January 2015 to February 2015 (False Bay Yacht Club - Simons Town)

Hello from False Bay Yacht Club, Simons Town.  Surrounded by magnificent mountains, taking cover in a bay in the corner, under the careful watch of the SA Navy whose base is four yachts away, we have made it, round Cape Aghulhas – WOO HOO.

Truth be told, even though we were really careful about the weather window we selected and we had both made sure everything was as right as it could be, we were a little apprehensive about this part of the journey.  It was an amazing feeling to pass around the South of the Southern most point of Africa, what an accomplishment.

Rock Shandy Sundowner

Not far past the point the number of passing seals seemed to increase and after Dyer Island the bird life was prolific, lines and lines of gulls and cormorants and oyster catchers, etc, flying low across the sea, we sometimes wondered how they managed to miss us.  

One did in fact drop in for a quick visit.  Then came the huge pieces of kelp floating in the sea, twice we had to pull it off our rudder, not easy as the wind had picked up and the sea was getting a bit rough and this entailed hanging over the sugar scoop on the back of the boat, up to armpits in icy water, but then we noticed seals lying amongst some of the floating kelp, this caused much stress as often by the time we saw the kelp and seal it was too late to take evasive action and seals don’t seem to be the most wide awake, a couple of times we had to resort to shouting and blowing the hooter to get them to move.  We had a drop in the wind just before False Bay, but just after lunch it picked up and gave us a good push in the right direction. 

Eileen, our good friend from S/Y Marimba who left Richards Bay 2 years ago with the promise to be there to catch our lines, was impatiently keeping watch across the bay from her beautiful 1902 National Monument home in Glencairn, with its beautiful high ceilings and polished wooden floors which she has done a super job of restoring and where we have been royally spoiled with dinners.  The view of False Bay from here on a clear day is forever.  As soon as she knew we were close she got to the yacht club, found our mooring and was there to catch those lines, then to hand out the glasses of wonderful cold champagne that she had brought with, what a wonderful reception.

We were off on a brief whirlwind tour of the club then, unfortunately the club only serves dinner on Friday nights, we were 24 hours late! So Eileen then gave us a very brief tour of Simons Town and then to The Salty Sea Dog, reputed to have the best fish in the area, for snoek and chips and a good bottle of wine, we had arrived.

Monday we arranged to rent a car to drive to Mossel Bay to fetch our car.  Whilst at the club sorting out the formalities we were told we need to move moorings, the owner of the one we were on was on his way back.  Hadn’t factored that into our plans for the day so a quick dash back, moved the boat and tied up again, then a dash into town to the train station and after paying the princely sum of R12.50 each for a one way trip to Wynberg, we hopped on the Metro train and were off.  The trip is beautiful, the railway hugs the coast the whole way.  The carriages were relatively clean, lots of graffiti and police presence in each carriage.  A pleasant trip and 40 minutes later we stopped three blocks from Avis, bargain.

We arrived in Mossel Bay at 17:30, fortunately Avis have an after hours drop off service so we were able to fetch our car, drop the rental and check into Aloe Valley Villa, a guest house newly owned by Fiona Ayerst someone we have dived with over the years.  A beautiful house with 6 rooms, a lounge, games room with huge fish tanks and verandah’s with the most amazing views of the sea and the Outeniqua Mountains and as it was just after the December rush, they had a break in bookings so we had the place to ourselves for the night, so relaxing.  A hearty breakfast next morning and we were on our way, needed to be back before the big blow which was scheduled to come through around lunch time so we could check that we were securely tied up. 

Unfortunately we don’t get the greatest protection from the wind here, in fact it is made worse by the beautiful mountains as they cause a funnel effect.  Gale force wind, as defined by the Beaufort Wind Force Scale is wind from 50 to 102 km/h.  

Over the last couple of weeks we have experienced, for hours, in fact days, winds of 35 to 54knots, this equates to 65 to 100 km/h – gale force.  We are starting to become accustomed to the pressure and force of this kind of wind but the poor birds that perch quietly on the floating “sausage” just in front of us keep getting blown sideways and into the water, almost funny.  

We have mounted two temporary cleats on the back of the boat to help hold us steady in these winds, will make a permanent plan when we effect the changes we are planning to the boat.

