Laughing Until It Hurts - Royal Cape Yacht Club, Cape Town, South Africa
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Mon 3 Dec 2012 03:20
| 33:55.186S 18:26.529E November 26, 2012 - December 2, 2012 We sailed to Cape Town Sunday night, November 25, but the Friday before, we were still in Simon's Town, tied to the False Bay Yacht Club docks. It was chilly, so we were down below with the companionway closed, the electric heater running, and the makings of fried rice in-process when a knock came on the hull. "Harmonie! Anyone there?" Surprise! It was Gerrie Boshoff, captain and owner of South African yacht Wizard, last seen by us the day we dropped out of the World ARC rally in Vanuatu, July of 2008. We had traded emails with Gerrie now and then over the years, so we knew he lived in Johannesburg, and he knew we were in Richard's Bay and then Simon's Town, and although we were hoping to see him there, we weren't sure he would have the time or inclination to fly all the way from Johannesburg to Cape Town to see us, but he did. This is the thing about our fellow World ARC rally participants - the time we spent with them was relatively short at only six months, but the large distance we covered (St. Lucia to Vanuatu) meant eleven major ocean passages were crammed into that time, making for an extremely intense schedule in which fast friendships were formed. It seems any time you bring humans together in an intense environment, bonds are formed, but of course, the beer, wine and booze that flowed regularly throughout the World ARC helped to solidify those bonds, adding quite a few interesting twists along the way. In the end, we can say there aren't many people in the world that would understand why we laugh until it hurts about the tin opener radio conversation held on 'the World ARC' VHF channel the morning we (and Storyteller and Southern Princess) stayed behind in Vanuatu while the rest of the rally carried on to Australia. An outsider listening in on that day probably wouldn't have found it amusing enough to roll around on their cabin sole like we did…but that's only because they didn't sail across the Caribbean and Pacific with that crazy fun group of people like we did. So, that night when Gerrie showed up on our doorstep in Simon's Town with his sailing friend Saul, we laughed until it hurt over a few bottles of South African red and a rehash of the tin opener radio conversation held in Santo, Vanuatu that day in 2008. If you are so inclined, you can find the tin opener radio conversation documented in the blog entry titled "Rally Update and Good-byes" dated July 27, 2008 (scroll waaaaay down on the Index/Map page). You probably won't find it as funny as we did though. Gerrie's friend Saul, who we had met briefly soon after our Simon's Town arrival (he was one of the kindly local sailors that heaped praise on Don for his expert stern-first trek through the marina to our assigned berth), keeps his sailboat at False Bay Yacht Club, so Gerrie stayed with Saul, and on that Saturday, the four of us did what all visitors to the Cape Town area are supposed to do - visit a winery. This time it was Fairview estate near Paarl (which is not far from Stellenbosch), where the attraction is not just the wine (or the goats), but the cheese. Excellent. On Sunday, Gerrie drove us to Cape Town via the renowned Chapman's Peak Drive to the V&A (Victoria and Alfred) Waterfront for sushi at Willoughby & Co. (renowned for its sushi). Sunday night (11/25) we sailed with Gerrie and Saul to Cape Town, where they left us to return to Simon's Town, and then eventually back to Johannesburg. We stayed at the Royal Cape Yacht Club in Cape Town for a week before clearing out of South Africa and heading north to Namibia on December 3. The lovely Chapman's Peak Drive. Literally carved out of the mountainside, Chapman's Peak Drive can be hazardous in high winds due to rock falls. We had no trouble, but if the amount of steel netting installed on the rock walls above the road is any indication, more than a few boulders have rolled down in the past. Saul and Gerrie. Chilly, but still smiling just after sunrise as we approached Cape Town. The iconic Table Mountain. Cape Town would not be Cape Town without Table Mountain. You can see why - the city is truly sandwiched between the mountain and the sea. The new Green Point Stadium finished in 2010 for the World Cup soccer tournament is the most prominent building in the city, but Table Mountain still rules by far. This was our view of the city as we approached the port. We chose to sail overnight from Simon's Town to Cape Town even though the trip could easily have been done during the day because we had been warned about Cape Town's afternoon winds. Nearly every afternoon, the winds accelerate over and around Table Mountain, and zoom through the city, making docking in the very tight Royal Cape Yacht Club a challenge to say the least. It was a little breezy the morning we arrived, but we soon learned that was nothing compared to the typical Cape Town afternoon breeze, or the more impressive three-day full-on southeast Cape Town blow. Nobel Square at the V&A Waterfront. Built to honor South Africa's four Nobel Prize winners: Nkosi Albert Luthuli, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former