Ups and Downs Departing South Africa

As we set sail and departed Cape Town, our thoughts and conversations were all about the recurring leak. We dropped the hook at scenic Dassen Eiland to see what we could do about it. Marcy and a small crayfish boat were tucked in behind a shoal with a wave break.





It's a very pretty spot, but our spirits were low as we realized that we had spent thousands of rand, had two haulouts, but had missed repairing the major leak. We did our best exposing a gap and pushing waterproof epoxy putty into it. It's never easy trying to stop a leak from the inside, but we did our best.



We set sail again and headed for Namibia. Our HF radio failed, depressing us further. It is much loved for safety, weather, email, and chatting with friends. We listened as our friends on Nomad just 100 miles away called us for our morning check in but we could not reply. Marcy leaked with a vengeance in the brisk quartering waves. We pumped every two hours, day and night, and kept the bilge water at a reasonable level. The southern fall is well under way and the days were chilly. The nights were downright cold! Peter was bundled up as he tightened the wind vane control lines.



Ginger was bundled up, too.





The cabin has never looked so warm and inviting.



Just hours before leaving Cape Town, we had installed an electronic black box called AIS. It reads, decodes, and plots VHF signals that are broadcast from commercial ships – giving us their position, heading, speed, name and other good information. Our route took us near busy shipping lanes, and the AIS proved to be useful and entertaining. The black boat shape on the screen is Marcy's position, and the triangles are all ships. They are not close (the screen is on the 300 mile scale in this image) but we can watch and spot potential problems much earlier than we can see the ships on the horizon. Some of these ships are so fast (up to 20 knots) that once they are in sight we only have a couple of minutes to react to a possible collision course.



The wind was good and the passage was fast, so soon we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. The air became a bit warmer – but not as warm as we thought it should be in the “tropics.” We turned into Walvis Bay and dropped the hook in calm, shallow water. We had views of beautiful sandy desert to one side, and a busy container port to the other. Marcy looked good with her new paint.



The water was so calm we could look over the side at our reflection to verify the name and homeport were still stuck on.



Our first local visitor came onboard and perched on the mainsheet.



We know the drill by now. Visit customs, dismantle steering, and repair radio and leak. It could be worse – the location seems to be perfect for the work at hand, and if we can complete our duties soon, the desert calls for exploration.

Saturday Day 4 to Namibia

After 36 hours of cloudy skies the haze burned off to make a beautiful sunset and moon rise last night. The stars were out in a clear sky and the wind has continued to push us steadily toward our destination. The temperatures seem very cold to us with a low of 58 degrees and wind chill reminding us that we've stayed well into fall but also making us assess our clothes and heat for our trip south later this season. Though 58 doesn't sound cold it is difficult to stay warm after 4 hours on watch in the cockpit at night.

The seas are just unpredictable enough to send the odd wave into the cockpit and to throw us around the boat ensuring that we're getting all the involuntary exercise possible. The boat is regularly rolling so far that traction on the cockpit floor is impossible. With a cockpit slightly too wide for Ginger to sit and reach the far side with a foot it's always a test of reflexes to react to a tossing wave before being tossed too far. The bilge pump continues to do it's job well and due to the wind strength we've spent most of the last 36 hours under jib alone which seems to slow the flow of water anyway. We have less than 200 miles as a crow flies to Walvis Bay (translated "Whale-fish Bay") and expect to arrive some time tomorrow.

We've spent the entire trip accompanied by albatrosses, petrels and terns. We have also seen whales and seals and are amazed by how much wildlife lives off shore of this coast. We were sad to leave the shy penguins behind not long after Dassen. So far no flying fish to scrape off the deck - yay!

Our AIS is showing us that there are more than 50 ships within a 300 mile radius - when propagation is good at night - and has also shown us that we are currently in the middle of a parade of about 20 ships heading north and south around us. Though we've only actually seen 6 ships since leaving Dassen Eiland we know that we've been passed by about 25 ships a day within 20 miles of us. Incredible! It's showing us how crowded these waters are and how close we have to be to see a ship. Last night we passed within 2 miles of the first ship we've seen this trip not transmitting an AIS signal - a large fishing boat - and so we're still vigilant with our watches. Thanks Adam for mentioning AIS with time to get one in Seattle.

We're looking forward to the sun recharging the batteries and warming us up with a sunny day today.

