December 2016 - January 2017 (RCYC Cape Town)

Comparing shoes ha ha

We started December off in the right spirit with something cultural – Chrissy and Alan invited us to a show by Rocco at the Camps Bay Theatre on the Bay, an incredibly talented musician and funny entertainer, an all round brilliant show.

While it might seem that we haven’t done much in the productive line, actually we have made huge inroads into our long list of jobs to be done.  

New Pushpit seat

Test driving new seat in cockpit

Test driving Pushpit seat

The Pushpits have been re-installed and new seats made for them as well as for the new seat across the back of the cockpit. 

Should be strong enough for little tender

The davit for the tender has been installed and tested, initially by Kevin, then by the little boat.  Happily I can report that it works just fine for both.

Getting out of here was fun

Tender in rightful place at last

Groot Constantia

Wine Tasting Groot Constantia

For my birthday Kevin put in a days leave and, together with Chrissy and Alan, we were off really early (a tad tired from the impromptu pre-birthday celebrations the night before) to catch the Blue Route Hop on Hop off bus.  

Quick drink while waiting for the bus

Where did that go @
Beau Constantia

Birthday pudding

At Constantia/Hout Bay we swapped to the Purple Route bus which took us to Groot Constantia where we had wine and chocolate pairing and lunch, then to Eagles Nest who make one of the best Merlot’s I have ever tasted and finally on to Beau Constantia (we always threaten to do the third wine estate on this route but have never managed until this trip).

The day ended in style with dinner at Mondiall at the V&A.  What a great time with good wine and fantastic friends.

Eco Promise under spinnaker

Sundowner Rose

MaXScene was finally sailable so we headed out into Table Bay with both Eco Promise and Sundowner Rose to make good use of the opportunity.  

NEVER get tired of dolphins

We anchored at Clifton for a bit then headed out to Robin Island where whales had been spotted and boy were we privileged to be spectators to a fun display by a hump back whale, who, to our absolute surprise breached right out of the water next to our yacht and for a change I had my camera ready, right place, right time, nailed it!!!!  It was as though all the sea creatures came out to say hello, welcome back, so special.

Watching Cat Impi on YouTube

We don’t have space for a new tv in our saloon, at least not one of the new smart tv’s they are just too big.  The solution has been a rather good one we feel, we have purchased a mini projector, no bigger than a cell phone (love modern technology) that projects onto a screen (white sheet in our case) which we can hang anywhere that suits us.  One of the fun things to do is to hang it on the back of the cockpit, we can watch movies as well as anyone else in the marina, only theirs will be backwards J

Jazz on the Deck @ RCYC

Enjoying the Jazz and the food

Picanha a Brazilian dish made
by Craig & Carol

Craig serving boy
was it delicious

Once again the time came to say farewell to sailing friends (Not without many “last dinners” “last braai’s” and off course “farewell drinks”. 

 Craig and Carol and EcoPromise are heading for Richards Bay where they will stay for a couple of years.  

Making their way through the harbour

Sundowner Rose and MaXScene were up and together with a most spectacular sunrise and setting moon,

Sundowner Rose escorting Eco Promise

and the yacht sailed
away with the moon....

 bid them a proper farewell on the first leg of their journey to Knysna, via Groot Braak River and Mossel Bay. 

Sundowner Rose @ Dassen Island

Maxscene & Sungazer & others

We still had a designer shade net cockpit roof as we still haven’t had much joy in finding someone interested in manufacturing one for us, no solar panels so other than running the motors and/or generator, no means of charging batteries which makes us a little un-selfsufficient but nonetheless Sungazer (Des & Jenny) and Sundowner Rose (Chrissy & Alan) convinced us a little jaunt to Dassen Island was in order 

Too small to be a crayfish,
chucked it back

More like it

AND it was a crayfish catching weekend (the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries limits crayfish catching by the general public to certain weekends, this has subsequently been stopped completely as crayfish are now on the “Red List” meaning they are endangered and may no longer be caught, sold or consumed, well at least by the general public anyway) 

And then they became dinner

so armed with a new crayfish net and bait and lots of petrol so we could run our generator, we all set off. 

