Simon’s Town, South Africa to Luderitz, Namibia

  

Rounding the Cape of Good Hope

Having taken local advice and checked the weather ourselves, we could not believe how awful it was when we awoke on our day of departure, Tuesday, 24^th January. The wind was gusting down the mountain at 30 knots and there was heavy rain. We checked the weather again. It was all going to clear by lunchtime….. I was not convinced but we continued with our preparations to leave.

The Port of Cape Town

We bought bread and milk, had lunch ashore, handed in our yacht club keys, untied all our lines and reversed out of our berth. The rain had stopped and the wind was gusting 10-20 knots from the NW. At least it was in the right direction. As predicted, by the time we reached Cape Point the wind had gone round to the SW and would be good for us as we motorsailed up the west coast to Cape Town. There was a long, big swell at the Cape of Good Hope and waves breaking on Bellows Rock.

Jeremy in Table Mountain Bay

We were now in the South Atlantic and already feeling the cool presence of the north flowing Benguela current. Darkness fell. We passed Hout Bay and ahead we noted some vessels on our AIS. One was called Cape Storm. We assumed they were fishing vessels as their speed and direction kept changing, causing our collision alarm to keep going off. I thought we were clear of the vessels but Cape Storm turned towards us at a speed of 7.5 knots. I woke Jeremy and called him up to the cockpit as the vessel approached our stern and kept coming. I called on VHF 16 and got no response. Jeremy shone our spotlight at it and saw it was a sailing yacht. It turned away but started to turn back, so we turned away and let it pass. Very scary.

Kathy in Southern Ropes

With no more dramas and permission from Cape Town Port Control, we took down our sails and motored through the port to our previously booked berth in Royal Cape Yacht Club. We had informed all the authorities in advance, by email, of our intention to arrive at RCYC.

The view from our berth in RCYC

The next day we paid £80 for our berth for 7 nights, £269 for diesel and £8 for laundry tokens. RCYC has everything on site eg restaurant, bar, hot showers, water and electricity on the pontoons, fuel berth, chandlery, boatyard. The clubhouse had been extended since our last visit. We were surprised to see MAIDEN, without a mast, berthed just below the restaurant. The famous British, all-female yacht was in RCYC for planned maintenance.

Maiden in RCYC

It’s safe to walk in the secure port area and into town. We used Bolt/Go taxis when we needed to. A visit to Southern Ropes led to us buying a new mainsheet, halyard, reefing lines and a mooring line. At Seaport Supplies a short walk away, we bought stainless items and measured up for a new stanchion. For non yachties stanchions are posts around the decks through which safety lines are threaded, forming a fence or barrier to help prevent sailors accidentality falling overboard. One of ours was bent when the wind pushed us into the stern quarter of our neighbour’s yacht called Shiprec, as Jeremy reversed out of our berth. The stanchion caught on Shiprec’s overhanging braai (BBQ). Although shocked at the time, the owner was happy for us to give him a bottle of wine, as there was no damage to his boat and only a slight dent in the braai support.

Stanchion replacement

The day before our exit from Cape Town, we picked up a letter from RCYC and walked to Immigration and Customs. Both are housed in the same building in different offices. We filled in the required forms for Immigration and our passports were stamped. Customs had gone digital. Various forms and documents (8 pages) had to be filled in by hand, scanned/photographed by us and attached to an email. It took a while but we did as requested. Off we went to the last office, Port Control. Here we noticed our email to Customs could not be received as their mailbox was full! Port Control tried to help but could not. We completed the formalities at Port Control and returned to Customs. After several telephone calls, permission was given for an officer to clear us out manually.

Kathy in Table Mountain Bay

We had a late lunch at the V&A waterfront and shopped for our trip at Woolworths and Pick and Pay. We returned to RCYC by taxi. After unpacking, filling up with water and showering, we had a final drink in the bar. At 0800 on Tuesday 31^st January, we slipped our lines, having called Port Control and set off on our passage to Namibia.

Ready for some cold water bottom scrubbing

Dassen Island is a bird sanctuary and a nesting place for Cape penguins. Landing is not permitted. It is a safe anchorage about 35 miles from Cape Town. Jeremy went overboard wearing his wetsuit to clear more wildlife off SD’s bottom. We spent a peaceful night there along with four or five anchored fishing vessels. The following morning the fog was so thick we could not see the fishing vessels just outside the bay. We weighed anchor at 0600 and motored carefully out to sea using AIS, radar, GPS and me standing on the bow as look-out. Gradually, the fog cleared, dolphins played around us and a school of whales could be seen off our starboard beam.

 

Quite quickly, as we approached Cape Columbine, the wind increased from 9 knots to 20 knots. Normally, we would have reefed the full mainsail but we only had a few miles to go to our anchorage in Sandy Bay. The wind blew stronger. We struggled to lower the mainsail in gale force gusts. Even when we anchored we recorded 36 knots of wind. It was a blowy night after a 56 mile journey.

Windy Sandy Bay

Our final stop in South Africa was Lambert’s Bay, 42 miles further north. The wind had moderated to 20 knots by morning. It was behind us, so we flew the main to starboard and the poled out genoa to port, goosewinged. A short time later, we had only 7 knots of wind so the sails had to come down and the engine had to be used for the rest of our trip. We were very comfortable anchored just outside the harbour. We provisioned at Spar, bought diesel from a local BP garage and had a delicious lunch at Isabella’s on the waterfront.

Another gale for our arrival in port

We had to delay our exit from Lambert’s Bay as the wind decided to blow from the north and an uncomfortable swell entered the foggy harbour. We left on Saturday 4^th February at 0130 for the 372 mile passage to Luderitz in Namibia, arriving in a near gale in the afternoon of Tuesday 7^th February. We had a mix of weather, often motorsailing, sometimes sailing, sun, fog and an electrical storm nearby. Dolphins and sea lions kept us company.

The Waterfront, Luderitz. Can you see SD?

As we approached the Orange River area, which is the border between South Africa and Namibia, we saw vessels ahead on our AIS. These were conducting mining operations for the diamond industry and we had to give them a 2 mile berth. More ships appeared on the AIS, all spread out over several miles. It took us four hours to be clear of them all.

Portugese Fisherman's Restaurant, Luderitz

Our last day at sea was foggy with rain and some lightning. The wind increased to 20 knots slowly clearing the fog banks and allowing the sun to penetrate. Once again we had gale force winds as we took the mainsail down. I was steering and a wave hit me full in the face. Port Control were very helpful in trying to arrange a mooring for us, but it was too windy, so we would have to anchor for the night. We anchored off the fish factory jetty outside of the shipping channel at 1425.