Just a short hop eh!?
W2N 'Where to Next?'
Rob 'Bee' Clark
Fri 17 Apr 2009 20:12
"Just a short hop down the coast - nothing too challenging"
Well, the good news is that I am now in South Africa, safely on a sheltered mooring at an unbelievably cool Yacht Club called Saldanha Bay Yacht Club. (Hey, Col', SBYC!) More about that in a bit but the point is, I didn't mean to come here - I was heading for Cape Town. Coming here, without wanting to worry anyone unecesarily, was an emergency decision taken when things started getting a bit... ugly.
Ok, so it was always going to be a beat into the wind and waves but then that's what I had become used to. This though was relentless, boat-breaking and physically destructive. I could list all the things that have broken in the last seven days at sea but it would be quicker to simply list the things that haven't. Basically, you'll have noticed a lack of position updates. Well there's the first clue... Most of my electronics have fried. They weren't in the best condition when I left but then I had planned an overhaul of all that in Cape Town. The problem was made worse by constant thick fogs that meant using the radar often and then the final nail in the coffin... the engine failed to start. I think I know what the problem is and it wasn't possible to repair at sea so I was towed onto the mooring this morning by a small Navy launch... Not the dignified arrival I had envisaged!
Besides the engine then, and the batteries, it was a catalogue of breakages (halyards, sheets, shackles... even the ship's clock, my mobile phone, the nav lights again) combined with some of the worst weather yet that makes me very glad to be safely back on a secure peaceful mooring where I can dry everything out and regroup. My worst injury, thankfully, was nothing more than a biscuit crumb in my eye but I don't mind admitting that there have been more than a few moments in the past week in which I've feared for the future of the project. Not just because of the financial pressures but because it breaks my heart to see Canasta getting damaged. John, her previous owner kept her in an immaculate condition and to be honest, she's still structurally fine and is by no means unsafe but I've been driving her hard in some pretty unpleasant conditions and she's starting to yield to the abuse. That said, and it does make me slightly proud to say, the voyage across the North and South Atlantic have been epic and way off of the recognised cruising routes. It's a huge acheivement then even to have got this far and once I'm around the Cape, it should start getting easier on me and Canasta.
This morning, I wasn't feeling so optimistic. Having come ashore (battered) and been introduced to a few folks at the yacht club, I'm feeling a bit more positive. Still battered, but positive. Positively battered! Not least because this club is amazing. I'm on a secure mooring (not an anchor), there are clean and hot showers, a clubhouse with 24hr access that includes a kitchen and washroom for members and guests, TV, shelves full of reading books... and it's very friendly! But that's not all; when I talked to Paul about fees, he said...
"Well, if you stay more than ten days, we'll come to some arrangement but for now, it's all free"
Now that's pretty special.
So that's it. Sorry I've not been keeping you up to date with my progress but you'll appreciate I hope that I was unable to waste valuable battery power using the computer and to be honest, well, I just wasn't in the mood!
What now then?
I took a quick drive into Saldanha today to sort out the formalities. (In fact, I got a lift with a couple of club members who insisted on takling care of everything). The town has everythig a cruising sailor could possibly want including a Ship's Chandlery... Yey! I've already been advised who to speak to about the repairs and I'm confident that I will leave here, I don't know when, with a new bank of powerfull deep-cycle batteries and some lovely new bits of string that won't break!
That's it.
Shower
Sleep