Dassen Island, declared a nature reserve in 1987, is an uninhabited little Island off Yzerfontein, North West of Cape Town.  It is named after the plural of the Dutch word “dassie” meaning “rock-rabbit” which were found there when the Island was first discovered and apart from its eastern side is surrounded by reefs causing numerous shipwreks.  Its natural ecology has been drastically altered mainly by human disturbances, early records show there were dassies and penguins in abundance.  As an outpost of the Dutch East India Company in the mid 17^th century sheep, pig and rabbit

 farming was attempted but was unsuccessful due to the shortage of fresh water and seals, birds and fish were caught to supply the settlement at the Cape.  The now wild rabbit population on the Island is still large and they overgraze the vegetation.  Cape fur seals were over hunted and are now rarely seen on the Island.  Penguin eggs were taken for public consumption, the population is estimated to have fallen from around 400 000 to 25 000 in the early 1990’s. 

The commercial fishing boats

House mice were accidentally introduced and cats were brought in to control them, only they also ate the rabbits and birds and have since been pretty much eradicated.  Since being declared a nature reserve public access to the Island has been strictly limited and alien species are being controlled and the Island and its inhabitants are slowly returning to their natural state. 

Taxi??? all lined up at back of
Sundowner Rose 

We anchored in House bay, avoiding the kelp patch and rocks and nestled close to the beach.  There are a couple of buildings still but are apparently used for research.  We saw quite a few penguins, beautiful pelicans and had a great three days chilling and enjoying great company.  

Festive sundowners on
Sundowner Rose

It becomes a good stopover for boats travelling to Saldanaha or Langebaan so nightly we had different company, a fabulous trip. 

 On our way home we were truly privileged to find the large pod of humpback whales that had been regularly spotted just off the coast, estimated at 15 – 20 strong.  Well Kevin recons at least 60 – 70 whales was more like it (supported by the guy from 2Oceans), we three boats were surrounded, an amazing feeling.

It’s been a busy December for sailing in the Cape, first the Maserati Week, a weeks worth of racing sailing sponsored by Maserati, Spier Wines, Two Oceans and many others making it a rather prestigious event.  A “racing village” was erected at the V&A where many functions took place and many hangovers were dished out.

The Maserati Racing Week was used as a shakedown event by a good number of the yachts taking part in the 2017 Cape to Rio race.  This incredibly popular event takes place every 2 years, starting in Table Bay and ending in Rio, Brazil. 

South Africa Yacht Black Cat

 There have been months of preparations, talks by experts who have taken part in previous races, presentations on safety and equipment by various manufacturers/sponsors, the organization behind an event this size is huge and credit has to go to Royal Cape Yacht Club’s Cape2Rio committee who seem to have once again pulled off a successful event.

Mhadei

Mussulo

Yachts from all over arrived to take part, Mhadei was an almost all womens Indian team, WOW, a catamaran built in Malaysia and sailed here to specifically take part in this event, Angolan Cables were the sponsor of Mussulo, Black Pearl from Germany (Overall Race winner), Runaway from USA (2nd) and the rest made up by good old South African entries.

Vulcan (3rd) one of the Cape's top racers

The race has always had a racing and cruising division but this year the cruising division were given a head start to have a better chance of all boats being at the finish together.  You can well imagine the difference in the time taken between the sleek and beautiful racing boats all kitted out with nothing but sails and dried provisions (some don’t even have toilets – adds weight – so what do they use I hear you ask, well this is where the term “bucket and chuck it” comes from) and who are not permitted to use their engines for the duration of the race, who are simply racing across the Atlantic to prove who is the fastest before returning to South Africa, 

Ray of Light out of Durban, Kevins
favourite for the race

versus the comfortable cruising yachts that have creature comforts like a t.v., washing machine, good food and lots and lots of good South African wine and are often planning to spend time cruising the Caribbean or even use this as a spring board for a circumnavigation.  

