Quiz Night for Dolts

Wednesday nights at Royal Cape are usually reserved for Twilight Races out in the bay. With winter weather, the usual Wednesday night racing slot is now occupied with Quiz Night. Friends from the Portugal Day sail invited us to join them. We told them in advance we were not good quiz kids. Our memories are shot … and short. I love trivia, but I never remember it. They decided to overlook our long list of shortcomings. With the lure of wine and camaraderie on a cold, dark Wednesday night, we decided to go.

A separate room was set aside for the Quiz Night participants. There were a raucous four teams competing. Kim, the Quizmaster, did her best to keep us in line. We named ourselves the Dynamos, ostensibly because we were such quick-witted folks. Truth be told, the Nine of Cups crew are more on the doltish side, but we kept it under our hats.

There were several rounds of questions. Some were easy like: What holiday did South Africa just celebrate on June 16th? (Youth Day). Some were not so easy like: “What's the name for those little plastic bits on the end of your shoe laces?” (aglets … really?).  There was a music quiz which our team did well at (despite us) and a movie quiz, to which we contributed a fair bit. The South African sports questions were over our heads completely, but we did know the year of the tragic Sydney-Hobart race (1998). You'd think we would have gotten the geography questions right, but we didn't. One problem we had was translating the questions. We  heard “What gopher has the nickname Golden Bar?” Huh? What was actually said: “What golfer has the nickname Golden Bear?” … aha … Jack Nicklaus!

After a round of wine tasting generously provided by Nederburg Wines where five bottles of wine were placed and left on our table for the duration of the evening, we were decidedly more lucid and, hard to believe, more raucous. There was endless gibing and  good-natured taunting and banter between the teams. At the end of the evening, believe it or not, the Dynamos WON! (absolutely not due to our presence on the team). Our prize? A free dinner at the yacht club over the weekend.

We've decided that if we were to stay in Cape Town, it wouldn't take long to become very involved with friends in racing and all the activities that are offered here at Royal Cape. The people, the city, and the yacht club are like magnets, a force field that keeps us close and participatory. Really … it's time to go!

Boat Launching at the Royal Cape

South Africa has a robust boat-building industry. There's Admiral, Matrix, Two Oceans, Pacer, Maverick, Celtic, Afri-Cat … to name just a few.  Many of the newly manufactured boats are launched and commissioned right here at Royal Cape Yacht Club.  One of the most fascinating activities here in the early morning is watching a new boat being launched. Leopard catamarans are built by Robertson and Caine in nearby Woodstock. One of the largest catamaran manufacturers in the world,  about three new cats roll off their production line each week. Huge flat bed trucks with custom cat cradles pull up to the yacht club gates in the early morning and take turns backing into the yard. It doesn't matter that it's cold, dark and foggy.

Watching a 48' catamaran being raised and then lowered into the water 20' below causes me angst even though it's not my boat and these guys do it all the time. There's a moment of anticipation when the yacht is hoisted and the straps tighten and begin to creak. The boat is suspended from the crane and slowly swinging out over the water and my heart starts to race.

As soon as the hulls touch the water, the waiting crew jumps aboard before the boat is even fully lowered. They scurry around and finally crank on the engines and the cat comes to life in the water for the first time.

Then the mast is lowered and stepped and the rigging is attached.

It's an efficient process and within a couple hours, the new cat is moored waiting for the rest of its commissioning and subsequent sea trials to begin. Many are headed to Sunsail or Mooring charter centers throughout the world and a high percentage of the rest are destined for export to foreign shores … like the USA.

Once they're commissioned, they move into berths next to us and wait for crew to either sail them to their destinations or load them onto ships for transport.

It's not just catamarans though. Recently, there have been several ambulance boats delivered and destined for Ghana.

They're sitting down the dock from us while they're being commissioned and we invited ourselves aboard for a quick look since we'd never seen ambulance boats before. Built right here in Cape Town, they'll be transported by ship to Ghana. These boats are used primarily on rivers and lakes and equipped with two 250HP engines to insure fast emergency runs.

