After weeks of frustration, including suffering from the 'silly season' here in South Africa (as they term the Christmas/New Year holiday period from the point of view of getting work done!), I finally had the good news I'd been waiting for - my engine repairs could go ahead, along with completing other repairs I'm getting done while in Cape Town - an excellent place for that. I'm hoping to get all the work completed within the next 2-3 weeks.
Many people here have been very kind & helpful and the Royal Cape Y.C. has been extremely generous in waiving my berthing fees (I originally came here on Dec 9th expecting to stay just 2-3 days!). In between getting on with boat-related jobs, I've been taken to a Township school, to the Newspace Theatre for a performance of Jacques Brel's songs and on tours of the beautiful coast both north and south of Cape Town with its white sand beaches and offlying rocks. I've sped along, getting drenched, in a racing catamaran at 25knots, touching 28knots.... & taken part in Wednesday night yacht-racing - last week in SE 30-39knots of wind. (The racing should have been cancelled but somehow went ahead - but these S. African sailors are a tough lot, used to regularly sailing in very strong conditions!!) This morning I went out for a pleasant sail in Table Bay, helping crew a boat wanting to train up its foredeck crew, ready for the Mykonos Race in mid-February - the big event of the racing calendar here. On the way back, dolphins visited the boat, a mother and tiny youngster jumping together among them!
Cruiser friends have come .. and gone... mainly headed to the SE Trades and St Helena and on to Brazil or the Caribbean or the Azores, but a few have headed east to Australia - the direction I'm hoping to sail in before the end of February.
The wind is howling just now - the typical 25-30 knot southeaster of Cape Town. When the 'table cloth' drops over Table Mountain's edge, I've learned to expect the strong SE wind which usually keeps blowing for several days, sometimes calming down temporarily in the early morning.