Thats goes back many many years. The dude that sold fish hoek for developement, a Sir de Villiers graaf stipulated in the deed of sale that there must be no liquor store.
So we also used to say Fish Hoek is dry, make a leak in Kalk Bay where the nearest liquor store was.
Is your business still going this side.? If so , the next time you come we must meet up.
Cape Point is a lovely place and although everyone believes that that is where the two oceans meet, the most Southern point is Cape Agulhas and the experts keep saying thats where the two oceans meet. I must say though that at Cape Point there is on most days a distinctive line running out to sea from the land mass.
I have travelled extensively but not to Australia. Would love to come there for a visit but with the dismal Rand this will be a long time coming.
Regards
Steve

GrahamL · #8 15-03-2008, 10:59 PM

always wondered were kalk bay was steve

.. I had a pic of a guy ,,marked as such,, catching a ride on the dorsal of a 5 m great white
he looked to be set up for spearing large pelagics ..just not quite as large as the one he had hold of

§AB · #9 15-03-2008, 11:07 PM

Don't feel too bad dude, my last chance for observing for the next 2-3 weeks were Friday night and tonight, but surprise surprise it's cloudy.

skwinty (Steve) · #10 15-03-2008, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nightstalker

always wondered were kalk bay was steve

.. I had a pic of a guy ,,marked as such,, catching a ride on the dorsal of a 5 m great white
he looked to be set up for spearing large pelagics ..just not quite as large as the one he had hold of

Pity you dont have it anymore. might have recognised him.

.
Must be a fake. I know there lots of loonies here but using a great white as a surfboard with a speargun in your hand is a bit much even for a great white hunter.Back in the 60's hunting great whites was a national pastime, now they are protected species the table has turned and the hunter has become the hunted.
Last year an old lady who regularly swam at Fish Hoek was devoured in front of lots of witnesses by a great white. Water was only 2 or 3 metres deep. Now days if you sit up on the slopes of the mountain you can watch the buggers swimming around.
Cheers
Steve

Ric · #11 16-03-2008, 01:11 AM

I didn't have any wind tonight but just enough high cloud to put the damper on things. At the moment all I get is Friday and Saturday nights for viewing/imaging as well.

Cheers

GrahamL · #12 16-03-2008, 08:46 AM

hi steve

the guys name is Michael Rutzen and his fondness for swimming with
these creatures is fairly well known in freediving circles
http://www.sharkmans-world.com/mrutzen.htm

the first pic I saw was marked only as kalk bay with no other info
ballsy stuff eh

skwinty (Steve) · #13 16-03-2008, 09:17 AM

Well blow me down. I knew of the guy touching the great white's snouts and all but that takes the cake. At least he could withdraw his hand and the shark was out of its element. I think you need at least three balls to do that.
Wouldnt catch me within a hundred sea miles of that beast. There was a television program of the great white and Seal Island in False Bay and the way the sharks leap out of the water when hunting seals. Stories of the past tell of sharks leaping out the water and landing in the boat.
All that biblical stuff about man having dominion over the animals sure rings true.
Well done for hauling that pic out of somewhere. I wouldnt have believed it otherwise.
Regards
Steve

Ric · #14 16-03-2008, 10:35 AM

Wow, that's an awesome picture. Better him than me and I don't think it would be a trail of air bubbles being left behind in my case.

Cheers

GrahamL · #15 16-03-2008, 11:01 AM

yeah not a good place to be a seal I guess

I'd love to holiday over SA sometime

who says big fish can't fly

Ric · #16 16-03-2008, 11:13 AM

Truly awesome animals.

skwinty (Steve) · #17 16-03-2008, 11:28 AM

hi Nightstalker and ric
If ever you do let me know and we can go to Gansbaai.
Not too far fron Cape Town and you guys can go cage diving with the beast.
I'll stay on the boat.

Regards
Steve

Ric · #18 16-03-2008, 11:38 AM

I'm with you Steve, the boat is fine and I'll look at the pictures afterwards.

That monster would just eat the cage, it would be like cracking a walnut to get to the centre.

I certainly would like to see South Africa again, I was there in 1971 on a holiday with my parents when I was 11.

I always remember going up the Table Top mountain in cable car and seeing some fantastic views.

Cheers