The Blue View - Small Town Lüderitz

Both Marcie and I have lived  in small towns where everybody, if not actually related,  knows everyone else. Lüderitz, with a population of only 12,537,  is the epitome of a small town.  Even by small town standards, however, we are amazed at all the connections between the people we've met. Perhaps it's because the town is not only small, but very isolated and very hospitable. People that are born here tend to stay, and people that stop here for a short stay often end up remaining for decades. Did I mention it is a friendly town? We've been in Lüderitz about a month now, and have at least 8-10 new friends whom we see regularly. We are also on a first name basis with about 20 or so people, and probably know an equal number well enough to wave at and say hello.

Evaldine, the port authority official who checked us into the port and has been so helpful sorting out various issues for us, has known our good friend Ian since she was a girl.

evaldine and marcie in luderitz

Ian is the local marine surveyor and was formerly a yachtie, merchant mariner and the port captain, and is married to Doris. Doris is an ex-pat German, who completed a circumnavigation a decade or so ago on her yacht, during which she met Ian.

ian and doris of luderitz namibia

Our friend Liz manages a tour agency and gift shop and we've shared many a meal at her home with mutual friends.

doris and liz

She rents a house from Paul, who is an offshore diamond miner. Paul and Ingrid were also yachties who did their circumnavigation in 2002-2005, and who rent another small house, actually a transplanted boat to Andy, yet another yachtie who spends most of his days on his trimaran which is moored just feet from Nine of Cups.

boat houses in luderitz namibia

Giggs, the dive crew chief for the diver that checked a mooring for us, is Evaldine's nephew. And so on …

giggs of luderitz

Of our new friends, an amazing number were yachties, several of whom have sailed around the world on their sailboats. They are Namibians and, except for Doris, started and ended their travels here. An adventurous group of people, and undoubtedly the highest per capita  number of circumnavigators in any town we've visited.

Now that we've been sailing a few years, we've discovered that the yachtie community is also very much like a small town, and whenever we meet new yachties, a frequent topic of conversation is who we know in common. “You were in Tonga in 2004? Did you meet … while you were there?”. Our new yachtie friends in Lüderitz were no exception, and it turns out we have a dozen or so mutual friends and acquaintances. Several of our other cruising friends also emailed us, and asked us to be sure to “say hi to …, we met them in Ecuador (or Uruguay or the South Pacific) in ...”.

And did I mention friendly? We will be reluctantly departing in the next few days, but I am sure Lüderitz and its warm friendly people will always be one of our favorite ports of call.

The Blue View - Rigging Revisited

The replacement of the standing rigging was completed just a couple of days before our aborted departure from Cape Town. Then the remaining days were busy with last minute provisioning, to-dos, and checking out, and I didn't do another pre-departure rigging check. After all, the new rigging was just installed by experts, right?scending the mast

Now  that we are staying here in Cape Town for another couple of weeks while the new sail is being made, I've begun a few things on the B-List of to-dos – those things that need doing, but not necessarily mission critical things. One of these B-List items was the replacement of the HF radio antenna. Ours is a single wire that runs from near the top of our dual backstays to just above the “goal post” that supports the wind generator. I last replaced this about ten years ago in Ecuador. All I could find at the time was galvanized wire, and it was now looking a bit weathered. I found some 1/8” stainless wire here, which I cut to size and then spliced a stainless thimble on each end. When I ascended the mast to remove the old antenna and replace it with the new, I checked out the new rigging on my way up.

I was quite dismayed to discover a number of problems with our new, professionally installed rigging. Some of the issues were minor: the spreader boots were secured in place with plastic electrical tape – in a few months when the tape deteriorated from the sun, we may have lost them; the top of the HF antenna was attached to the backstays with small lines tied with clove hitches – not the most secure way of doing it, and the antenna may have worked loose over time; some of the cotter pins were bent far more than necessary – more of a nuisance than anything.

spreader boot

Some of the issues were quite a bit more serious, however, and after noticing them, I did a full rigging check. These are the problems I found:

Improperly installed cotter pin.  I have no idea how the rigger didn't notice this.

cotterpin

The nut that locks the furler in place and prevents it from rotating was only finger tight.

