Day 4 to Cape Town
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Tue 31 Dec 2019 00:30
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33:54.571
S 18:25.188 E
Day Four
(last eighteen hours) to Cape Town
  Happy pictures
from today. Looking back over the last couple of days – almost exact
copies. These were taken at 04:41 (incredibly light out) and at 11:14. Still no
point in Bear taking any pictures of me, just gather the mental image of a heap
of bedding, tee shirt rolled on head like a turban and a beak sticking out.
Indeed, indeed so.
  Progress at 04:42.
 At ten to five I
could see land as I was enjoying listening to the Desert Island Disc
Archive of Desmond Tutu, honest, fun and great record choices. He described his
time in London – soon after arriving he would be out with his family and would
ask a policeman for directions even if he knew the way. Why ?? To hear a polite
reply and not be talked down to. After lunch the wind began to pick up and our
speed began to increase to seven knots.
  15:38 and
16:03 the Cape of Good Hope.
  Four thirty and some stunning scenery. It was originally called the Cape of Storms by Portuguese explorer
Bartholomew Dias in 1488. It was later renamed, by King John II of Portugal, the
Cape of Good Hope because of the great optimism engendered by the opening of a
sea route to India and the East.
 18:19 some interesting clouds, a couple of dolphins came over to say
‘hello’ and jump for joy.
 At seven o’clock a peaceful scene with
a freighter at sunset.
 A quarter past
seven and my last picture before the gusts grew and grew to top at
forty-seven knots. Splashes over the girl and quite a bit of noise. Bear wound
in half the genoa to no change in our speed. I came up as the noise below was
horrendous, I could feel the genoa wobbling and asked for the whole thing to be
brought in. That was a real fight for Bear to do but I was ‘happier’ when it was
done.
 Nine thirty and the best I could do of Cape Town. Then things got hairier. Wind
more on the nose, gusts to thirty-eight. Allen (Nauti Nauti) had
anchored in Granger Bay as he wanted to go in in daylight on one engine. Kevin
(Canace) messaged and said for us to keep going. Rod (ex of Sheer
Tenacity) rang and told us to tuck in more. So anchor in thirty-eight knots
or try to get into the V+A Marina. Very much a fifty / fifty call. So we headed
on.
 Note this picture was taken of the
chartplotter on a 500 metre scale. It took us an hour
and a half to do five miles. Gusts huge. I radioed for permission to enter the
Port and that done went to be Bear’s eyes “left a bit, right a bit”. It took us
half an hour to cross just the end of the breakwater. One huge wave and gust
turned the girls beak hard toward the breakwater itself. Port Control came on to
warn us that if we carried on with this course we would hit it. “Thank you Sir,
will try not to do that and may have to do a circle to regain control”. Another
fifteen minutes and we finally made it past. No, the wind continued to gust.
Next call was to bridge control. I confirmed what I was looking at and carried
on with the left a bit, right a bit. We had to stay put for what seemed like
forever before the two bridges were up. Once inside – yay – the wind dropped. I
had to keep us on the spot while Bear got ropes and fenders ready.
 At last, Bear said he was ready and I
slowly moved along the fairway. Port Control came back on to say how pleased he
was to see us in to safety. I thanked him for his incredible care and wished him
a Very Happy New Year. A wonderful surprise was see Patrick (Ostrika –
met boat in Sri Lanka and Mada but not the people as on tour etc), Trevor
(Slow Flight) along with Kevin and Irma (Canace). Torches and
head torches were shone and it was an easy end to a traumatic last bit. So here
we are settled at the end of DP Pontoon, the picture was sent to us by Joshio,
one of the marina managers. He deserves a mahoossive hug as he kept our place despite being two weeks late. Trevor and Patrick
went off to bed but Kevin and Irma joined us for well-deserved loaded
cappuccino's. Over too soon, out came the sake in celebration. Bed at three
o’clock.......relieved. The final four hours of our journey made it straight
into number two of the most potentially dangerous things we have had to over
come. A short second to bringing up the anchor in a huge swell, close to a reef
in big gusts when a storm hit the other side of the island from the weather
forecast )Tonga).
  Our 429 nmile
journey (with and without
waypoints) from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town took 78.5 hours and saw us
average 5.46 knots despite the last hour and a half. 7297.2 nautical miles
covered in 2019 bringing our trip total to 39,209 nmiles.
ALL IN ALL UTTERLY THRILLED
TO BE HERE
A SOMEWHAT CHALLENGING ENDING
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