I wake up at just gone 4 am because I notice through my befuddled state that the wind has changed – for the worse. Hang on. Mike was supposed to wake me at 1 am!
I quickly get out of bed and pull on a tee-shirt – God it’s cold. The wind is now a steady 30-35 knots and gusting over 40. Being so rough and so close to Hout Bay Mike had decided not to wake me but carry on through. He tells me there’s nothing for me to do at the moment and so I go back to bed.
Within a few minutes however, I realise that things are not going to be smooth weather-wise. The wind is howling and I can hear the waves slapping over the top of where I am lying in bed. I get up and get dressed properly, fleece, trousers, socks (socks!), shoes, wet weather gear and lifejacket, then sit on the sofa doing my frightened rabbit thing – the one where I just sit, say nothing and wait to be told what to do. And I’m scared.
The wind is now constantly over 55 knots, almost directly on the nose. The tops of the waves are sheering off and there’s froth. I can see black clouds rolling off the hills behind Hout Bay and the wind is making a terrible racket. Mike calls the harbour master but there’s no answer, despite the fact that we have e-mailed them that we are coming in early this morning.
He calls repeatedly, but no one replies. Eventually someone from Cape Town radio replies and says that the harbour master isn’t there. When is he ever? He wasn’t answering when Chessie were calling for help either.
Eventually Mike decides it is just too risky attempting to enter Hout Bay and we turn the boat around and head towards Cape Town. The only problem we have now is where to stay. The Royal Cape Yacht Club have told us they have no room for us and the Victoria and Alfred haven’t bothered responding to an e-mail we sent a couple of days ago.
I call the V & A, Royal Cape and Elliot Basin but get no reply from any of them. Then I call Maggie and Bob from Ocean Jasper, one of the other rally boats who is in Elliot Basin. While I am talking to Maggie, the wind suddenly drops right down to 8 knots. What the bloody hell is going on. Maggie warns me that it is over 22 knots in the basin, but after 52, 22 sounds fine to us. Then the wind picks up again and as we wait for Bob to weave his magic, we turn the boat around again and head for the bit where it is calmer, and wait.
Apart from the wind, it is now a beautiful day with a bright blue sky, a bit of a change from the last two days. Cape Town, from the sea, looks spectacular although Table Mountain is partially obscured by thick rolling clouds.
We don’t have to wait for long. Bob has used his contacts and has got us a space in Elliot Basin, and after giving explicit instructions to Mike on how to approach, we make our way in.
It’s not until we are way into the harbour approach that Mike lets me go forward to attach the lines and fenders – it’s just too windy. As we approach Elliot Basin, Bob is waiting there to guide us in. As we get to the allotted berth, lots of people, Maggie, Bob and Lee as well as people from other boats materialise and take our lines. By this time I am almost sobbing with relief!
Once we are securely tied up, Maggie and Bob give us a hug and a kiss and disappear to leave us to settle in. I make Mike a dark and stormy cocktail, give him some breakfast, and send him to bed.
The wind through the marina is terrible, gusting to 40 knots, but the day remains bright and sunny. Vanessa from the marina office comes to say hello. It turns out that she worked for 4 years at a charter company in the BVIs – what a small world! The gentleman whose berth we have stolen also comes to say hello and is fine with us having it until Sunday when he will bring his boat down from the west coast. We will then just have to move to another berth opposite but the wind is predicted to have died down by then.
When Mike wakes up I send him to the marina office then make some lunch. In the afternoon he goes back to sleep for an hour or two while I catch up completely on the blog. How good does that feel?! While he’s still in bed I manage to get off the boat (no mean feat as the pontoons are really low) and trot off to see Maggie, interrupting her cleaning. We chat for a while, catching up then I leave her to finish.
In the evening we meet up with Bev and Moe who are staying on the boat opposite us for the New Year, and Jutta, Jochem and Eline but we don’t stay late as we are all still tired. We do however, make the arrangements for tomorrow night. We will all meet up at Mitchells Brewery in the V & A Waterfront at 7 pm and see where the evening takes us from there.
Back on the boat Mike and I fall asleep almost immediately, the wind still howling around us.
Our position is: 34 deg 21 min S, 18 deg 21 min E
Distance so far: 18706 nautical miles
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