Cups' New Sail

Baby's got new shoes and Cups has got a new sail! Winston and the Ullman Sail crew came through and delivered our new foresail … earlier than promised. Under-promise … over-deliver … works every time. We were originally quoted 3+ weeks, but Winston fit us into another less-hurried sailor's slot (thank you, Berserk), and babysat our sail through the entire fabrication process. He kept us in the loop all the way … plan approval, cutting, seaming, UV, hardware, QC.

We were hoping we'd see the sail by early next week, but with Winston's constant updates, we were optimistic we'd see it even sooner than the original estimate. This would give us time to check it out and still not have to rush to meet our extended visitor permit expiration date. When he called to schedule the delivery and fitting, we were thrilled. “Shall we pay the balance before the delivery?”, we queried. “Wait, till the sail is up and you're happy. Then we'll tend to the final payment.” Great!

We had also sent our mainsail over to Ullman for a quick once-over. We'd inspected it ourselves, but thought as long as they were fabricating a new sail for us, it wouldn't hurt to have the professionals check it out. They reported that the main was in fine condition, except a wee bit of chafe on the batten pockets … easily remedied.

The morning was clear and calm when Winston arrived with the sails. He and an assistant attached the new yankee and hoisted it up the furler. It was cut a skosh higher than the last sail to clear the bow pulpit rail, something that had irritated us about the last sail. It looked great, but was quite a bit larger than we imagined it would be. It was classified as a #2 yankee, but really it was a replacement for our old jib, rather than a replacement for the yankee, as we expected. Where did the communications go wrong?

Our new staysail, fabricated for us by Ullman in Durban, was exactly what we had ordered and has performed well over the 800 miles from Durban to Cape Town. In all deference to Ullman, I guess we should have known the exact measurements of the old yankee … what we thought we ordered. We had sent the yankee to them and asked for a quote on both the repair, as well as the fabrication of a new sail, a replacement with a couple of minor mods. They came to measure and evidently disregarded the existing sail measurements in favor of what they thought we wanted. Now what?

Well, we'll keep the new sail, of course, and get rid of the old jib. In the meantime, the old yankee is back at the sail loft for a rush repair. The checkout clock is ticking once again. Sigh! There's never a dull  moment on this boat.

Celebrating Portugal Day in South Africa

The Portuguese have played a significant role in the European exploration of South Africa. Vasco da Gama, Bartholomeu Dias, Pedro de Ataide, João da Nova, Antonio de Saldanha were all Portuguese navigators and sailors during the Great Age of Sail and Discovery. They've left their mark throughout South Africa in the form of statues, monuments, place names and even museums … like the Dias Museum in Mosselbaai.

According to Wiki, Dia de Portugal is celebrated annually on June 10th as an official national holiday in Portugal. The date commemorates the death of Portugal's national literary icon, Luis de Camões, who died on 10 June 1580. Camões wrote The Lusiads, an epic poem celebrating the rich history and achievements of the Portuguese, especially during the 15th century. It has become symbolic of Portuguese pride and nationalism. So when local friends, Jannie and Christine asked if we'd like to join them aboard Radiance for a Portugal Day pursuit race in Table Bay, we were thrilled. What better way to celebrate the Portuguese heritage and influence in South Africa than take to the sea?

The morning was cool and foggy and at 10:30am, I wasn't holding out much hope for a clear sailing day. We couldn't even see Radiance berthed on the next pier across the way. Then voilá … as it happens so often in Cape Town,  a brilliant sun broke through the mist and fog, the sky turned blue in a matter of minutes and the day turned perfect … cold, but clear. It seemed odd heading out of the harbor leaving Cups behind.

We had a crew of eight aboard, all with varying degrees of sailing experience and some, like us, with no racing experience at all. No matter … it was a fun race with over 50 boats participating.

We learned that a pursuit race had staggered start times and Radiance was scheduled to cross the start line at 12:22. Michele and Christine kept track of the time as we approached the line.

Throughout the day, the weather alternated between brilliant sun and dense fog. The wind piped up to 15-20 knots and then died to 3 knots. We tacked frequently as the fickle wind shifted.

The 13nm course took us into Table Bay with a loop around South Lion's Paw, a rock said to resemble the paw of the famous Lion's Head Peak. There's a North Paw as well and both are reportedly good dive sites. We were just interested in getting around the South Paw.

As we neared the rock, the wind left us and we were sailing perilously close.  Since we were nowhere close to being competitive in the race, Jannie decided to retire us and kicked on the engine. The engine cranked right up, but we made no headway. A quick inspection indicated the Morse cable was not shifting the gearbox. Jannie was able to put it in gear manually from the engine room, got back to the helm, and we were soon heading back to the Royal Cape. Beyond the problem with the gear box, we were all afraid the red wine would be gone by the time we got back to the clubhouse!

