Christmas

Christmas started with mulled wine and mince pies hosted by Matilda in the V&A Marina on Christmas Eve. This was followed by dinner with the crews from Zoe (George & Lynda) and Dreamcatcher (Charles & Marie)at the Hillebrand Ristorante. The rest of the crews had tapas upstairs so we joined them afterwards for coffee. Christmas Day we joined George & Lynda on Zoe (at the Royal Cape YC) for a brunch with bucks fizz and eggs & bacon etc. Marie from Dreamcatcher joined us for an hour on her way to the beach where several crews were meeting for lunch. Dinner that night was a pot luck supper on the dock but actually ended up on Anastasia which is a spacious catamaran and perfect for a party! I had cooked a 3 bird roast and sausages and there were even roast potatoes and brussel sprouts and of course christmas crackers! Boxing Day Peter serviced the main engine then we took a taxi to the shopping mall to stock up on fresh fruit. Back on board we met up with a local boat owner who has told Peter he is interested in buying our Windpilot which we had advertised for sale on the Yacht Club notice board. We have not used the Windpilot since we started and only carried it as it was an insurance requirement for double handed crews. Luckily the insurers have now agreed that as we have done over 12,000 miles double handed they will lift the requirement from our policy. Peter is delighted as we will have space to use the dinghy davits again! Anyway we have now agreed a sale of the Windpilot. So...yesterday Peter started removing the Windpilot as we have now been paid in cash for it. Not as much as we paid for it of course but at least it is something. Once off it became obvious that it needed lubricating as it had not been used for so long and that took quite a bit of time and effort using hot water and WD40! Anyway it is now off and we just have four holes in the back of the boat to get filled in again. We were able to remove the wheel drum also which was good as often ropes would get caught on the wing nuts. Remaining jobs are being ticked off now as the Generator was serviced by Peter yesterday morning and today we hope the water maker will be returned. Unfortunately the repair done in Mauritius did not hold and we have now paid for new tubes so no more leaks..we hope! Another job to be completed is the new piping and new solenoid and sensor for the gas which has had an intermittant fault for ages. We just await the Electrician to install the solenoid. Today is a bit of retail therapy with Lynda whilst Peter deals with the workers on the boat!!

Exploring South Africa

We have now been up to the top of Table Mountain and yesterday we went on a wine tour which also included visits to the Cheetah Outreach project and the Big Cat Park. Our driver picked us up at 8.30am from our Apartment (which is very good) and then headed to the Yacht Club to pick up George & Lynda who were doing the trip with us. On the way to the first stop we passed a strawberry farm with lots of brightly coloured scarecrows in the field and so we had to stop to take pictures and buy strawberries of course. The first stop was at the Cheetah Outreach where both George and Lynda paid extra to have a personal encounter with an adult Cheetah. This entailed the handler holding the Cheetah whilst they could kneel down and stroke the animal along his back and have their pictures taken. Lynda was thrilled as she had wanted to get up close to the Cheetahs and had not seen any on the safari we did at Richards Bay. Peter and I were happy to watch from the wire fence. At the centre they also fund and co-ordinate a South African Cheetah Anatolian Shepherd Guard dog project purchasing or breeding , placing and providing veterinary support, husbandry and monitoring for working dogs which promotes non-lethal predator control. Basically the dogs are bred to give to local farmers who in the past were shooting the cheetahs to control them as they attacked their livestock. The cheetah is actually an endangered species as numbers have dropped dramatically over the last 100 years down to some 850 in South Africa. After the Cheetah experience we went to Stellenbosh for the first wine visit to the best wine producer called Spier where we had a wine tasting followed by lunch in Moyo which is an authentic African experience! The wine tasting was very organised and we had six wines to try including some sparkling wine made by the Cap Classique method which is like champagne. We bought some bubbly and wines to take back to the boat. The lunch was an all you could eat buffet which was very well done. During lunch we were serenaded by local singers and one of the waiters came to paint your face if you wanted some spots! After lunch we had a short drive to the next wine producer Vredenheim where there was also a Big Cat park so first we had to look around the park at the Lions and Tigers there. Next up was gthe wine tasting which was 5 different wines. Again we had to buy some more wine of course! On the way home our driver stopped at a large liquor store where the men were able to buy cases of beer as the local supermarkets do not sell beer just wines. So the taxi was loaded up again and we eventually got back to the Apartment at around 6.30pm. A long tiring day but extremely enjoyable. Trompeta is now back in the water again having been antifouled and buffed and polished on the topsides. We put the genoa back on as Peter had also had a new furler intslled as the old one was starting to wear and he did not want to risk anything happening half way across the Atlantic! Sunday we will put the main sail back on as the wind will be blowing in the right direction by then. At the moment it is a NW wind and coming behind the boat but to put sails up you have to be facing into the wind. Saturday we intend to go to the cinema as the new James Bond movie is showing and it is ages since Peter has seen a good film.

Table Mountain

Today we went up to Table Mountain in a cable car and walked along the flat top to enjoy some spectacular views of the surrounding countryside. Table Mountain is made of orange sandstone as it was formed under the sea about 600 million years ago.The most common animal up on the mountain is the dassie or Rock Hyrax who like to sun themselves on the warm rocks. They look like fat brown rabbits minus the floppy ears! We were lucky enough to see one before he crept under the rocks to hide. There are lots of different species of plants up on the mountain including the King Protea South Africa's national flower. The Cape's original Khoi San inhabitants named the mountain 'Hoerikwaggo' meaning 'Mountain of the Sea'. The first European to climb table Mountain Antonio de Saldanha called it 'Taboa de Caba' or 'Table of the Cape'. This is the oldest mountain in the world being at least 6 times older than the Himalayas. This week we are planning a lot more trips as we spend time in our Apartment whilst the boat is out of the water. Peter is looking forward to a proper bed for a few nights!!

