3/3/2012
Hi guys,
It's about time I wrote something in here again. After all, we have been in this country for almost three months now. Things in Richards Bay took an abominably long time as everything comes to a standstill at the beginning of December and it stayed that way until almost the middle of January. Finally we were able to get a new shroud, which set us back about one "boat unit" of € 1,000 (US$ 1,250). We used the waiting time to visit several national parks together with our friends Michael and his wife Sylvia from TANOA. We saw lions, elephants, giraffes, cape buffalo, rhinos, hippos, crocodiles and a lot of other animals in the wild. Cheetahs and leopards were conspicuously absent, though. When Sylvia left for Hamburg, Edmund came with the same plane which took her away. We had known Edmund on his own catamaran FELICITAS while we were in New Zealand. Now he planned to sail with Michael all the way back home.
Finally all was ready, the weather forecast was favorable and we took off. First the Raymarine autopilot died. The starboard engine stopped running as there seemed to be air in the system. I replaced the linear drive of the autopilot, all the time being quite seasick, unfortunately to no avail. We had to go into Durban to get this stuff fixed and we had to hand-steer until we got there. Then, already inside the harbor, I started to go a bit slower - and the other engine died as well. I had no choice, but to drop the anchor, which pleased port control no end.
After Michael and Edmund had a quick look, I decided to get professional help. The mechanic Jonathan quickly diagnosed and solved the engine problem, so that both 40 horse Volvos were working properly again. One more time (hopefully the last) the main problem was caused by the incompetent mechanic in Thailand. The autopilot was another matter. I needed a new course computer, which cost another € 2,700 (US$ 3,375). Bummer! Finally we could clear out once more and when we were barely outside the harbor, I had to steer innumerable circles to align the compass of the new course computer and then had to complete the "auto-learn" feature, which entailed a rather long zigzag course. By that time TANOA wasn't even to be seen any more. They'd had their own nasty experience before, because they had sailed 300 miles for nothing, as the weather forced them to turn back to Durban. Michael is a professional seaman and has a captains license for ships, so you can guess what conditions were like. The "Wild Coast" is really not the right place to fool around in during bad weather.
Of course the inclement weather was just waiting for us. We all had to seek shelter in Port Elisabeth. Gerold on his MOMO was in the marina, but since we wanted to avoid the endless paperwork, we decided to anchor outside the harbor. I switched off the autopilot – and immediately lost all our steering. I had to use the emergency tiller and the auto pilot again. Both steering cables had snapped. Poor Edmund spent hours in our engine room, as he had done in New Zealand. Port Control wanted us in the marina, but I strictly refused. We got permission to enter the harbor by dinghy the next day. Gerold, Edmund and I got the new cables and then Edmund and Michael worked like maniacs to install everything, as they planned to leave that very evening. When the wind plays ball here, you must make every effort to take advantage of it.
The plan was to go around Cape Agulhas, which is in actual fact the southernmost cape in Africa, and not the Cape of Good Hope as many erroneously believe. French sailing legend (and my and Elis inspiration) Bernard Moitessier called Cape Agulhas "one of the three great capes". The local fisherman seem to agree with that assessment. TANOA, having a wider variety of sails and being generally faster than us, actually made it around on the fist go, but we got caught by the weather again. We tacked in all morning to Struisbaai only to find out that there was pretty much no shelter from the wind. Also, there is a wreck which is shown incorrectly on the chart. After the worst wind had died down a bit, we left again in the evening and rounded Cape Agulhas at 8:00 pm.
We had intended to go right around the Cape of Good Hope, which is also sometimes called the Cape of Storms. They say that every year there are 100 days of Force 11 (56 knots or more) or even higher winds around there. I sure as hell don't want to sail around there during the worst time of the year! Once again the radio told us about bad weather coming our way. The weather forecasts were very often wrong, but you ignore them at your peril. We decided to head for Hermanus, which again took the whole morning of tacking. When we arrived we saw lots of rock, kelp, seals and a truly tiny harbor. Nowhere to anchor really. As nobody answered on the VHF, I anchored in the entrance and put the dinghy in the water. Nada. I was getting pretty frantic at the time and even considered to head out into the weather. The radio upgraded the situation into a "gale warning" with "Very Rough Seas". You can actually hear the capital letters. Perfect!