Obviously, I have too much time on my hands if I'm watching boats being launched, but quite honestly, it beats polishing stainless.

Life at the Royal Cape

I've been writing so much about Cape Town, that I've neglected to fill you in on life here at the Royal Cape Yacht Club. Each marina and yacht club is different. Each place we berth seems to have its own flavor and its own persona. Do you recollect the marina in Kettering, Tasmania? Though we remember our time there fondly, there was the ick factor issue to contend with. Well, that's not Royal Cape. Uh, uh … this is a classy, albeit somewhat dated, yacht club/marina. We alternately enjoy it and dislike it.

The Royal Cape Yacht Club was founded in 1907 as the Table Bay Yacht Club. It changed its name to Cape Yacht Club in 1914 and received its “Royal Charter” from the Crown to become the Royal Cape Yacht Club shortly thereafter. It's probably the most prestigious yacht club in South Africa. Dubbed “The Tavern of the Seas”, it currently boasts nearly 3,000 members. It hosts the bi-annual Cape 2 Rio Race and is a stopover port for the Volvo Oceans Race (aka Whitbread Round the World Race) and the Velux 5 Oceans Race (aka Around Alone). Of course, it holds special significance for us since we completed our circumnavigation here.

As a visiting yacht, we are the requisite 100 miles away from the clubhouse. I counted … it's actually a circuitous 412-step walk from Cups to the clubhouse toilets/showers. The piers are old and rickety, like many we've seen. They're probably 1970s-80s vintage, built when the club moved to its current location inside the Duncan Docks. The dock planks are uneven and oddly spaced and sometimes quite slippery. They flex and creak and moan when you step on them. The finger piers are wobbly and much  too short for today's bigger sailboats. Consequently, Cups' stern protrudes significantly into the waterway and the turning room between docks is quite limited.

We have found the members to be cordial, but not overly friendly. We've made a few friends here, but not nearly as many as we've had in the past at other yacht clubs like Mandurah, Western Australia, for instance. We've discussed this and think it's probably due to the fact that hundreds of foreign yachts visit Cape Town and not many get to Mandurah. A visiting yacht is not novel here. That said, they did include a small blurb on us and other visiting yachts in their weekly newsletter and the folks in the office were extremely helpful when we were trying to locate our missing package.

The facilities and amenities at the yacht club are good, but not glitzy. They've just completed a renovation of the Ladies' shower and toilets which is nice, but there are only two showers compared to about 12 in the Mens' room. Like many yacht clubs, RCYC was  a “Men's Only” club, for years and some relics of that day still persist like the Men's and Ladies bars, for instance. “The yacht club has two main bars, the traditional “Men’s” bar and the “Ladies” bar. The Men’s Bar provides the club with memories of years gone by set with its collection of plaques, memorabilia and photos of famous boats from yesteryear. The Ladies Bar is situated in the water side of the club and overlooks the marina for that soft and tranquil setting.” The restaurant, bars and patio have a generous open hours schedule. The food is adequate and the prices are reasonable.

The club is quite active.  Beyond competitive racing, there always seems to be something going on. We attended a Jazz on Deck brunch one Sunday afternoon and though Afro-Brazilian jazz (samba, bossa nova) is not our favorite, it was an enjoyable way to spend the day.

The neighborhood surrounding the yacht club is a working port with a commercial boatyard and loading docks. The water at our end of the marina is dirty, with lots of floating debris, detritus and oil slicks. Big wakes are generated from large fishing boats coming and going day and night. There's banging and clanking from the boatyard works as well as from freighters tying up and unloading not far away. Lots of dust and grime is generated and seems to find its way to Cups' deck and cockpit like a magnet. Depending on what is being offloaded, we get strong whiffs of fish meal and other undesirable odors.

We're not complaining, just giving a slice of life in the 'hood … which isn't all that bad. Views of Table Mountain from Nine of Cups' deck make up for any and all other shortcomings!