As we approached Radiance's berth, David headed into the engine room to shift manually between forward and reverse gears on Jannie's command. The wind picked up at the wrong moment and there was an adrenaline rush as we neared one boat and fended off, reversed closely to another boat and fended off and Jannie finally managed to maneuver us into the berth. No harm … no foul. With Radiance snug in her berth, we tidied her up and all headed to the clubhouse where a post-race party was well under way.

I'm happy to report there was indeed red wine available for a cold, thirsty, hungry crew. A hot Portuguese soup and Portuguese rolls were being served followed by a seafood and rice dish … and  red wine, of course.

We watched as the Portugal Day trophy was being awarded, a rather large cup indeed. Portuguese music was playing and dancers in traditional dress entertained a merry crowd.

All in all, a fun, enjoyable day with new friends. Who could ask for more?

Yacht Clubs Round the World

Yacht clubs, depending upon where they are and their membership numbers, vary greatly worldwide. They usually have a few things in common … a love of sailing and the sea … and a bar. We've visited little, tiny clubs that have only a few members, a few boats and a bar. We visited the friendly, little Niue Yacht Club which had no boats, nor, for that matter, any members who'd ever owned a boat or sailed, but they did have a bar. The bar is always obligatory! Commodore Keith readily admits he has no sailing experience, but the island certainly does love yachties.

The Suwarrow Island Yacht Club in the Cook Islands was a cruiser's haven. The “yacht club” was nothing more formal than a meeting (and drinking) place on Direction Island for yachties who stopped for a respite at this tiny uninhabited atoll at the Cook Island's only national park.

Several yacht clubs offer amenities to visiting sailors. Sometimes we've been offered a free mooring or berthing for a couple of days or in the case of the most generous Yacht Club Peruano near Lima, Peru, we stayed for a month on their largesse. The members stopped by daily to invite us to coffee, lunch, dinners, excursions. Friends made there, especially Gonzalo and Magdala, have remained good friends through the years.

Sometimes, we're offered free membership in the club for some period of time allowing us to use the facilities or eat at the restaurant/bar at member prices. Sometimes it's a most welcome, hot shower like in Mossel Bay, South Africa or a mooring in Esperance, Western Australia or perhaps, a cold beer at the Buffalo River YC in East London, South Africa. The smaller or off-the-beaten track clubs are usually more friendly and welcoming. At the larger clubs, we're lost in the noise of yacht club activities, as well as the frequency and volume of visiting yachts.

Some yacht clubs are famous. The Panama Canal Yacht Club, for instance, was an icon. We were lucky to have had a chance to visit before it was torn down to make way for containers and other important shipping stuff.

The Club de Yates Micalvi in Puerto Williams, the southernmost town on the planet, was perhaps the most unusual yacht club we've visited. It was nothing more than an intentionally grounded munitions carrier that yachts tied to … sometimes rafting four boats out. The ship was a rusting hulk, but still offered showers and backpackers slept on the decks. It had, of course, a requisite bar.

The Royal Natal Yacht Club in Durban is the oldest yacht club in Africa, but sadly, it's losing its members, perhaps because of its downtown location or lack of activities or other business reasons. The adjacent Point Yacht Club seems to be facing similar problems.

I'd say Royal Cape is probably the most prestigious, as well as largest and most active yacht club (not to be confused with a marina) we've ever visited. Begun in 1905, it really didn't get its legs under it until the Cape to Rio Race in 1971. With 400+ berths and 2,000 members, there's always something going on. They have a very competitive racing group, a sailing school and youth sailing, as well as lots of fun sails and activities like monthly Jazz on the Deck. There's rarely a time when the restaurant and bar are empty. Lying in the shadow of Table Mountain close to the city center, there's not a better place to be in Cape Town.

The friendliest yacht club? That's probably a toss-up between the Yacht Club Peruano in Peru and the Mandurah Offshore Fishing and Sailing Club in Mandurah, Western Australia. Both clubs were particularly generous and the members went out of their way to be welcoming and include us in their activities. These are folks we're still in touch with and who will remain friends forever.

I'm sure some yacht clubs are pretty snooty and exclusive, but we haven't found them yet. We travel in different circles, I guess. Without exception, our experiences at local yacht clubs have demonstrated the generosity and camaraderie of the sailing network around the world.

A note … in the USA we call sailboats, unless they're ginormous, sailboats and tend to think the “yacht” terminology is pretentious. The really huge, luxury boats, motor or sail, are called superyachts. In many parts of the world, however, and by definition, a yacht is a vessel designated for personal, recreational use and/or competitive racing versus commercial use.