Heading North to Namibia

We left Cape Town on Monday afternoon. The boat was put away again and ready for sea, food cooked and in the fridge, everything stowed. A few miles north of Cape Town we checked in the bilge and were dismayed to see water still pouring in from the stern, as much as ever. We emptied the lazarette and checked the new stuffing box. It was doing it's job, no water was coming in above the bearing. We decided to continue on to Dassen Eiland. No turning back this time. We anchored at Dassen in the dark and resolved to work on the problem in the morning. It was a chilly fall morning when we got to work disassembling the steering to have complete access to the bearing box. We found that while the bearing has been sealed at the top there is a crack at the front edge of the box housing it. It was so rough with large swell rolling in that we had no problem seeing the leak because every wave submerged the stern and brought a fresh supply of salt water to the area. Peter chipped away the rotten glass and we used our JB Weld Waterweld epoxy putty to plug the crack until no more water was coming in. It wasn't a big enough hole for caulk. As there is apparently a bit of pressure on the area we could have then spent another day or two to glass over the freshly puttied crack but the waves were big and we decided to move on. We didn't want to spend too much time in a rough anchorage with the steering disconnected. There is now some water coming in but nothing the bilge pump can't keep up with. We're making good time on our way to Namibia and looking forward to a quiet anchorage and quality time in the lazarette with some fiberglass and epoxy. Of course, we'll also try to work on where the water is coming in from outside if we can get the stern out of the water enough.
Water in the bilge issues aside - really we're quite used to those by now - the trip is going well. We're enjoying our AIS for watching all the big ships transmitting their positions, we have a fine following wind and the seas aren't too bad. We're averaging over 7 knots and hoping we arrive in Namibia at a time that we won't have to pay overtime and holiday fees for clearing in! With the fall temperatures in Cape Town we're looking forward to crossing Tropic of Capricorn line into the tropics again.

Marcy's Penny Pinching Strategies

We watch our budget very carefully. We've heard money referred to by sailors as “freedom chips” - the longer the money can last, the longer the sailing can last. We've also heard boats referred to as “a hole in the water into which you must pour money” and we try hard to disprove that saying.

So we sail conservatively – new sails or even repairs are expensive. We reef early and always look up to check for chafe or hang ups in the rig. We use the sail cover religiously to protect the expensive mainsail from UV rays. Also we make sure the jib is completely rolled up to ensure the sacrificial cover strip actually fully covers the sail. We sail a lot and motor a little because of course, diesel fuel isn't cheap.

There is a wonderful money saving synergy possible with plywood, seine twine, tools and paint, combined with a knowledge of knots and lashings. We carry a small AC jigsaw and drill motor that we can use on board and off grid with inverter power. Many small repairs and modifications can be accomplished inexpensively with these tools and scraps of plywood. For example, our whip antenna needed a support, so we made a bracket and lashed it in place. Otherwise, a welder would have been hired to do the job.....



One of our solar panel mounts broke and plywood and twine came to the rescue.



Bashing upwind while leaving New Zealand last year, a joint in the v berth started to separate. Simple lashings replace or at least delay a more elaborate repair.



Of course, we did not invent this type of repair – Wharram boats are built this way. Also years ago, Peter worked for and learned from Dick Wagner (of the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle) how to keep a fleet sailing with seine twine.

We decided that a proper seat at the chart table would be nice for talking on the radio nets. With some plywood, paint and the handy jig saw we had a serviceable sit down nav desk.



And of course we had to make a deck box for the giant African propane cylinder. We've had many struggles but always eventual success to get our US bottles filled in various countries until we were stumped in South Africa – and so we had to buy the local standard. We hope it will be acceptable in South America!



In addition to spending as little as possible on repairs and modifications we practice inexpensive tourism. We walk everywhere – only very rarely do we take a taxi. As a bonus, we see interesting sights not in the tour books. On the way to the grocery store, we pass a site where fishing boats are being cut apart for scrap metal.





With our Austrian friends Doris and Wolfe of Nomad we climbed Lion's Head to enjoy the view of Cape Town. We loved this “fire extinguisher” mounted on a tree at the trailhead.







There were sections with small rocks conveniently glued (glued rocks?! TIA – This Is Africa) on the route for hand and footholds.





Back at the boat, Ginger cooked up a nice braii for the four us. As we ate, drank, and discussed the weather, we agreed that life was good, even on a strict budget!

