Senkaku may be tense but it's jolly in False Bay

While naval activity may be getting a bit tense around the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands, the latest war games in False Bay are much jollier. Simon's Town is hosting Atlasur IX with corvettes and frigates from Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay participating alongside the SA Navy. Monday saw the arrival of the Latin American ships to the thump of 11-gun salutes from the lower North Shore battery. Even the upper North Shore gun let off a noon-day blast. This was all happening while a big yacht regatta was underway in the bay, part of the annual Simon's Town festival, with over 50 boats displaying their colours and weaving around the warships. The next few days saw loads of receptions and the sounds of numerous national anthems drifting up the hill, while in the main street quite a bit of broken Spanish and Portuguese was attempted by the village traders. On Friday the ships all nipped out across the bay and did a few manoeuvres before returning line astern before sunset, anchoring just beyond the harbour wall, neatly spaced as if on show for the locals. On Saturday they made a leisurely 1000 start (quite different from the army, which is all 0530 on the double) and headed out to sea. It'd be interesting to know what the Armada Argentina thought about the British nuclear sub and supply ship that stopped off here earlier in the year en route to the Falklands. The QSL is from Radio Maldonado in Punta del Este, Uruguay, my first AM QSL from there, heard at dawn in Johannesburg in 1987, using only 2 kilowatts.

Bank fraud: all aboard for Devon

Card fraud is rampant and the banks continually fight a battle to stay ahead of the crooks. Now for each card transaction we get a text message from the bank detailing the vendor and amount. This can be quite disconcerting. You think you're really popular with friends and family, just queuing up to text with you, meanwhile it's just the bank tolling your expenditure, day-in, day-out. SA banks haven't heard of free checking accounts so there are plenty of charges for the pleasure of keeping your money there. And although interest rates are low here, they are far from near-zero as in some countries, so the bank makes a nice turn on your current account. You must also put your pin number into the machine each time. The convention is for the staff of the restaurant or shop to hand you the machine and then turn aside while you type in your pin. It's always a very deliberate physical gesture, like: 'Don't worry, I'm definitely not trying to read your finger movements so that I can hack into your account...' We've had a few card frauds. Once somebody managed to charge up a trip on South West Trains to Devon to my wife's debit card. We knew she hadn't made the trip but the bank initially made us feel like the criminals rather than the victims. It took it a couple of weeks to accept our story. I guess they had to make sure we weren't pulling a fast one. The QSL is from BBC R Devon broadcasting from Exeter with 1 kW on 990 kHz heard in Kent in 1996. UK AM stations have been great QSLers over the years.

Jackass penguins make Boulders no go

Just outside Simon's Town is what used to be one of the world's  best beaches - Boulders. These days it's infested with African 'jackass' penguins. They have been allowed to take over this haven of bright sand and granite, offering shelter from the wind and a beautiful mix of colours: white, azure, green and grey-black. Bordered mainly by indigenous bush above the high-water mark on the one side and the clear water of False Bay on the other, the area comprises a number of small sheltered bays, partially enclosed by granite boulders that are 540 million years old. When I was a kid we used to play in the sea, run along the sand and climb the rocks, sit on top and gaze out over the bay. But the penguins are now everywhere. They make this rather unpleasant baying sound and stink the place up something horrible. Sure, they are a threatened species and in reasonable numbers are rather cute. They strut around in their 'tuxedos' and can swim a treat. Their distinctive black and white colouring is a vital form of camouflage called countershading – white for underwater predators looking upwards and black for predators looking down onto the dark water. They were originally described in 1758 by the famous Swedish botanist Linnaeus, although he didn't actually visit SA.  Boulders attracts loads of tourists who come for the penguins and I guess that's good for the economy. But for locals they are a pain - you even have to pay to go on to the beach! The QSL is from a Swedish pirate radio station, Radio Pandora, heard one Sunday in Kent in 1996, using just 20 watts. It  was set up by Steve St John in 1993. Up on the 49mb many pirates were active on Sundays and quite a few of them were good QSLers.

Draghi gets out the dragster

Remember 'Whatever it takes' ? Well it's back.  The European Central Bank is to put its foot on the gas. Markets were thrilled on Thursday to hear Mario Draghi announce his programme to 'provide a backstop to remove tail risk from the Euro area.' Tail risk is that dreaded part of the probability curve that is too large for comfort. Tail risk is what hit financial assets after the collapse of Lehman Bros in 2008, creating price movements that weren't statistically possible, or only once every few million years, somewhat longer than the existence of civilised humanity, let alone financial markets. And the same tail risk has threatened to erupt from the Eurozone ever since. Several bouts of frightening volatility have occurred continually, forcing many investors to seek the safest possible havens for their cash. Interestingly, though, the volatility spikes have been declining. This could mean two things: one, investors are learning to live with the dangers, which could be a form of 'disaster myopia' where people simply cease to be able to imagine a major meltdown; two, the perception that Euro policy-makers are gradually getting a grip on things. It's probably a bit of both. One of the first beneficiaries of Draghi's largesse may be Portugal which is putting the finishing touches to yet another bout of austerity. It's already in a bail-out programme and its determination to comply could well receive the ECB's blessing. You might make some money in Portuguese bonds if the yields track down to the levels of Ireland and Spain, or lower. The QSL is from Rádio Renascença a 10 kW station operating on AM from Coimbra, Portugal, heard in Kent in 1999.

Paddleskiing in whale country

The link shows a 4-minute video of yours truly out at Muizies catch waves and getting wiped out on my paddleski.   Graham paddleskiing at Muizenberg, Cape Town   I used GoPro camera mounted on the nose, pointing forwards and backwards. The video was edited by my son, Matt, and is up on Youtube. It's that time of the year again when the southern right whales come and flop around in the bay. While making this video a pair of them was cavorting only 100 metres beyond the surf-line. Later in the day we saw a number of pods from our house in Simon's Town with one particularly energetic soul leaping out in a full breach before rolling over and re-entering the sea with a huge splash. Further up the coast here the town of Hermanus has established a whole service industry of whale-watching with numerous B&B's offering views. But False Bay is just as good and the sea is often calmer. The whales come every year from late-August and are often seen close into shore which is then lined with watchers, some armed with immensely long camera lenses trying to get the ultimate shot. But up in Muizies corner we just combine a bit of great surfing with casual whale-watching, feeling at one with nature and not too exercised about the perfect pic. The whales come north to SA from Antarctica and have unique technique of 'sailing' - using their elevated flukes to catch the wind. The QSL is from the British Antarctic Survey for reception of its Faraday Base in Antarctica in contact with the supply vessel RRS Bransfield, heard in Johannesburg in 1986.