Mid May 2015 - Mid June 2015 (False Bay Yacht Club - Simons Town)

At Houtbay Market

Wow, three weeks really is a long time.  Dropped Kevin at the airport on Saturday morning, off to Japan, then bided my time for a couple of hours and collected Gaynor who flew down, compliments of Kevin and Johnny, for Mothers Day on the Sunday.  What a lovely present.  

We did the tourist thing for three days, absolutely wore Gaynor out lol.  We visited the Hout Bay Market, had lunch with Blythe and Henk in Kenilworth, great to catch up, dinner at Eileen, 

Great weather for a bus ride

the Blue and Red Route of the Hop on Hop off Tour bus with a couple of hours in between at V&A Waterfront for lunch, what a wonderful experience, funny and informative.  A visit to the hairdresser, 

Penguins to the right, Penguins to the left

See - "The Mountain"

Penguins and the submarine tour.  Then all of a sudden it was all over and Gaynor was winging her way back home, grateful for some peace and quiet I think. 

In charge on the Sub

So I had 2.5 weeks to keep myself entertained, recon I did a pretty good job.  Painted the Stbd front cabin, cupboards and bilges – still have white highlights in my hair.  

A Cassowary, damn ugly
but so photogenic!!

Spent time at World of Birds, what an awesome place to see all kinds of birds, mainly damaged or permanently 

Albino squirrel

disabled and some abandoned ex-pets, most are not shut away in cages 

Pink Ibis & my shoe!

but are in aviaries that you walk through and which enables you to get quite close in some areas (took a while to get the poop out from the bottom of my shoes though).  

Monkey Land, the big aviary full of

 squirrel monkeys was my all time favourite.  They climb all over you, looking for anything that might be hidden in your pockets then just have fun, adorable.  They are so damn fast it is impossible to take photos of them, even more so when they are staring right into your camera lens. 

I got to a bit of sewing too, made new blue covers for the stuff in the saloon and some new “curtains” for the cabins, turned out I don’t like the material so the bathrooms have new curtains and I am still on the hunt for the ever elusive curtain material I will be happy with.  I even managed trips to Century City and Retreat without getting lost, an amazing feat.  Skype is a great means of communication and Kevin and I spent quite a bit of time using it, but its much nicer having him home again, especially as the weather turned a bit nasty, nicer having someone to share the nervous moments with.

Kevin’s Japanese adventure (by Kevin :-)) :

Spotted while walking
surely a brain frying
hazard?

I arrived in Tokyo on the Sunday afternoon and was soon on my way to my favorite hotel in HonAtsugi – the Rembrandt J these days on arrival I get greeted like a long lost friend – I think I have been here too many times already.

This trip really was a new high in the coming close to Nature’s fury stakes, first on 12 May a super typhoon whizzed past just off Yokohama dumping quite a lot of rain and heavy wind – Noul was its name ……first good reason to leave the office before 6 PM on a weekday – in the office there were English warnings of the storm and advising an early departure from the office – YAY. http://www.weather.com/storms/typhoon/news/typhoon-noul-japan-okinawa-tokyo-2015

Next morning was a 6.8M quake just after 6am – quite a distance off shore – had the hotel rocking - and I am on the 11^th floor. Great start to the trip.

Doing Rice Fields
with Mohan

Any space is put to use

I learned a little more about rice farming the day I met up with Mohan for a lunch at Little India. I walked to the restaurant from the hotel and the walk went past a number of rice fields and I was amazed at how this process works. The rice farmers have some pretty cool machines to automate the process – but it is still a long hard process. The fields are all laid out along the rivers and built in layers that form terraces.

Yanmar Rice Planter

Preparing fields (mud)

These can be selectively flooded by channeling water from ducts crisscrossing the fields. Once full of water – a tractor has a leveling tool on the back that loosens the sand into a muddy solution and leaves it in a flat path. This water stays in and the mud settles. Sometime later there is a rice planting machine brought in to plant the rice shoots – then these are left to grow over summer, water management is key to the success of the crops, and success means good money for these farmers. Some rather interesting info can be found in these links: http://ricepedia.org/japan

Explanation of Erevator
made me laugh

http://www.akafuji.co.jp/andjapanrice/english/tradition/01.html

Funny this, my stay at the Rembrandt had to be disrupted for one night as the hotel was fully booked before I made my booking – on Sunday 24 I had to pack up all my goodies – check out Monday morning. Then into another hotel for one night – then back to the Rembrandt for the last two nights. Hotel for the 25th was nice but small – for a few nights it could work – for a few weeks Nope. Had to leave the room to change my mind it was so small J

The disabled parking bays

These poor people

Then I also learned the meaning of handicapped parking – took these two pictures to illustrate – I guess owning a Lamborghini Diablo qualifies as a handicap ??

