12 November 2010
Zululand Yacht Club postponed the party held in our honour for a day until all the boats had arrived. It was a wonderful party, with all the members joining in too. The evening began with Zulu dancing. I do not think I have ever seen so much energy in a dance performance. With stamping of feet and high kicks, it was a completely different style from anything we had ever seen before. The prize giving followed with everyone being presented with a WARC certificate for the completion of their trans Indian Ocean crossing. A barbeque followed and we danced the night away to two fantastic local guitarists.
Zululand Yacht Club was a pit stop for us and Voyageur, and not a base for touring around. This is all planned for when we get to Cape Town and meet up with Sue, Donald's wife. The 'jobs to do' list was quickly completed with Donald's expert help. If Donald cannot fix something then it is not fixable! The tear in the genoa was repaired by a local sail maker, the autopilot chain was tightened, impellers were checked, lockers examined for water ingress, (they were all dry), our stern lazarette was tidied for the first time in very many months! Considering the battering we had taken there was really nothing amiss. Voyageur is in good shape. It is just her crew who were a little jaded but the delay in moving on due to more bad weather had allowed for some recovery. Jenny and I had some retail therapy in the local shopping centre, vast in comparison to anything we had seen for a while. There were four hypermarkets alone! But security is tight, they must have their fair share of shoplifting.
Only the bird and wild life are giveaways to the fact that we are in Africa. Back in Darwin David was hard at work planning our itinerary for South Africa. He always likes to check in to Google earth and take a look at the marinas we are going to and the marina in Richards Bay was no exception. A sign caught his attention. BEWARE OF CROCODILES! Leaving Darwin I had thought that we would be leaving these beasties behind! Beside the yacht club there is a tree laden with the nests of weaver birds, a hornbill is perched in a tree outside the club house bar. Monkeys sit by the roadside, an ibis in the grass nearby. Prices here are very reasonable and we had excellent meals. We tried for the first time delicious King Clip fish and of course the wine is excellent. Everyone is extremely friendly but I am often not understood, while I have not yet turned into the strong South African accent.
It is a challenging passage from here down the east African coast to Cape Town. It has to be carefully planned with constant monitoring of the weather forecasts. The pilot warns that 'the main danger is of SW gales coming in and causing steep and potentially dangerous waves when it blows against the SW going Agulhas Current. Wave heights of 20 metres have been recorded and the waves are very steep'. There is a steel boat in the marina here which was rolled over twice doing the same leg as us. We will have to be ever so careful. It is so lovely to have Donald aboard and his experience and expertise will be invaluable to us on this next leg. When he talks of sailing in Scotland it sends shivers of excitement down my spine and I long to return there. One day..... They attended a briefing from two local sailors, experts on this passage. This preparation and planning of this forthcoming leg is of major importance and one which you cannot afford to get wrong.
For the third time in succession we have free berthing. This rally is shaping up to be very good value for money. Clearly Suzana and Paul have fine tuned their negotiating skills. With a two month vacation for the WARC fleet here in South Africa, Suzana and Paul leave for home and Christmas. Anne Lavin also came to say her goodbye, bringing me a thoughtful gift. It was an origami stork in a bottle, made with great dexterity, and so tiny that it would not take up any of our precious space. She had completed the passage from Mauritius to here aboard Wild Tigris and was now returning home to the States.
Tonight Donald posed a very interesting question. Having now taken two different routes around the world which route, the Red Sea or down around the Cape, would we take if we were to do it again! David chose the former, I surprised myself by choosing the latter. My reasons are this. I absolutely detest motoring and the passage from Thailand to the Gulf of Aden being so close to the Equator is windless. Secondly I am of the opinion the Red Sea has become too dangerous. Some people might argue that with an enhanced military presence it is safer but fewer yachts are going that route these days. We will never be one of them. The Indian Ocean was tough there is no doubt. Perhaps we were unlucky with the weather but we did all arrive safely on the other side. If you have a good boat and the right boat then it is not a problem. We sailed most of the distance, and never had any concerns about pirates. I would rather spend one or two horrible days and nights at sea than months as a hostage in the middle of nowhere.
Susan Mackay