Just the usual start of trip collisions
Fleck
Sun 24 Mar 2013 10:43
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23-03-13
Position 31:44S 17:16E
Left Cape Town yesterday morning early, with a
forecast of strong but favourable winds, and the usual anxieties at the start of
a long trip. Preperation has been very pleasant, the Royal Cape Yacht Club
is a convivial place, I spent two days with my old work colleague Harry Norcott,
and braved downtown Cape Town on a Saturday night to attend a small concert in a
Masonic Temple within the Parliament Building.
Also an accident and incident free, and fairly
cheap, rent car. So luck could not hold, and the day before I left my wallet
dissapeared in the check out queue at the Supermarket. The usual chaos,
cancelled cards etc, and my driving licence also a victim, though I am not
anticipating needing it again before, and if (see below) I get home.The next
day, the YC receives a call from a man with a mobile phone who says he has my
wallet. I phone him and he wants to meet me outside the main railway station to
'give' it back to me, minus the cash of course. Stuff that for a bunch of
cherries!
An anxious day at sea yesterday culminated in my
colliding with a tanker off Cape Collumbine. Had the guy in vision, and also
tracking him on my AIS radar, he was in a traffic seperation lane, I was in the
small craft inshore shipping lane, and he was overtaking about a mile off to
port. I was cooking supper when about five mins later we collided. My high zoom
electronic chart did not disclose that the seperation zone had a break to allow
traffic to turn right into a local port, and I was cooking supper and not paying
attention to the screen. Of course it was his responsibility to keep clear, but
thes big guys either don't see you, or they ignore you. Miraculously I not only
survived, but there seems to be not structural damage to the boat, just the
masthead wiped clean of some quite expensive and useful electronics, not to
mention my nav lights.
This was a glancing blow, and I suppose that the
pressure of water moving down the side of the tanker keeps the boats apart? Down
below there was a rather curious change in the wave pattern, but absolutely no
noise, until the first of several loud bangs transmitted down the mast. Of
course I shot out of the companionway to find a surreal scene: To port was a
huge brown cliff against which we were relatively travelling backwards,
mast banging against it as we went. Suddenly the end of the cliff was in sight:
I could see the ships rudder, and the prop wave. And an instant later the prop
wave had smashed over the stern and filled the cockpit. And then it was all
over, and the cliff receeded into the night. On this occasion my deck floodlight
still worked (See Indonesian adventure!) and there was no sign of hull to hull
damage, and the mast was straight, and all the standing rigging was in place. I
pondered whether to try and sail back upwind to a harbour but finally
decided to carry on, under much reduced rig. This morning the masthead itself
looks pretty normal, just a bit bare!So I am continuing. The forecast is for
lighter winds in a day or so, and then I can get up the mast fairly safely and
do a closer check. If there is a problem, there is a yacht friendly port in
Namibia(!).
Have had a good sleep this morning, and feel
better. Toothache a bit of a worry:I had an extraction two days before leaving
UK, but I serioisly think that he pulled the wrong one!
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