We are finding service provision to be a huge frustration, amazing how no one seems to need to make money these days!!  ARK inflatables, recommended by the Club to repair our tender boat are not worthy of any form of recommendation, they are particularly rude!!  

We were referred to a guy who privately fixes inflatables and he has fixed and returned ours with a new patch which seems to be holding well, back in business :-)

Simons Town Main Street

 

Walks here are lovely, either past all the quaint shops and restaurants etc in Town or up to the Golf Course, past Boulders Beach where we have found penguins, no sign of Maxscene though, Kevin is convinced he will recognize her/him.  Spotted two little ones that had escaped and were heading for the main road one morning so turned them around and herded them back toward the beach, they took the tunnel....

The Toy Museum
Train Display

We also made a quick trip to the Toy Museum here, the dolls and toy soldiers and vehicles etc are awesome, even a running train. 

We have become members at FBYC, the mooring and haul out fees are substantially cheaper for members, makes sense.  The hauling in and out is a slick operation, very well managed and executed.  They have a full contingent of service providers on the premises and a number of recommendations we can use if we wish.  The list has been compiled and prioritized and now the arrangements begin for the work. 

What happens when all the tools
come out 

We have been proactive and got stuck in to some boat jobs, 

Kevin mounted his fishing rod holders, no more rods and 

hooks lying all over the beds. 

Bathroom accessories mounted

Trying not to make dust when cutting
bigger holes

new closable vents installed in the saloon roof, of course they were bigger than the originals so required a bit more attention than first assumed and 

bell mounted – every ship should have a bell!!! 

The leak

Fiberglass work came next, time to fix the small leak we have in the starboard water tank.  We found the leak, opened the tank and figured, quick job, no problem.  BEEG mistake.  Once we started working in the tank the paint started peeling off in huge sheets.  This resulted in having to remove a major section of the top of the tank to allow access and sanding and re-fiberglassing and re-painting.  

Quality control once closed :-)

The first fiberglass repair didn’t cure so that was removed and replaced, then after filling the tank we spotted water streaks in the bilge so

Finished and looking
beautiful

 again the repair was sanded down and redone, only for us to realize the water streaks we saw were in fact drips from the resin from the fiberglass repair and not water leaking.  

It is now looking beautiful and full of water and no leaks - a most frustrating lesson learned.

Bernhard, our friend from Ethereal gave Kevin some pointers in the fiberglass department and now fiberglass is the new black!!  A mold was nailed together and two shelves for the cabin cupboard were produced, brilliant.  Next will be new eyebrows to replace the ones we broke in Port Elizabeth, seems imagination is the only limit….. 

The shelf in the mould

Came out looking champion

Two new shelves installed

We knew Ethereal in Richards Bay as it was owned and lived on for many years by American couple Katherine and Al Overton who we got to know in our time living there.  Unfortunately Al’s health has deteriorated and they have had to move back to the States and sell their yacht.  The couple who have bought it, Bernhard and Ulrike have become good friends, and whilst they were blown in on a serious South Easter – around 42kts when they landed on their mooring – they are making the most of Ethereal, spending time upgrading and sailing with Eileen, we see many more years of sailing fun in Ethereal’s future.

We have been having some fun too J  Eileen introduced us to the Cape Point Wineland Market on a Thursday evening, with joy we discovered this is the home of the Splattered Toad wine, a most quaffable wine and proceeds go to helping to save the Western Leopard Toad that plays Russian Roulette on the roads of the wetland areas at night.  The rest of the week the Estate also does picnics and wine tasting.  

We entered the Clubs Trivial Pursuit evening, Us, Eileen, Ulrike and Bernhard from Ethereal and the Grommits (Micheal, Mike and Cornelia who, with their two girls, have since left for St Helena and eventually the Caribbean) made a team and ended a respectable 3^rd place, and we managed to get two bags of smarties, the prize for the team that submits their answer sheet first after each round of questions.

We popped along to Hout Bay to see our friends Diane and James and their new crew member Hennie from Dayo I who travelled down the coast around 1 week behind us.  It was such fun to catch up and compare notes, the afternoon just whizzed past.  They are also on their way to the Caribbean, hopefully we will catch up to them next year.  It was a pleasant surprise to find Ilanga tied up behind them, she was Karl’s first yacht in Durban and the motivation for Kevin to convince me that living on the sea wasn’t as terrifying as I thought it was.   