This is a pretty large generalization as some of the racers are relatively comfortable yachts, the clever organisers have created different divisions which clearly define this and I am not going to go into it now.  Suffice to say this year the Cruisers got a 6 day head start, they jumped out of the starting blocks on 26 December 2016.

Streeeeeeeeetchhhhh

So if I plug this in.....

Great excitement, Gaynor was coming to spend a week from 25 December to 31 December.  

We had already decided that we would go out, with a number of other yachts from the club, and support the yachts starting their Cape2Rio race, only we were going to continue with them for a bit and return to Dassen Island for a couple of days to give Gaynor the opportunity to experience spending life living on the boat at anchor. 

 We decided we needed to make things a little easier and less noisy so two solar panels were rapidly purchased and a “plan” made to install them on the frame.

That glass can take a bottle of wine

A great pre-Christmas party at Des and Jenny Carr on the 24^th was next, much fun and laughter and of course red wine and champagne, a night to remember.  

Those glasses are bottle openers

In his defence, he
plays water polo so this
is fairly normal attire

And with ease she made the red wine
disappear from the chair

The reason Gaynor had to catch an Uber

We were then treated to a delicious Christmas lunch on Sundowner Rose, Alan had deboned and stuffed a chicken for the occasion and accompanied by starters and dessert and more of that good wine and whiskey, royally spoiled.

Then we were three...

On 26 December the first Cape2Rio start for the Cruisers, we shadowed the yachts for a while, cheering on our friend Alan Whitley who had made the trip back from the Caribbean where he and his wife Marita cruise on their beautiful Island Spirit named Alley Cat, to have an operation on his foot and to fulfill a promise he made to Jimmy that he would sail across with him when he was ready, on his Catamaran Sea Oyster (who were eventual overall multi-hull winners).  

Directionless.....

Then we branched off and into House bay we went once again, welcomed by a little hump back whale at the entrance.  

The nicest thing about being at anchor in a place where there is nothing to do is that you have to force yourself to do nothing.  Reading and chilling, just great, and tender boat driving lessons for Gaynor.  

Day 2 saw a bit of excitement as our neighbor from RCYC, Eugene on his yacht Skye, arrived and managed to get tangled in one of the 12 crayfish pots that had been dropped all around the kelp forest by one of the commercial fishing boats.  

Gaynor and Kevin zooted over in the tender to help cut the line and set them free, a procedure that had to be repeated nearly two months later by NSRI when two whales got entangled in more crayfish pots in the same area, most annoying!!!

On her fathers yacht lol

Kirstenbosch Gardens

Our stay was over in a flash and we were back in Cape Town with a day to spare before Gaynor had to fly,

Boomslang Tree Canopy Walkway

Still directionless....

 so we did a quick trip to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, boy was it hot 

Watcha lookin at?

and World of Birds, then all too soon her visit was over and off she went, and then we were two again….

I have waited so long to get a photo of
one of these guys like this

Black Pearl, German entry

1 January 2017 was the start of the Cape to Rio race, so a quiet New Years party as we were all planning on supporting once again.  Wendy, Marge’s cousin and Gerry and Judy, joined us for the event.  The wind picked up and things got a bit hectic but was great for the competitors, a great gust up the gazoom pipe to see them well on their way out of Cape Town.  Once again this race was not without its catastrophe’s, Racing Yacht Dark Matter snapped a boom and Catamaran WOW broke both daggerboards and both had to retire very early.  

Voortrekker II out of Simons Town had a rudder failure that caused a severe influx of water that they could not stem and the crew ended up having to be evacuated onto a passing cargo ship 

whilst their yacht sank, very sad and made even more so for them as the captain of the ship they were rescued by died of heart failure that night. 

 The only other issue was the UCT development team on Ullman Sails sponsored Yacht Gryphon whose rudder broke, causing them to get really creative in their steering methods for a couple of days before Rio, but they made it.

Then disaster struck back home!  Whilst editing and sorting photos my Apple mac, without so much as a squeak, went black – dead.  I handed it over to my trusty propeller head with explicit instructions – whatever you do I need all the photos from the last couple of months that have been saved on there back PLEASE!!  