Several of the cotter pins in the turnbuckles for the shrouds and stays  were undersized. I don't think they were large enough to prevent the turnbuckles from rotating.

Missing pins in the furler foil. The original tear in our headsail was due to a missing pin in the furler foil, which allowed two sections of the foil to separate. The head sail either got pinched or chafed on the foil edge, tearing it. The rigger repaired the foil by installing set screws in the foil. He should have looked at the rest of the furler – there were several other missing pins. This may have been the reason the newly repaired sail tore again so quickly.

foil

Most of the problems, like those related to the cotter pins, were easy to fix, but the furler foil took more time. Marcie and I removed the forestay and furler, then, while it was lying on the dock, I drilled and tapped holes for and installed nine additional set screws. Lastly, we re-installed it and tensioned the rig. I had to go up the mast four or five times in total, and we spent just about a day getting everything done. Another ibuprofen night for us old farts.

I was definitely remiss in not doing a check after the riggers finished. A lesson I continually seem to need to relearn is that nobody cares as much about Nine of Cups as we do.

Le Weekend - Port Mathurin, Ile Rodrigues

Le Weekend … after the market and all the shops closed down on Saturday, Port Mathurin eased into the weekend. By 3pm, there was little traffic on the streets and not all that many people. The sidewalks (or lack thereof) were rolled up tight. We were content to stay aboard with our newly acquired freshies and while away the rest of the day with naps, chores and a nice dinner. Sunday morning and we could hear the church bells ringing. Rodrigues has many religious sects, but the most prominent is Catholic. The church is right in the middle of town and the faint strain of singing voices wafted out to the anchorage.

 

church

 

No shops were open. No restaurants. The bakery opened at 0430 (but, of course … people need their daily bread!), but closed right after the church services. There were a few people out and about, but not many. That is, until about 3pm when “Le Nightclub” opened. We had read about the “nightclub” from previous cruisers and thought we'd check it out. The name is a misnomer in that it opens from about 3pm on Sunday afternoons and closes about 8pm. It's more of an afternoon club … a social club for Sunday afternoon get-togethers, a few beers and lots of loud music and dancing.

We showed up at the entry door around 3pm and were immediately turned away. David, and our friend James on Banshee, were in shorts. Long trousers were required along with proper shoes … no flip-flops.

 

no entry

 

There was discussion as to whether the men wanted to change. I convinced them that they did, so we walked back to the dock, David dinghied back to the boat to change while I chatted with some other departing cruisers. Properly attired, we walked back to Les Cocotiers, paid our cover charge (125Rps for men; only 75Rps for women), and found a table. The Phoenix beer was cold; the music was loud; the place was dark and stale.

 

les cocotiers

 

The locals were dancing up a storm. We sat and watched and enjoyed. I love dancing and was anxious to get out on the floor and strut my stuff, but I wanted to get a feel for the music and dancing first. A DJ kept the momentum going. A huge multi-faceted, mirrored disco ball hung limp, evidently having lost its spin sometime in the past. The music ranged between 1950-60s pop and country. We heard “Please Release Me” several times and “Sad Movies Always Make Me Cry” at least twice. No original artists were recognized, but the tunes were familiar.

All dancing seemed be a simple country two-step to a calypso-type beat ... with a twirl thrown in every once in awhile by the more energetic dancers. Not my kind of music, but it was enjoyable to people watch and check out the dynamics of the local folks. Women outnumbered men and danced unabashedly with each other when no male partners were available. Women were decked out in their Sunday finest. Some wore high heels. All wore lipstick. When a new tune started, the men stood up, checked out the potential field and pointed at a woman, gave her the “come on and dance” high sign and that was it. Not much formality involved. I passed on my opportunity, preferring to watch rather than participate.

After a couple of hours, the music changed to an accordion-based, polka-style of music … still with that pronounced calypso beat. Hard to explain. A younger crowd started walking in and the older crowd dissipated … as did we. Enough nightclubbing for one Sunday afternoon.