At the SAP office, Tokyo

Lastly on Monday 25 May a 5.3M earthquake with a depth of 35km below Tokyo – I was in the SAP japan office in Tokyo, on the 6^th floor in a meeting room when the building started gently swaying – the Japanese SAP consultants hardly acknowledged it, then a little more serious shaking – then all the Japanese Cellphone Quake alarms went off. Everyone looked around nervously and someone says – this is pretty serious – I grab my cell phone and stick it in my pocket (figured it may come in handy when people start looking for me J) Luckily it started easing off and the gentle swaying returned, about another 5 minutes and we were back to normal – this place is fascinating. I will admit I looked under the table for shelter and found each seat has a hard hat and survival bag hanging below it – comforting… Anyway, the trip was a success and I flew out on Thursday this time and what a luck – both legs of the trip I had an empty seat next to me – this is the way to do it from now.

Just before Kevin left our helm seat was basically, FINALLY, finished.  All that was required were the bushes to enable it to swivel safely, these were eventually delivered after Kevins return and true to prediction, the invoice turned out to be double the cost of the quote.  A really lovely job but was it worth the hassle and the cost? Hmmm……….

 

We had a surprise visit from Alma and Leandri, they made a road trip to Cape Town to deliver Leandri and her car and made time to come and visit, we haven’t seen each other for years, so much to catch up on….

Temperatures have dropped to 14deg C highs this week, two days of continuous rain, the weather bureau predicted 100% rain for one day, never heard that before! All add up to winter, in my book anyway, the helpful chap in Foodlovers Market happily informed me winter only begins in July in Cape Town.  Doing the washing becomes quite a challenge in these winds, dehumidifier is put to full use and that which goes outside is pegged severely. 

We went to a “cultural” evening with the other liveaboard yachties from the Club, takes place at Clovelly Golf Club once a month, they have a limited, reasonably priced menu for the event and it costs R50.00 per person for the entertainment.  

This is apparently mainly musicians or singers or both, this time we had two singers, the first guy was good, you could imagine sitting at a wine farm or in a lounge around a nice crackling fire listening to him, the second was a real hippie throw back, long white hair, gypsy pants and brilliant on the guitar, combined with a sharp sense of humour he was the favourite.  One thing is for sure, one is never stuck for something to do in Cape Town!!

The 40 – 50 knot winds we experienced in the first week of June did some damage to walk-on A, it has the misfortune of quite a steep ramp from the bridge and this seems to have come unstuck in the howling wind, destroying itself in the process.  

Resulted in a couple of liveaboards being stuck on the mooring “island” then they moved, now we have new neighbours J, we are grateful we are tied up at the end of the main walk on where the structure seems a bit stronger.  We still had loads of being thrown around and jerking, extreme weather for sure, no wonder it is called the Cape of Storms.

After trying very hard to come up with an answer to the eternal question – “What do you do all day?” no matter how much I spell out my daily tasks, it just sounds like nothing.  So I have decided that I am no longer going to be doing “nothing”, instead I am going to devote more time and effort to my favourite hobby  – photography, and try to make it more of a profession.  I am going to be spending a lot of time learning and becoming proficient in Photo Shop and will be spending a lot more time taking photos and putting into practice all that I have learned from my course and am learning on line.  I have made a start and already registered a number of photos with iStock and will continue to build on that.  You have been warned J

Seal Island fore Cape Point behind

Lunch on the go

Finally the weather improved and we went sailing, what a super fun day, around Seal Island again, sailed with seals and penguins but didn’t spot any sharks, then up toward Cape Point and on the way back suddenly a spout appeared less than 15 meters in front of us 

Enjoying his new seat

followed by a really speedy dive by a whale, so close we braced for impact but the clever thing was out of the way, what a fright.  Just after we had finished tying up on our mooring and were sitting on the front with our GnT sundowners low and behold there was a whale in the channel behind our boat at the marina, guess it must have liked us.

Apparently a picture
speaks louder than words

So now the stbd rear cabin has also been painted and is looking all new and spiffy and we are getting to grips with many of the little things that need addressing and planning a sail this weekend again, weather looking good, although it is severely cold out there!! 

Keep warm and cozy everyone, if all else fails whiskey coffee’s are the answer J

April 2015 - May 2015 (False Bay Yacht Club - Simons Town)

Winter is not for sissies!!