Back in the Yard

As Marcy was lifted out of the water – again – to repair the leak in the rudder bearing – again – we noticed that the old girl was looking a bid dingy in the topsides. She was showing the marks of months of docks in windy Africa and a difficult cross current landing at the fuel dock.



..

Since we were in the yard for a certain amount of time in any case, we asked for a quote to paint. With the help of a favorable exchange rate, the yard would paint Marcy's topsides for about $2600 US, which is a fraction of the prices we'd been quoted in the US, Mexico, NZ, and Fiji. So we said yes, please! In no time at all, the sanding commenced.



Marcy was taped and screened.



A stuffing box was installed to take care of the leak.



We dreaded the trip up the ladder.



But the trip down was much worse.



The paint job looked good. We decided to move the name and home port to the sides, considering Marcy's transom is small and obscured by the wind vane. When the Australian patrol aircraft flew over us last year, sometimes they had a hard time reading our name. Once they got it very wrong and called us “Money!” So we had the name and home port made in vinyl and applied it port and starboard to the new paint.





We enjoyed one last beautiful sunset in the yard, and were launched the next day. The grime and soot from a big wildfire at the edge of town had made the yard even dirtier than ever, but the sunsets were spectacular.





We will head north after washing the decks, re-rigging and checking out with the authorities. We've already begun the paperwork, including the all important sketch of Marcy required by South African search and rescue.

Not so fast...

We tried to leave, we really wanted to go.  Sad as we were to leave Cape Town, IT WAS TIME.  We cleared out and went to sea.  As the waves grew the water level in the bilge rose.  Ginger said "What Now?!" Peter said "It's got to be the rudder again."  He was right, Marcy wasn't as ready to leave Cape Town as we were.  One more trip to the yard was in order. Water was pouring in the top of the lower rudder bearing as before.  So, back to the yard, fabricate a lower bearing and then we'll be on our way.  We hope the delay will be no longer than a week. As we write this Marcy is sitting on the concrete at RCYC again, having survived another crane lift. We are at the bar recovering....

Last days in Cape Town

We're getting serious on Marcy now! The jib is on, the new African propane tank has a new box to protect it from seas, the engine oil and filter have been changed, and most importantly the canned goods and staples are bought and stored. But, this is Africa, and as with everything else the way some of those things got done wasn't easy.

Take for example the propane box. The plywood needed to be painted. We heard about a hardware store a mile away so we walked over there the other morning to get some paint. It was a pretty good hardware store, decent stock and fairly busy. That's good news when you're buying paint because it means the paint isn't old. But, there's always a catch. They only had one liter of base paint left on the shelf. The rest was due any minute - they were just waiting for the delivery truck. So, we got the one liter and decided to walk back there another day for another liter if we really need it. We've learned new supplies can be 10 minutes away or 10 days away. On can never be sure.

Then there was the big grocery shopping day. It's a short walk to the closest store but too far with a month's supply of cans and staples. We called the customer service manager who we'd met at the Royal Cape Yacht Club delivering food for Mike the sindlehander. Several messages were sent by email and left by phone - with real people. Finally we went in person and learned that the customers service manager we'd been trying to reach had been out of the store for the last 5 days. So, we arranged with the store manager that we would come in on Thursday morning a van would be available to deliver our groceries in the morning. Before leaving we asked if she would be in on Thursday. She realized that, in fact, that would be her day off, but she would let the manager on duty Thursday know the plan. Thursday morning at store opening (8AM) we arrived to start our shopping. We stopped by the manager's office to make sure there was a driver available. Of course, they knew nothing of this plan and no there was no van or driver immediately available. We finished our shopping by 10A and were assured that they would deliver the groceries before noon. These purchased groceries were left sitting in two shopping carts outside the managers office and we crossed our fingers that we'd actually see all of our groceries again at the boat. We rushed back to the boat to meet some friends who were due to arrive at 10:30 and the waiting game began. As it turned out our friends were delayed and arrived at 6P. The groceries were a bit more troublesome. There were several phone calls placed to the manager who was apologetic but unable to get the drivers to deliver. Finally just after 4P the groceries arrived.

The soft fuel bladder that we got in Australia was another story altogether. We will need it in Chile and thought this could be a good place to get hoses for it. We dropped it off at a shop and after a week, 3 visits and numerous phone calls we finally were able to pick it up with all the parts. For a mere 700 rand or $70USD they provided us with food grade hose (which could disintegrate when in contact with diesel), hose clamps that are too big and won't close enough to clamp the hose and a deck fill fitting as a fuel cap. Rather than argue that a child could do better Peter paid the bill, added the hose to our assortment of hoses and we'll try again in Brazil. Maybe we'll have better luck communicating our needs in Portuguese.