Suddenly Cape Town Radio was on the line and after a seemingly interminable interview they promised that they would call the Hermanus people on the phone. Nothing happened for several hours. The promised official didn't show up. By then I had decided to go into the harbor, one engine or no. The wind had picked up quite a bit already when suddenly a big RIB of "Sea Rescue" showed up. I definitely had not asked for those guys, but nonetheless I was more than happy to have them there. Henk with his powerful engines could tow me wherever he wanted, while the other two guys in the RIB were taking up slack and making sure that all went well. Still, it took about an hour, until we were finally tied up to a huge mooring there.
All was not well, as the mooring balls were connected by chains which acted like a hacksaw and proceeded to cut into my freshly painted boat. There was not much we could do, as the wind was getting stronger and the whole next day we huddled inside. When it died down a bit I went ashore in the dinghy where I met Boet Scheun, who originally comes from Namibia and even speaks German. He runs a commercial diving school and when I asked him about directions to the next supermarket, he immediately offered to drive us all there. The mooring problem had meanwhile been solved, but now one of the hard mooring balls kept slamming into our side. I winched it up, but it wasn't really satisfactory. When Liping had bought about one cubic meter of provisions, we called Boet who promptly picked us up. Then he showed me pictures of a big storm, where the whole harbor had been under water and several ships sunk. To show our appreciation for all his troubles, we invited him and Francois on board for a "sundowner". As far as we are concerned, the friendliness and willingness to help is the best part of South Africa for us.
The morning after we finally made it around the Cape of Good Hope. We drifted the whole night in the vicinity, as we didn't want to arrive at our destination in Houtbaai in the dark. Our friends Kirk of SALSA and Lars of LUNA were waiting at the dock when we arrived. As before, the starboard engine was running, but it provided no thrust whatsoever. Something is probably broken in the gearbox. The mechanic is supposed to come next week, all our sails and the sail-cover are with the sail maker and we have already applied for a three-month visa extension. Joshua Lin from the "unofficial Taiwan consulate" drove us all over the place so that Liping could buy Chinese foodstuffs, which are essential for good cooking. We have already ordered the materials for 4th grade from Calvert School as Aurora Ulani is going to finish 3rd grade around the end of June or in July.
Next on the agenda is the visa for Brazil. Liping has to to appear in person at the consulate. Trinidad & Tobago have made it clear that she can only apply for a visa in her home country, which means we have to send the passport by courier service to Taiwan and back again. Very expensive and time consuming. TANOA is taking off to Namibia today, while LUNA is on the hard in Cape Town. SALSA, MOMO & DAKOTA are still here as well as many other new friends.
Last night we went to a party on land and were told by one artist there, that she had never heard somebody talk so much about an eight-year-old child. (Kirk? Lars? Who?) She seems to be getting quite a reputation among the yachties! Fortunately there was a black cat, she got a present of a book about cats and then there was Tuk from Thailand which she knew since Mauritius. We learned a lot of new things about this country and had a very interesting evening.
Today DAKOTA-Peter invited us into a posh fish restaurant here, in order to thank us for the numerous computer jobs. All is well on board, our daughter is playing with two kids from the boat next to us and for me and Liping there is always enough to do. Boredom is certainly not one of the problems here.
Cheers!
Holger, Liping & Aurora Ulani
Catamaran DHARMA BUM III
Hout Bay Marina, Berth No. 90
Catamaran DHARMA BUM III
Hout Bay Marina, Berth No. 90
South Africa
34°03.02'S 018°20.85'E
Phone 1: +27719749347 Holger
Phone 1: +27719749347 Holger
Phone 2: +27719284443 Liping