Winter is setting in – that Cape Town winter that I have so dreaded, so far so good….

The water in the Marina is usually crystal clear, all the way to the bottom, this gave us the perfect view of a really fishy visitor, under the boat as we awoke – a really cute seal who kept us entertained for at least an hour J

Unfortunately we are not having a lot of joy with the work we need to have carried out on the boat.  We have bashed our heads over and over with the seat post, a job that has now taken over two months, the guys in the back yard in Inhaca were so much more efficient!! The fiberglass quote and cost of being on the hard are extremely high and we have decided to take a step backward and explore other options.  This unfortunately means we will not be able to do any work before the end of winter, probably September, so in the meantime we will get the boat sailable, do as many of the small jobs as we can and have a bit of fun sailing when the weather allows.

We were back from Japan for a week and headed west for the Easter weekend.  We booked into a really lovely Guest House in Port Owen for two nights and did some exploring of the marina’s and Yacht Clubs on the West Coast, in preparation for moving around there.

Port Owen Marina

We started at Port Owen Yacht Club, unique in its member status, not long ago it was in danger of closing as most of the members were in their 90’s, brought down by one who was in his 70’s.  They have a lovely club house and we were in time for a market on the Saturday, unfortunately we missed socialising in the bar as it closed early and for the weekend.

Kevin enjoying the solitude @ Port Owen

The Yacht Club does not run the marina and moorings, this is managed separately by the water front.  The moorings are all the way at the end of the Berg river, leaving them very well protected and they are busy upgrading all the walk-on’s to floating pontoons.  Kevin felt really at home here – the marina, not the club ha ha.

Saldanha Moorings

We travelled to Saldanha Yacht Club, a popular stop for yachties, especially those leaving South Africa as you can clear out of the country here and this is the best place to depart toward Port Owen, Luderitz or St Helena from.  They have a great club house and seem a fantastic bunch of people, but no fixed moorings, only mooring buoys, for which they charge fixed mooring rates.  We are a little concerned about leaving the boat swinging unattended on a buoy while we travel, on those trips that I join Kevin, so will have to play this one by beer.  I really liked it here.

Paternoster Market

A quick stop at Paternoster on the way, such an interesting name and such an interesting little town.

Langebaan Lagoon

Then to Langebaan Yacht Club.  Also a stunning club yet not the friendliest people, but it was the Easter Weekend and they were exceptionally busy so maybe it will be better another time.  No fixed moorings or mooring buoys here though, in fact little to no protection whatsoever from the elements.  A nice place to sail to, from other clubs, methinks.

Club Mykanos Marina

Next was Club Mykanos.  This is a Greek theamed glitzy, loud, popular holiday and timeshare destination so the restaurants and shops in the complex are humming with activity but the marina is pretty private with good quality fixed moorings and great protection from the elements.  

Our Joy in Club Mykanos Marina

Amazing to find two boats from Richards Bay that have made this their new home, Anabella and Our Joy.  We would probably seriously consider a period of time here, preferably out of season, only their waiting list seems really long, will have to get on it and see.

Kevin has been really busy with Skype meetings with Poland programmers and putting proposals together for work that might see him travelling to other parts of the East, exciting stuff for him.  We also had a great day at Jakkalsfontein visiting Carel and Lizinda, lots to catch up on and a most beautiful setting to do so.  On our way in we stopped at the Farmstall which sells produce from local wineries, bought a bottle of Port and Jeripico to help ward off the winter chills, only got one bottle of each so winter better be over soon coz they nearly are!!!

Amazingly the wind dropped for a couple of days so we decided to head out for a putt around False Bay, to Seal Island.  No wind in False Bay seems to mean FOG however, and we left in what we thought was clearing fog but which left us sailing for a couple of hours without being able to see more than a couple of meters around the boat.  Gave us a good reason to use all the navigation

Seal Island & Cage Diving boat

 skills we have learned on our courses, plotting and planning our course on a paper chart in case of instrument failure, interesting.  Eventually it cleared and we warmed up a bit and managed a bit of sailing, just nice to be out on the water again.  No sharks or whales, but a couple of penguins and many seals and some Cage Shark Diving charter boats.

New & old engine mounts

New engine mount in place, stopping water

We uncovered a disturbing situation – we replaced the engine mounts and when Kevin removed the mounting bolts from the engine bay on the starboard side he had a rather strong surge of sea water into the boat, indicating some form of hull breach causing a leak.  Once the new mounts were installed and the bolts re-secured the leak stopped but this is not a good situation so the boat will come out of the water on Thursday 30 April for the weekend, back on Monday afternoon, during which time we will clean and apply anti-foul and find and fix the source of the leak and get back in the water (in theory that is). 

