Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

The mornings are misty here. when the desert air cools during the night, the 
moisture from the Atlantic condenses and the coast is shrouded in mist - not a 
thick fog - but a heavy mist that makes everything moist and keeps the morning 
temps cool. And then the clouds burn off mid morning - several hours of perfect 
weather - and then the wind starts to blow. the sun heats up the air over the 
great Namib Desert... sucking the cooler air off of the Atlantic. light breezes 
turn into stiff breezes, stiff breezes pick up the sand and get stiffer and 
sandier. This afternoon it was particularly nasty - hard to keep the eyes open. 
It's springtime here, so weather is unpredicitable - but looks like tomorrow 
(race day) will be similar to today. One look at the beautiful dunes and you 
know there has to be wind! 

But the show goes on. I talked a little while today with Zulu - the tall South 
African - he's an FEI steward, and a common sight at the WEC's. Nice guy, loves 
Africa, loves the desert. He mentioned the Skeleton Coast of Namibia - the 
coastline that stretches north from Walvis Bay (the one and only port/harbor in 
Namibia). Called the Skeleton Coast because of all the skeletons of wrecked 
ships - it's a treacherous coastline, winds and currents that tease. This is 
where The Black Stallion was filmed - the site of the ship wreck that left Alex 
and the Black stranded on the coast. Zulu also told me a story about another 
shipwreck - not that long ago (he used to work for the SA Navy, lots of time 
spent on this coast) - the story, a passenger ship was flailing off the coast, 
a wreck seemed iminent, they sent the women and children by life raft to the 
coast. meanwhile the currents turned, taking the ship back out to sea - and 
they couldn't get the women and children back to the ship. The
y were stranded w/o food and water. The coastguard air dropped food and water 
(much of which didn't survive the drop). No airstrip, no way to get a boat in. 
They finally airdropped several large nets, the w&c spread the nets out on a 
stretch of beach, creating a landing strip - enough netting to give the tires 
some sort of grab and traction. A plane was eventually able to land, the w&c 
loaded onto the plane. The takeoff was rough, harder than landing, the plane 
crashed and all were killed. true story! (moral?) 

Another story he told me - there's a 'mass horse grave' here at Walvis Bay- a 
monument . The Germans had transported in a large cavalry during the war. 
Walvis Bay was originally a German settlement, so it was a logical haven for 
them during wartime - when the end or the war was near, the cavalry-soldiers 
staged a hasty retreat, but left the horses. unattended, unfed. most of the 
horses died, some still with tack on, but a few survived. These went on to be 
the foundation of a 'breed' of horse - predominantly anglo-arabian bloodlines . 
Many of them are excelling at Endurance now (no great surprise). I'll try to 
get the name of the breed - it is 'SW' - something like Schnieder-Waltven.... 
something or other. Africaans is a bit difficult to understand. I'll see if I 
can get that info. 

- better send this email for now -

later,

Steph


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