Happy New Year

On Christmas Eve, we caught two buses to Barbara’s Spencer house, had a coffee there, before she drove us to Kalk Bay. We spent some time in the Waterfront Restaurant overlooking False Bay before having lunch at The Brass Bell. We also popped into a quirky and intriguing Cuban based restaurant. This time we have a photo! We shouted up the mast to Santa.

Barbara and Kathy in Barbara's lovely house

On Christmas Day Kathy was unwell and so we did not go to church. It also meant that we missed going to the local township, Imanzo Yethu, on a tour. We did have fresh salmon, mince pies and expensive chocolates and had a serious chat about our future after cruising. Kathy continued to be poorly for four days and we pottered about. I had the best grilled fish for a long time at Hout Bay Yacht Club; it was delicious; a lady from the yacht, Juba, also had the hake there and contracted food poisoning! Over the Christmas time we had winds constantly over 40 knots with gusts of up to 55 knots, so the mooring lines had to be doubled.

On the penultimate day of the year we set off from Hout Bay round to Cape Town and arrived in time for Sunday roast at the Royal Cape Yacht Club. It was roast beef and chicken with savoury rice and vegetables.

On New Year’s Eve, we walked to the Post Office and Ernest, our helpful PO employee, found our parcel. We were led into the bowels of the massive PO building and after signing a few forms, Kathy caressed the longed for package (well done, Santa;-) The skipper of Toucan returned a gas bottle we had loaned him in Reunion. Later we joined the braai party at RCYC, where I cooked two doubtful looking “stewing” steaks on the BBQ. They were tender and delicious. Just before midnight Dorothy and Brian from Tagish, joined us on Sal Darago for sparkling wine and chocolates as we watched the Cape Town New Year fireworks explode over the bay. The winds were again blowing in excess of 50 knots.

Kathy, Brian and Dorothy in front of Hout Bay

We were up late. By the end of the day we had worked out our route and the timings for our trip to the West Indies. The following day we surfed the internet for solar panels, walked to the chandlery at RCYC and saw gas bottles about to be filled. We returned to Sal Darago and dropped off our empty bottle and, while there, discovered the chandlery could have our anchor windlass rebuilt. We returned to SD and removed the anchor windlass. As we were very late by now, we borrowed two bicycles from Tagish and cycled a few kilometres to some chandleries.

Brian and Dorothy had hired a car and kindly took us around looking for spares and to do some shopping. We found one solar panel to replace our two bimini flexible ones, but it was badly damaged and thus no good. Off we went to the Vetus Mitsubishi chap whom I had phoned on New Year’s Eve. He was most helpful and discovered the Mitsubishi part number for the crankshaft oil seal which was in the process of failing on our engine. We called by Mitsubishi on our way to the shops (well it was kind of the wrong way really) and bought an oil seal, despite the fact the sales person could not guarantee that it would fit a twenty three year old marine engine. As we walked into the shopping maul, my phone rang and I was able to order and pay for two flexible solar panels which I had researched on the internet. iwarehouse promised delivery early the next day. We filled Dorothy and Brian’s boot, or trunk as they like to call it, with food items. 

This is a deceased solar panel and not one year old

It was Friday. We were clearing the country on Sunday – leaving Monday and we had no windlass, no solar panels, no gas bottle and the engine was leaking oil. Hmmm. By 0900 the solar panels were at RCYC reception. By 1145 there were fitted and working. The gas bottle was at the chandlery, but the windlass refurbishment had run into problems and the mechanic required an old bicycle wheel hub? We bought 35 litres of diesel and refuelled. We later purchased a new 33 metre halyard as a spare and finally the windlass was returned complete at 1700. By 1800 it was fitted and declared working. Wow only the engine to sort out. The problem was that the removal of the fan belt pulley wheel from the crank shaft could be “difficult” and the timing chain cover would then have to be removed – lots of things to go wrong.

Kathy and two friendly penguins

Brian and Dorothy wished to drive to Cape Point, Cape McClear and the Cape of Good Hope and we decided to go with them. On the way we stopped off to see the penguins at Simon’s Town. They were lovely and so comical. The three capes are within a couple of miles of each other. We climbed to the lighthouse, which had been a white elephant because of all the fog and then walked to the other two capes. It was a great day out. On our return I started on the engine. After two hours the nut holding the fan belt pulley wheel came off. I had had to use some force and in doing so had bent one of Lloyd’s old spanners which was preventing the wheel from turning. I managed to remove the old seal and remove some rust from the crank shaft without removing the timing chain cover. The new seal fitted perfectly and the engine ran without oil leaking. By midnight the boat was shipshape.

On top of the Cape of Good Hope

As soon as the RCYC office opened, the following morning, we were there to gather our clearance papers. Two and a half hours and about four kilometres later we had our full clearance papers and could leave the next day. Many thanks to Diane at the RCYC for her help and to Tagish for again loaning us their bikes. Cats Paw IV arrived at one o’clock as we were tucking into our Sunday roast, followed by Phryne II and finally Mango. In order, we had been with these boats since Cooktown, Rodrigues and Richards Bay. It was good to see them all again. In the afternoon Kathy did the washing and I filled all the water tanks before we set off for “The Skeleton Coast”, so called because shipwrecked sailors never survived as there was no water, only desert.

New oil seal fitted (it is brown and in the middle)