12 December 2010
Last night while David and I were dining in a local restaurant, Chessie were towed in here by the rescue boat with a broken rudder. Later it was Brown Eyed Girls' turn. They were unable to make any headway in the gale force winds. It was by far the worst night we have had yet, the rescue launch recorded gusts of ninety knots and both crews must have been very thankful indeed to be safely secured, Chessie in a marina berth and BEG against the harbour wall. Having moved to an inner pontoon it made an incredible difference in terms of shelter. We were so grateful to Alan, the marina manager for letting us into an inside berth. Now we were only getting gusts of between fifty and sixty knots, the mooring lines no longer jarring and snatching with every gut wrenching gust the way they had done in our previous berth, no longer so fearful that the pontoons might break up. Although there was some damage to the outer pontoon one, the marina staff were on the case very early next morning to effect repairs. On several occasions during the night we were up checking and adjusting our lines. We even witnessed people crawling along the pontoon unable to stand up against the ferocious winds. In spite of it all Alan, the manager here told us that in December last year they had winds of 100knots, a category three hurricane and the only boats which received damage where the ones that were not tied up properly. It was very reassuring to us and we have been very grateful to him and the other long term liveaboards here to receive the benefit of their sound advice as to what extra lines to add and where to put them. As I have said before local knowledge is worth its weight in gold! Now just two of our group are left to make the trip around the Cape, Tzigane and Jeannius. The common concensus is that it was a passage that proved to be more difficult than we had anticipated with the exception of Tucanon who had sought shelter in a bay east of the Cape and had an uneventful trip. We had also considered that option but like many bolt holes around here the majority are too shallow for our draft. Every few days it blows like crazy from the south east but the high mountains around create a katabatic effect, severe gusts hurtling down the hill side into the bay. Just around the corner here at Duiker Point, Bos 400 one of the world's strongest crane barges lies rusting on the rocks. It was being towed from the Congo to Cape Town when the tug's towing cable snapped and despite repeated attempts to reattach the lines it drifted on to the rocks. During our visit to the naval museum at Simons Town there was a chart which shows very many hundreds of wrecks around the South African coast. It really has been and is a difficult area to sail and now I fully understand why it is called the "Cape of Storms"!
Susan Mackay