Ginger's birthday day at the spa (the first of our voyage) was a similar disaster. It started with her standing on the sidewalk for ages waiting for the "complimentary shuttle" that never seemed to show up despite several phone calls assuring her that it would arrive "just now." It ended as badly as it began with a "shame - we so wanted to make sure you got that massage" and she won't attempt this "advanced tourism" move again soon.

Despite minor frustrations, we love South Africa and hope to return. The every day challenges with getting things done are just part of life here and aren't really a bother until time gets short and things have to be done before departure. So, our last two days in Cape Town find us caulking the toe rail to hopefully keep out the salt water, shopping for fresh produce and clearing out with the officials. We're not going to try for any more fancy appointments or arrangements!

Fitting Out and Having Fun

When we depart Cape Town, we will head north to the coastal desert of Namibia. Then we cross the Atlantic to Brazil, turn left and head down the coast of South America. Marcy needs to be fit and ready for a lot of miles, so we are working long days to prepare.

Our inflatable, Sniffy, died the death of a thousand leaks, the fate of many inflatables that spend too much time in the tropics. The PVC became porous. We traded outboards also, leaving the 15hp here in Africa and moving on with a nice little light 5hp Yamaha. The tinnie will live on top of the aft cabin, and we've had a cover made so we can carry it upright.





The outboard will fit inside the tinnie (along with fuel) as well as a few fenders or whatever. The outboard can either run from an integral tank for short trips (most of our usage) or draw from a remote outboard tank. Peter enjoyed one of our test runs in the dinghy.



We've found that for our type of tender use, a big fast rig doesn't make sense. We tend to stay quite close to Marcy. After all, everywhere we go is new to us! Also, in deserted anchorages, there is a safety factor - never go further than you would want to row. And the tinnie rows much better than Sniffy did. We like to fish, and a rigid dinghy is the best way to handle that action. Sniffy was so big that we needed to deflate it and stow it down below, sometimes an unwelcome job. Beaching an inflatable is a delicate exercise to avoid punctures on some nasty beaches and we could barely lift the rig to move it up the beach. This rig is light and we can drag it if we need to! Ginger enjoyed yet another test run, a sunset cruise really.



Of course one negative to a rigid tender might be swimming - it won't be as easy to board the tinnie from the water. We'll have to figure something out, maybe a rope ladder. Also, we still have Red Dogfish, the inflatable kayak that is a dream to board from the water. We first came to appreciate tinnies in OZ. There rubber duckies were scorned as croc toys - literally. We envied the dinghies that were rated as safe to explore upriver.



Peter continued with various projects. No, this is not a toilet seat. It's a holder for the pressure cooker as it cools....



Peter worked on a box for the propane tank as a lifeboat drill goes on behind him. We are moored next to a Maritime Academy.



In the still mornings, Ginger worked on her yoga.



Our cushion lady, Jo Fensham, came through in the nick of time with a beautiful set of cushions for Marcy.



Now we can retreat down below and lounge in luxury in Marcy's saloon. Our salt soaked ratty old cushions are history.



This area in Marcy is called the saloon, in spite of general usage today calling it the salon. An interesting little bit of history is that “wild west” saloons were called so in a bid to invoke the ambiance (varnished paneling and brass) and class of a ship's saloon of that era. Yacht ad writers and brokers today call it a salon to get away from the wild west connotation...and bring to mind, at least to us, of some sort of gathering of artists in Paris. So saloon it is on Marcy. But no spitting on the floor allowed!

Also completed in time is a new dodger. The canvas guy, Adrian, fitted Marcy with a dodger complete with an awning that extends from the aft edge. The favorable exchange rate of US dollars to SA rand has been a blessing, allowing us to replace this key part of the boat. Years of harsh sun and a big hit from a wave in the Indian Ocean had all but destroyed the original.



Our last days in Cape Town were not all spent working on Marcy. New Cape Townian friends Kate, Patrick, and Hei Won took us out to a delicious lunch at a wine county restaurant.



Then we went on a tour of one of the wineries.





We were impressed with the tasty products of the Cape. Back onboard Marcy we resolved to sip a glass every evening.



Tomorrow we'll work on that furler, tonight we enjoy the wine!