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.

A Lofty Invitation

Having had a new staysail made by Ullman Sails in Durban last January and thus far really liking it, we felt very confident that ordering a replacement yankee from Ullman in Cape Town was a good move. The existing yankee had caused us lots of problems over the last few years and repairing it again seemed like money down the drain. David reminded me that the old headsail was over five years old and had seen over 20,000 hard miles … southern New Zealand, the Chathams, Tasmania, the Great Australian Bight, an Indian Ocean crossing. I had hoped, of course, it would last forever, but then I still believe in the Easter Bunny.

We didn't know much about Ullman Sails. We're familiar with North Sails, the largest sailmaker in the world and then there's Quantum and Doyle and Hood Sails and Rolly Tasker Sails and a host of others. Ullman is actually the #5 sailmaker in the world, thanks to renowned American competitive sailor David Ullman. He started Ullman Sails in 1967 in Newport Beach, California and has been intimately involved in the business ever since. In 2013, Ullman combined forces with previous competitor, Jannie Reuvers Sails in South Africa. Ullman Sails is represented in 32 countries of the world, including 42 full service sail lofts. This means that if we have problems with the yankee, as we did with our previous sail, we have some recourse for service.

A good number of  Ullman's sails are made right here in Cape Town. We'd become friendly with our sales rep, Winston, over the past couple of weeks and when he offered to give us a tour of the loft, we jumped at the chance.

We've visited many sail lofts over the years … usually small ones. They consist of wide open floor spaces with canvas spread out in varied stages of  in-process sails. A couple of long arm, heavy-duty zig-zag sewing machines are recessed into the floor to allow easy stitching of the sails. Rolls of Dacron and colored Sunbrella UV-material are lined up along the walls. Scraps of fabric are here and there and the place is usually dusty, the hum of sewing machines and the tap of hammers providing background noise. We weren't quite prepared for the size of Ullman's facilities nor the number of people working nor the number of sails in process. It doesn't look like much from the outside as we pulled up over the curb and squeezed ourselves into a tiny parking space. Looks can be deceiving.

Ullman Sails' facility is huge and spread out over a city block in several buildings. We visited four multi-storied buildings and each area was a beehive of activity. After a digital design is set, the measurements are entered into a laser-cutter which works constantly, precision-cutting and numbering panel pieces for  each sail.

The cut pieces are removed in order and moved to an assembly area where they are spread out on the floor, taped and ready to be sewn. UV is added later, then hardware in a different area and finally quality control is performed. I've oversimplified the process significantly, but that's the gist of it. A smooth, efficient work flow producing thousands of sails each year.

We were intrigued with their FiberPath sail construction: thousands of carbon fibers woven into a sail shape and then bonded and double-laminated. There's minimal sewing involved. There is little stretch and the primary and secondary loads on the sail are dispersed more effectively. These sails are known for speed and performance … not traits for which Nine of Cups has ever been known. The cost? Though we felt we were getting a good price for our sail, it was still quite painful to the budget. Our yankee in a FiberPath material would have effectively been a little over double the price. We'll stick with Dacron this time around.

Winston has assured us the sail will be completed in the specified timeframe. As much as we like Cape Town, we're looking forward to the day when we can sail away … with our new sail.

Sorting Out the Problems

We returned to Royal Cape YC with three problems: 1) tear in the yankee, 2) alternator not charging and 3) cockpit GPS not working. You'd think with all the work we'd just done and the systems checks we'd made before departure, we'd have discovered all the problems in advance. That's not the way it works on a sailboat though. When she hasn't been sailing in a while, rigor mortis sets in, and things just stop working. Connectors corrode, wires get brittle, parts seize … mainly from lack of use in a salt-water environment. The malfunctions are usually discovered once we're at sea. We were aware of a small tear in the yankee sail caused by the break in the furler foil. We'd gotten a quote from the local sailmaker, but he was backed up and couldn't make the repair before our visas expired. We didn't have time to wait, so we repaired it ourselves with the thought of getting a more permanent repair in Luderitz. We obviously thought we'd done a good job, but evidently not and now we were paying the price. We were in touch with the sailmaker again. He took a look at it, now in worse condition than he'd originally seen it. Though he could repair it, he recommended a whole new sail … 4-6 weeks. We've had so many problems with this yankee, we've decided a new sail is probably the most prudent course. We ordered it from Ullman Sails (formerly Quantum) with the condition that they complete it in less than three weeks … not longer. They agreed to put our sail on the fast track. They've already picked up the old sail, as well as taken measurements. One problem handled.

David is sorting out the alternator problem. It's nothing obvious … not a loose wire nor a pulley belt issue. We only know that the batteries aren't being charged when the engine is running. More investigation is required. You'll be hearing more about that in the next day as he troubleshoots the alternator.

The GPS problem is probably due to a corroded connector since it sits in the cockpit all the time. It also requires more investigation. We have several other GPSs aboard, but this is our back-up and we want it functioning when we leave.

In the meantime, we're tied up once again in Berth B25 at the Royal Cape Yacht Club, whinging and moaning and trying to get our heads around being back in port instead of en route to Lüderitz. Updates to follow.