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Monday, 23 February 2004 -- Setting Sail... When we awoke it was blowing 30+kts from the SW. That was workable. So we kitted up and set sail. By 1500 we were underway. Last night was the coldest night I can remember in a long time (worse than a cold night in Camden, ME before I left). It was cold and damp and WINDY. And cold. And damp. And WINDY. Then the wind died. Then it stormed back up to 30kts. Sails down, engine on; sails up, engine off; sails down, engine on... When we sailed we were heeled way over, racing along. These are designed as racing boats so they are light, flaky and fast fast fast! But that wind was bracing! Tuesday, 24 February 2004 -- Arrival in Cape Town... We arrived in Cape Town this morning at about 0600. Tired, cold and pretty damned pleased with ourselves. We handled the journey will. No goofs on the helm. No navigation problems (well, other than the big-ass ship coming out of the harbor that we all saw at once and said in unison "oh shit, that ship is headed right at us"). I got about 3 hours of sleep during the trip, which means about 3 hours in the last 27. We'll clean and re-provision over the next couple of days. The next few weeks will be spent sailing the 42s back to Durban. We'll hop along the coast stopping in various towns and harbors. We'll fly back to Cape Town in mid-March. Then 4 days of vacaion -- which will be very very special since Janice will be visiting -- and then we jump into the tough part of the class. Boat handling boot camp as they refer to it. Wednesday, 25 February 2004 -- Table Mountain... The mountain is clear, Lee says let's go. Off we go to the top of the mountain. There is a cable car that runs to the top, the inner platform of the car rotates. Everyone stands inside and gets a 360degree view of Cape Town and surrounds while going up and down the mountain.
The shot on the right is of Cape Town from the top of Table Mountain. It's quite breathtaking, settled at the base of this huge flat mountain. The waterfront is expansive, lots of activity. The mountain to the left is the Lion's Head, the viewpoint there is 670m above sea level. When Jim and the boyz were up there, the cloud cover, commonly referred to as the tablecloth, moved in while they sat at the outdoor tables enjoying a beverage.
They also saw a Dassie - a large rodent that lives on the mountain. Jim told me it was probably about 15lbs - that's bigger than my dog!! Ugly little thing - check out those teeth! And what's up with the 3-toes?!?!?
Back down at sea level, this shot shows how the "tablecloth" hangs over the mountain. When Jim was on top, the cloud did not completely cover the top of the mountain.
Now back to Jim's notes....
The day began at a reasonable hour - we had to wait for sails to come back from the loft. They arrived around 1000. We set them on and left the dock by 1400. We motored out of the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront - through the 2 pedestrian bridges. One is a swing bridge; the other is a bascule (type of drawbridge). Jaco's team followed on their boat Knot2Shabby. As we were approaching the outer harbour, we saw them unfurl their jib. I thought it was a tad showy. We kept motoring (why let them get to the fuel dock and make us wait??) We rounded an oil boom and jetty to enter the marina; somebody was at the fuel station already. So we headed back out. Jaco and team were circling there. We circled a few times when they shouted that they had lost propulsion. We watched them try to get their jib back out but they couldn't. They slowly drifted up to a wall that was a lee shore. Madiba put out fenders and prepped some lines. We backed into her and Shabby threw us a line. We towed them to open space in the harbour. Jaco said he wanted to head back to the marine - under sail!! So we threw their tow line back to them. They messed with their mainsail [both boats had sent their mains to the loft for repair and had only put them on that day]. Eventually they were under sail.
They finally made it through and found a spot at the docks. A few of their boyz jumped in the cold water [that is loaded with seals!] and looked at the boat. She had lost her prop! After all that excitement we took a breather whilst (British, eh?) "the boss" (Lee) and Jaco set about to figure out what could be done. In the end there would not be a prop for Shabby until Monday. We spent Friday night and Saturday getting things squared away. And the boyz did some drinking, of course.... Saturday, 28 February 2004 -- Day Skipper... Today we sat for the RYA Day Skipper theory exam. I think I passed but I know I screwed up one question completely... Sunday, 29 February 2004 -- Departure - FINALLY!... We finally set sail. Fair winds and sunny skies. Just lovely! (British again!)
We were making good time. We need to do at least 5 port entries; it was lunch time; we still needed fuel. So we decided to stop in Hout Bay. It's a tricky little harbour. But we got in (I helmed!) without problem. Lunch was fine; fuel was nowhere to be seen (although it must be somewhere...); and our entry counted. So we left. The forecast was for 20-25kts NW. We had that and it made for a fine run down to the Cape of Good Hope. She's a pretty cape and we caught her just before sunset. After rounding, we set sail due east across False Bay. No problems. |
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Friday,
27 February 2004 -- Prepping for departure...
We were set to leave Cape Town for Mossel bay, 250nm east of us. It's
around the Cape of Good Hope and the true southern tip of the African continent,
Cape Agulhas. We figured 2-3 days of sailing and we'd enjoy ourselves.
Our new home is the Madiba.
We followed as they put on one hell of a display of sailing.
They tacked back and forth through the harbour - dodging a few tugs! The
bridge passages where we had motored were absolutely amazing. The swing
bridge is at the end of a 250m channel that is only 50m wide. In the
middle of that Shabby had to throw in a tack - their transom
missed the rock wall by about a foot. Amazing. The bascule bridge is
shorter but was as hard - the mast had to avoid the raised bridge so the channel
was effectively about 10m wide.