#Appleiskak

Unfortunately after 3 days of blood sweat and tears even Kevin had to admit defeat.  Off to an i-Store and they were able to, via another laptop and harddrive, duplicate my harddrive so no files were lost thank goodness, but the quote to repair is almost as much as the cost of a new one (really frustrating as this is actually a known fault and they were repairing claims under warranty until 

This is a happy face and laptop

31 December 2016, we wait for news from Apple to see if they will reconsider) and this was my final straw as far as Apple is concerned, so off we went searching for a new laptop and I am happy to announce I have a beautiful, much lighter, faster HP Envy laptop.  As these things do, it took weeks to set up, everything had to be reloaded, software converted etc. but with the endless patience only Kevin has it is now chugging along merrily and I couldn’t be happier.  This though would be the main reason the blog is decidedly late!!

Feeding the penguins @ 2Oceans Aquarium

 

We had a really pleasant surprise when Kylie announced she also wanted to come and visit, she arrived mid January for a week but we managed to convince her to stay another.  I loved having someone to go exploring with, we did all the touristy things we could think of, some of which I hadn’t done yet,

Nemo's - found

 like 2Oceans Aquarium, 

See the crazy lady doing yoga?

Table Mountain – gee whizz it gets so busy, we went early and pre-purchased our tickets, imagine our surprise to see the queues were longer than those buying tickets on site, nearly an hour’s wait, but the views from the top were so worth it, 

we explored a bit more of Kirstenbosch Gardens, making one slight error, Skeleton Gorge sounded interesting so off we traipsed, uphill, for almost a kilometer before checking Google and finding that we were heading for Table Mountain on a hike that is not for the feint hearted, so with wobbly legs and sweaty brows we gratefully made our way back down to the shade and a bench under a tree to recover.  

The offending feathered demon

At Butterfly World we found more than butterflys and got a little more than bargained for when one of the little cute birdies bit Kylie's finger.

Prawn salad @ 2Oceans Restaurant

We had lunch at the Two Oceans Restaurant at Cape Point “honey I shrunk the food” food, beautiful setting and visited the Penguins, lovely.  

Milk tart with Rooibos sorbet, I take
Kylies'word that it was really good

How to start

We also installed a new windlass (electric winch for dropping and recalling the anchor) and re-marked the chain to be able to easily identify how many meters have been deployed,

Finished product

Kylie was a real star and painted the chain for us as well as splicing ropes for mooring lines, was great to have her.

This guy needed gentle persuation
with a boat hook to get moving

Seals are quite prolific here in the harbor and are most happy to make any flat surface their bed in the sun for a while, sometimes they don’t want to give up their spot for anything, we had a visiting yacht that was trying to moor and a seal who was willing to fight with all his might (which was rather a lot) to keep the jetty to himself).

We  managed to get a guy from 2Oceans Aquarium to come out to RCYC as we had a juvenile seal with what looked like plastic around its neck.  They have special implements which they hook under the plastic and it then slices through and cuts off whatever is there.  Unfortunately there is a lot of plastic and stuff floating in the harbor and apparently seals don’t relate what is around their necks to what they are playing with in the water.  One of the biggest culprits, we found out, is the plastic strap that keeps cardboard boxes closed, apparently many people don’t cut it and it ends up in the water and around seals necks, so if nothing else, could everyone please cut the plastic straps, don’t leave them whole, and tell everyone you know too. 

 Anyway, the patient man arrived with dive gear as well, as getting close to the seals to use their special implements is the hardest part, the most effective way is to sneak up on them from the water while they are lying sleeping on a walk on and by the time they know whats going on the constriction is cut.  Well this all worked according to plan except our poor little seal had numerous wires around his neck one of which was cut and after a second attempt he got fed up and swam off, hopefully he ended up in the V&A waterfront where they will be able to better assist him.

So, all that’s left for now is to wish everyone an exciting and prosperous 2017…