Cape Town

Have arrived safely in Cape Town. Now tied up at the Royal Cape Yacht Club which is a big Marina and club. We were greeted by Marcus the General Manager on arrival yesterday afternoon and he invited us to a Reception they were having that evening for new members. We were introduced to the club members and a photographer wanted to take a photograph of us with the crew from JSea who also arrived yesterday morning. So famous at last!! The reception was good with complimentary food and drinks so no need for dinner just an early night to catch up on sleep. This morning we have already had a rig check done and our list of jobs is progressing. We managed to have time for a good breakfast at the Yacht Club - full English for under £5!! Everywhere prices seems so cheap compared to England. Our drinks last night were free but even if you had to pay it is around £1 for a glass of wine!! We parted company with Zoe yesterday as she headed into Hout Bay where they had made a reservation to stay. It was great fun sailing down the coast in company with Zoe as we always had someone to chat to on the vhf radio. It is reassuring to know you are not alone! We both canniot believe we are finally here in cape Town for Christmas as it seemed such a long way away and now it is upon us already. Trompeta is booked in for hauling out of the water on 18th to have her bottom painted with anti foul so whilst she is out of the water we have booked into a 5 star luxury apartment on the V&A Waterfront just close to the other marina where our friends on Anastasia are based. We have the apartment from 17 to 22 December.

Sailing the wild coast

We finally left Richards Bay in the wee small hours of Monday 26 November in the company of Zoe who was to be our sailing companion for this trip. The locals call the East Coast of South Africa the wild coast because of the big seas and strong winds and often tricky sailing conditions. It is important to leave when the weather is right to avoid SW winds which kick up the sea againts the fast flowing Agulhus current. Since we had a short window the plan was to sail down the coast to Durban and then on again when conditions allowed. After an uneventful passage we made it safely into Durban harbour just before the sun went down. In the event we only had to stay one night but checking in and clearing out took ages so it was after 2pm before we finally lifted the anchor and got underway again. The passage down to Port Elizabeth was expected to take us 3 days but we actually went a lot faster than expecetd due to positive current of 3 to 5 knots which doubled our boat speed for a good day and a half. We were making such good progress we decided to press on to Mossel Bay another 175 miles further down the coastline. Arrived in a very swelly Mossel Bay after sunset so it was quite difficult to anchor in a dark rolling sea! Fortunately we only needed to stay the one night as the weather looked as if it would allow us to continue on around Cape Agulhus in favourable conditions. It was an easy sail or rather motor sail around Cape Agulhus with very little wind and calm seas. However we paid the price as once around the corner the wind shifted into the NW so we then had a very difficult time beating to windward in strong winds up to 35 knots with big seas on the nose. Every time the boat built up some speed it would be stalled by a huge wave. We took a lot of water over the bow and the forepeak was leaking water through the dorade so wet beds - again! We also managed to lose our port navigation light which was pushed off the bow by the waves crashing up. The passage up to False Bay was much harder than expected and we took much longer to reach Simons Town. Initially we had calculated that we would arrive sometime during the day on Sunday but it was shortly after midnight before we eventually arrived in the Marina. Zoe followed us in and we went to find our berths which we had been allocated. There was a boat in our berth so we just parked behind it as there was space (just!). Zoe had a clear berth so we both got tied up as quickly as we could then onto the dock for a celebratory bottle of bubbly! After such a trip there was a lot of discussion before we finally said goodnight and headed off to bed around 1.30pm. Simon's Town is home to the South African Navy so it has a huge Naval base and this dominates the town. There are lots of attractive shops and restaurants here and the whole place has a good feel. False Bay YC is delightful as it is home to many small sail boats and fishing boats. It has friendly staff and a really cosy family feel. The showers are among the cleanest and tidiest we have come across. The yacht club has free WiFi so e mailing is easy and quick. Peter is arranging for lots of small jobs to be done on the boat whilst we are in Cape Town including the major task of getting antfouled again. Yesterday we had a visit from Warren the Rigger who is doing a rig check for us courtesy of Admiral Insurance. The Riggers were supposed to come this morning but they have an emergency job so we will get the rig check done when we move to Cape Town. We also had a visit from David of Action Yachting who is arranging jobs on the boat and Peter went through his 'to do' list. Now we have managed to secure a berth at the Royal Cape YC early we will leave False Bay YC tomorrow in company with Zoe again very early to move around to Cape Town arriving before sunset. The weather looks good for us to leave so fingers crossed it is easier to get out of the bay than it was to get in! Whilst we are here we want to see what we can and walked down to Boulders beach yesterday with Zoe's crew to visit the endangered African Penguins who were quite adorable! There are several museums here so today we plan to visit the Simons Town Museum and the Naval Museum before collecting the laundry. Everything seems cheap here as the first load (9Kg) was only £6 for a full service laundry so am taking advantage and have a second load in today. It will be a shame to leave Simon's Town but we have to take advantage of good weather when we can to move the boat. The winds are not too strong tomorrow so it should be an easy sail - we hope!!