A visit to Cape Town by old sailing friends Barry and Lola and Rauen and Kyle of S/V Yrumour kept us busy and amused, so great to catch up. Looks likely that we will see more of them in the future when Rauen is accepted to Stellenbosch University.  

Add to this a flying visit from Bob Arthur and family, visiting from Adelaide, Australia, taking advantage of Bob’s daughter Kim’s wedding for a holiday in South Africa. 

We then made a quick trip up to Pretoria, via Kimberley on the way up, stopping at Kambro in the Karoo overnight.  This was a truly South African outback experience, very basic accommodation and food, a lovely shop selling all sorts
 
of home made items and pickles and preserves, great gift ideas. 

We finally got to test drive the guest room at Villa Weston, felt like being home again, thanks guys (especially Nicole for the amazing waffles).  



I had fun at the stables where Gaynor works as Instructor on one of the Pony Camp days, got to play with Cara (little dawg) and pigs and rabbits 









and ducks and chickens and geese and horses, went home smelly and dusty, awesome :-)

  We spent some time with Marge who had what we hope is a successful re-do of her foot op and squeezed in time with the rest of the family.  
In true us style, two days before leaving Kevin finds a really worthwhile deal in the Autotrader – a 2010 Terios with only 15 000 km’s on the clock – genuine!!  So in between everything we (thanks to all for help, especially our “Landlady”) managed to trade our little Micra in and return to Cape Town in a really comfortable chariot.  I foresee a couple of road trips in our future, while work is effected on Maxscene, and a more suitable mode of transport for Gaynor once we leave South Africa, the Garage owner told her she would kill a Micra!!

The trip back was via Bloemfontein, stopping overnight at a great Guest House – Spes Bona - in Colesburg.  We were the only patrons so there was no one to complain at us watching the rugby, rather noisily, after a great dinner at The Plattelander Restaurant .  Traditional food delux, even pampoen fritters.  Although it was a really quick and busy trip we had lots of fun…

So now, out she comes.  Our dear friend Eileen jumped once more to the rescue, insisting we stay at her house while Maxscene is out on the hard.  I am particularly grateful as toilets and sinks etc cannot be used while on the hard and I was a tad pensive about maneuvering down the steps in the dark on the way to the loo in the club!!


 

Removing the boot to gain access to the
shaft where the hole is

The hole circled in red

New boot installed once repair was
complete

Our time on the hard was most certainly not wasted.  Firstly we found the offending hole in the shaft of the sail drive leg, lining right up with a hole that had been drilled in the bottom surround of the shaft under the protective boot, a mishap that we can only assume must have happened during construction, fortunately it was not as serious as it could have been.  Kevin repaired that 

Drain and hole

Sika'ed back in place and sealed

Straw drainage

then we did some more investigating as we had a little puzzle, a little fountain of water that would spurt up through a pin hole the shelf in the passage whenever we were at sea.  We traced it back to the sink outlet, discovering this had never been sika’ed in or sealed properly and there was a hole on the side of the drain cavity, into the chine.  A straw was employed – clever piece of engineering – and for an hour water was drained from the chine.  




Minor repairs were carried out on the starboard transom which had minor damage from bashing the walk-on really hard in a big blow.

Sail drive oil changed

Anodes replaced

Tertius assisting with sail drive
service

Through hull fittings serviced

Through hull fittings replaced

Ready for painting

Working hard

Propeller before attention

Propeller cleaned up and replaced

Spraying off growth

Needing a clean

The chandlery guys high pressure washed the hulls, after which we scraped off all barnacles, stubborn growth and flaking old anti-foul paint.  We serviced the sail drives, sanded and spruced up the propellers, removed, serviced and re-installed the through hull fittings and both hulls were given two good coats of anti-foul.  By Sunday night we were done, Monday at high tide we were unceremoniously tossed back in the water, no leaks and a very much happier boat and owners – definitely better floating.  A huge amount of respect for the guys and equipment here at False Bay Yacht Club, a slick, controlled and professional operation from haul out to re-launching.  Unfortunately it doesn’t matter how good the operation though, the nerves take a serious pounding, really stressful.  Thank heavens it all went without a hitch.

Looking beautiful again

Between the clean bum and the water drained from the engine bed and the chine NOW we should go like a rocket :-).

Kevin is off to Japan on the weekend, for three weeks and once he is back we can hopefully get to do some sailing, its coming into whale season and who knows we might get lucky……