president FW de Klerk and former president Nelson Mandela. The big lego-looking guy in the background is actually built out of plastic Coke bottle cases - presumably to honor South Africa's 2012 Olympic athletes. The V&A Waterfront itself is a mass of restaurants, upscale shops and other tourist attractions, but it used to be a much less attractive part of the port. Named after Queen Victoria and her son Alfred, the Victoria and Alfred basins were built in 1860. Much of the V&A Waterfront is still used as a port, but for fishing boats, harbor vessels, tugs and yachts as opposed to giant freighters and tankers. We ended up spending a fair amount of time at the V&A Waterfront, not because we were dining out every night, but because the crown Don had re-fitted by a dentist in Mauritius (after my botched replacement job in Chagos) fell out. This time the water-pik was to blame, so at least the crown came out clean instead of covered in a nasty black licorice goo. With the help of the staff at the yacht club, we found a good dentist office at the V&A Waterfront with all the latest technology. They scanned the gaping hole in Don's mouth and two hours later a new ceramic crown was created. Machined, is probably a better term. Not as pretty as Don's old gold one, but it seems to be doing the trick so far (and happily, all for about half what we probably would have paid at home for the same work). Two appointments in two days and all was well. View of the Atlantic from the top of Table Mountain. You can't go to Cape Town without riding the cable car to the top of Table Mountain - but you have to choose your day carefully as the view is not always clear, and the cable car is not always running (doesn't run in high wind). The cable cars are huge (each holds 65 people), and equipped with giant water tanks (1,000 gallons) that act as ballast on windy days. The cars are round for two reasons - less windage on a breezy day, and the floor rotates so passengers get a 360 degree view on the way up and down. Not too shabby, and a far cry from Langkawi's (Malaysia) scary slow moving cable car with rusting support towers. This thing moved and twirled so fast there was no time to be scared. Zoom. We were at the top in a jiffy. Once there, we were greeted with fantastic views like this one. Hiking down Table Mountain. Yup, we hiked down Table Mountain. Perhaps it was in a moment of pure delusion that I insisted we hike down, but after a couple of (very fit) American men (father and son) claimed to have hiked up via the Platteklip Gorge in just over an hour, we decided there was no reason we couldn't hike down the same way in the same amount of time. Two hours later, after passing many younger and fitter hikers going up, and being passed by many younger and fitter hikers going down, we arrived at the bottom, all wobbly legged and dehydrated, but extraordinarily proud. View of Cape Town while hiking down Table Mountain. The Tablecloth. This photo was taken from Harmonie's stern while berthed at the Royal Cape Yacht Club in Cape Town, about twenty minutes into a three-day southeasterly blow. Locals say that when a tablecloth of cloud forms over Table Mountain, beware, because the Cape Doctor winds are coming. They are right (no surprise as locals are always right about these things). We had heard about the tablecloth, but until we saw it for the first time, we didn't really get it. The clouds don't just sit on the mountain, they move. It's more like a cloud waterfall than a tablecloth. We stood mesmerized, staring up watching the clouds pour over the edge of Table Mountain, while the wind cranked up from 20 to 30 to 40 knots in a matter of twenty minutes. Unbelievable. Then it just went on for days, topping out at 54 knots, but gusting into the 40's with sustained winds in the 30's most of the time. We watched while one local sailboat attempted to dock on the leeward side of the fuel dock. It was looking good for a moment - the skipper timed his turn just right…but…another big gust, and forget it, the boat was pushed so far away from the dock there was no way anyone could get off or even throw a line to someone on the dock. Disappointed, the skipper deftly turned the boat around (no easy feat given the howling wind and tight space), and headed back out into the larger boat basin where a yellow mooring buoy is set up just for this purpose (any boat not able to dock in the yacht club during high winds, can pick up the mooring right outside the yacht club entrance, and wait out the big wind there). Here in Namibia where it never rains (never), we are still looking at the coating of black acquired on all Harmonie's lines, rigging, sheets, and decks during that big Cape Town blow; and which is now covered with a dusting of Namibian sand. That first Atlantic squall we encounter on the way to St. Helena is going to feel ever so good. That wraps up our South African travels. Many, many thanks to Gerrie (and Saul) for flying all the way to Cape Town to see us, and for making that chilly overnight sail to Cape Town with us. Our time in Simon's Town and Cape Town was definitely a highlight we won't soon forget. Here's to the next time we get together over a few bottles of red, and laugh until it hurts. Anne |