8 January 2011
A final farewell party was held at the Hout Bay Yacht Club. This place has really been a home to us for the last two months. A galley kitchen serves food on three evenings a week with a glass of wine costing just 50p and a plate of fresh fish and chips for two at £7. Peter, the chef and his team cooked a two course sit down dinner all paid for by the rally with a disco to follow. He also offered to serve a full cooked breakfast for any members of the fleet who wish it on the morning of our departure. Thor VI and Eowyn have come around the corner from the V&A marina in Cape Town ready for the start on Saturday which will make us eleven boats to cross the line. Ocean Jasper and Crazy Horse remain in Elliot Basin marina in Cape Town due to a delay with their visas and Chessie and Kalliope here in Hout Bay are awaiting spare parts.
We have always followed Beth Leonard's philosophy of completing all boat repairs/maintenance with a few days of arriving. Then we can go off on inland trips safe in the knowledge that everything is ready for the next onward passage. In other words we like to be prepared and ahead of the game. We know that when all the other crews return post New Year there will be a huge flurry of activity. We have been here for two long months and what happens but everything goes pear shaped in the last 24 hours. It is something we could have done without. The rigger finally turned up after the Christmas and New Year break to fit the new outhaul for the mainsail. Because we were out for the day we were unable to test it. To our dismay it sagged horribly no tension in it whatsoever. This is why it is so important to be around when having any work done on the boat but we had expected him the previous day when we were "at home". David spent the entire morning fiddling about with it to get it right. We had the sail in and out countless times. Suddenly David spotted a tear near the top and we were due to leave tomorrow. A panic phone call to North Sails who had made our new genoa and they came hurrying from Cape Town within the hour and was returned repaired four hours later. All sorted or so we thought. The wind was blowing a little too much to hoist it back up again. We went out with Irene and Dick for a last meal at Luigi's. Having got their order wrong on a previous visit Antonio, the restaurant owner offered us all a free meal "on the house"! What a super going away present from South Africa. We even had a lift back to the marina when they delivered a carry out pizza. By now the wind had died away to nothing and so we seized the opportunity to put the main back up. The line which David had attached to haul up the main halyard parted and the whole thing came tumbling down to the deck! Feeling tired and dejected we went to bed but did not sleep easy. By 6am we were both awake and decided to get to work straight away in case a breeze sprang up. I winched David up the mast and by 8am we finally had our main sail successfully raised and furled away. Now we were rushing around at the last minute filling the water tanks, last minute shopping, saying our goodbyes to everyone at the marina who had helped us over the past weeks, Paul and Suzana who we will next see in Salvador, Brazil and the rest of the departing fleet. It was an emotional farewell to Anna and Udo from Destiny. They have been with the rally for quite some time now and will be much missed. There wasn't even time to make a sandwich for lunch or prepare an evening meal. The butterflies in my stomach made their presence felt. We had been in Hout Bay since the 9th November. I hoped I would have the stamina for the long haul ahead and hoped that we had prepared Voyageur properly.
Susan Mackay