A mime at Market

Double trouble

We stopped in at the Market on the way home and it is awesome, much bigger than expected, indoor local market with the most amazing “trinkets” – new name for little knick knacks that you don’t really need to buy but look at for fun 

anyway.  They also have a food & drink area that serves anything and 

everything, pretty reasonable and very yummy.  Its only open on 

Friday evenings and weekends and is so festive, love it.

We have had fun with visitors too, Karl and Heloise came to visit weekend of 7 February and in two days we managed to squeeze in a trip to Boulders Beach to see the Penguins, wine tasting at Cape Point, lunch at the Brass Bell in Kalk Bay, a visit to Hout Bay Marina to reunite them with Ilanga and a trip to the market, a tour over Chapmans Peak and squid catching, enough for two meals, yummy. 

Then Andrew and Sandra arrived the 

next week, as they were here longer 

there was time to do more, together 

with the markets at Cape Point and Hout Bay 

Kannonkop

we spent some time doing wine tasting in Stellenbosch, 

Houtbay Harbour

Slaley Estate

Pancakes for breakfast

Next round on us -
ring that bell

Hatches closed - Lets dive :)

a tour of Simons Town and the navy Sub-marine (SAS Assegaai) that is now a museum, 

Now hear there !!!

The real submarine also came out to play

Cape Point Light House

View from light house of Cape of Good Hope
We walked up from car park

a visit to the most South Western point of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope – what a walk up to the light house but the view was spectacular – and movie night with Ulrike and Bernhard.  It was great fun and we were sorry to see them go, time just flew.

Eileen & I @ Rickety Bridge

Blaauklippen

It just wouldn’t be right to be in the Winelands of South Africa and not go wine tasting, so we have, we have so far managed Constantia, Stellenbosch and Franschoek, what we have discovered however is that three or four wine farms are the maximum one can indulge in on one day, unless of course you spit and that would just be 

Blaauklippen

a waste.  Luckily we still have some time here….

Getting dolled up

The party in full swing

We have had some interesting navy visits too, firstly the Nigerian Navy arrived, what a happy bunch, radio playing all day and by nightfall the ship was fully decorated with flags and lights and the party was on.  Next day it was all packed away and off she went again.  

Currently we have the RFA Gold Rover and HMS Blyth - 

"The Dragon" - here and Simons Town is full of British Sailors, very festive.

We have waved farewell and hello again to a couple of yachts, Swen and Katerin of Yacht Solar Planet who we met in Port Elizabeth and then again here in Simons Town where they were our neighbours for a couple of weeks, left, returned a couple of hours later with a propeller issue, got it fixed a couple of days later and left again.  Last seen departing Saldanha Bay for St Helena.  

The Australian Yacht Sunflower and Dutch Yacht Inish left the same day as the Hooles, unfortunately just short of Cape Point Inish’ chain plates bolts sheared through and the mast fell down, taking with it the two brand new sails they had just purchased.  Fortunately Sunflower were able to alert NSRI as the aerial for the radio is attached to the mast so communications were gone and thank heavens there was no damage to sailors or boat.  NSRI were hoping to tow the mast to shallower waters after attaching buoys to it, seems the weight of the mast might have been underestimated,as soon as the last stay was undone on the Yacht the mast sank to +/- 50m taking the buoys with it.  Hopefully the divers from the Club will be able to salvage it for them, just waiting for some calm weather, maybe Thursday. 

Cape Town is, as advertised, a wondrous city.  The spectacular mountains surround you always and never do I stop looking at them in awe, especially when the clouds are rolling in creating whispy table cloths.  

Saw this beauty in
the marina

The sea is never far out of sight either, making this a most picturesque place, but that same sea is bitterly cold, no swimming for us, but lovely new sea life.  The wind makes it pretty chilly at night but when it does warm up, it is just lovely.  The Cape Coloured People are so funny, their mannerisms and way of talking has us in stitches all the time.  We have discovered that no matter what, wine helps - I’ll drink to that……

Well Kevin and I are off to Japan again on 7 March 2015 for three weeks, on our return to Cape Town we plan to haul Maxscene out to do the majority of the fiberglass and stainless steel work.  A lot to do in the next two weeks as we need to empty her out, etc.  Never a dull moment.