Back where it all began!
Bamboozle
Jamie and Lucy Telfer
Fri 4 Nov 2016 11:08
Well......we have made it back to South Africa. Back in October 2003 we arrived in Durban to start our "Zero to Hero" Yacht-master sailing course and just over 13 years later we sailed back in on Bamboozle, another step closer to closing the loop. We had the most extraordinary passage from Mauritius, two days of fabulous trade wind sailing and then zilch, on with the engine and we spent most of the next 10 days motoring or motor sailing, nursing our rapidly diminishing supply of diesel, nudging our way slowly closer to Africa. We had one very gentle cold front come through that gave us enough wind to sail for 12 hours and then back on with the iron donkey. We are not complaining as most people seem to suffer from far too much wind on this passage but 177 hours with the Yanmar thumping away in the background wasn't exactly what we expected. It is the first time we have ever had to use our 200 litres of extra fuel which we always carry in jerrycans to top up the 600 litres we carry in the main tank and I was still dipping the tank nervously in the last few days as I tried to eek out every mile as efficiently as possible. Of course we could have stopped the engine and drifted in circles for a few days but we could see in the forecast that behind the calm was a thumping great gale that we didn't really fancy!
Motoring gently into the sunset with Africa lurking somewhere over the horizon with a genuine oily calm ocean that is not a common sight in this part of the world.
Lucy hoisting the South African courtesy flag.....the very same flag we were flying when we departed from Cape Town in Savoir Vivre in 2004.
Bamboozle snuggled up in Durban Marina where we were made very welcome.
Just a day or two after we arrived we had a very special surprise visit from our dear friend Paul Stewart-Reckling down from Jo'burg for the weekend. Back in 2003 Paul was living in Durban and his guest suite was our refuge from Ocean Sailing Academy and sleeping 6 up on a 34 foot training yacht. If it wasn't for his kindness and support I am not sure we would have made it through the shambolic first month of the course and I may never have got Lucy onto the ocean at all!