In at the deep end

So our first training week (19 Jan) started off quietly enough.... eager anticipation was quickly eroded by time-wasting as the 6-week old training yacht had no power at the board: meaning that there were no lights, battery, VHF.... anything! This allowed us plenty of time to get to know our instructor, Graham (48-year old UK Royal Navy guy and sailor) and fellow students Shane and Leon, young guys in their early twenties who did not seem to mind their two old ballie companions! The extra time in the classroom at the offices of 2 Oceans Maritime Academy supposedly afforded us the time to “learn the ropes”... i.e. how to tie the prescribed knots on the ropes we were all given!

A short deviation: as sailors, you become paranoid by the weather and follow predictions closely. We were given South-Easters for the week. Turns out these hit Hout Bay with a vengeance, funnelling through the hills above little Chappies and blasting onto the waters of the bay. Benguela, the 42 foot yacht (monohull) the five of us were sharing in close confines (understatement), had an outside mooring, so we were woken at 12:30 on our first night by the most fierce rocking and rolling, loud whacks and general mayhem (the wind makes the most hideous noises in a marina, with all the masts and rigging). Upshot: spent a good part of the first night re-positioning bow lines, stern springs etc (good way to learn what they were!). At one stage Rolf was on the floating pontoon holding onto it like spider-man and almost came off as it veered up at a perilous angle but then it crashed back down (onto the bow of the yacht behind). We learned on the first night that even sleeping on board is not all plain sailing and we don’t get sea-sick in bad seas (well, not yet).

Tuesday saw a beautiful, gentle start to the day, with great promise for getting out of the harbour safely. Unfortunately the electrician from Johannesburg sent to fix the power only arrived at about 9:30 and pronounced all complete at about 3:30pm. The wind was now howling. So the instructor decided we had to get away from Hout Bay and move to the Royal Cape Yacht Club in Table Bay.... and we did. We simply (?) powered/pounded our way out of the harbour into the oncoming waves with winds gusting at 50 knots (regarded in the RYA training manual as above gale). The strangeness of the Cape weather is that around the headland it was ok to put up sail... and when we were in the lee near lion’s head we were practically becalmed!

We berthed happily at the RCYC for three nights and the area provided us with reasonable winds so we got a lot of learning and sailing done. What a change in life style and what a steep learning curve we have experienced! Irene went from being uncertain of which side was port to being at the helm of the yacht, sailing in Table Bay, tacking, gybing and sometimes putting the crews’ toes on the lee side in the water! Rolf did all of the above (and more) but started from a better base! Learning to sail comes with its tough sides (very physically demanding and causes, in our case, sore muscles, backs and knees.... not to mention cleaning the heads and the bilges...) but has great upsides: we anchored off Clifton for lunch, berthed alongside Quay 4 at the V&A for supper and had the most unbelievable whale, dolphin and seal-sightings.

Southern Right whales at play and a huge pod of travelling dolphin

The first week was physically, emotionally and mentally extremely demanding and exhausting, but thankfully we did not get sea-sick and have not yet been afraid of the seas we have been in. Our experiences went from exhilarating to stressful and nerve-wracking, but the whole thing has been really awesome.... and we got the Competent Crew ticket (whee....haaa!)

The tough physical comp crew week was followed (after a brief weekend respite at a timeshare dominated by laundry, SLEEP and R&R) by the first week of the 2-week Day Skipper course: the theory week. Leon was not going further with sailing and returned to uni, but we were joined by Andre (who runs fishing charters from Villancoulos) and Jason (an American who has been working and sailing in Japan).... both fresh from one of SA’s entries into the Cape to Bahia yacht race. Another bout of insecurity overtook Irene (felt like a REAL appie, yet again, in the face of all this testosterone and knowledge... what were they doing here, with bozos like me who knew NOTHING!?) but pretty soon we settled into a routine: 8:30 to 4:30 learning, lots of homework every night, and turns out we were all in the same place re the theory parts of this RYA training.
Buoys, lights, collision avoidance, rules of the “road”, safety issues, tidal and wind factors, choosing your route and bearings: all this knowledge and theory became our currency and we spent hours plotting courses on charts. The exams on Friday were fine (passed well) .... and tomorrow we leave Hout Bay for Saldanha Bay where we will stay for the week getting experience of sailing with tides and putting all this theory into practice! We will each have a turn being navigator and also skipper for the day (the latter receiving the pilotage from the navigator and giving instruction to the helmsman and crew). Thank heavens the instructor is with us: surely HE doesn’t want to be grounded or in a collision!?

We spent the week sleeping on the boat in Hout Bay harbour. Our garden was the sea (which, granted, did not always allow us to sleep more than fitfully), our walkway the floating pontoon, our neighbours really close to us.... our ablutions some distance away at the yacht club! We have become fond of the harbour, its activity and colour... but there are only so many times you want to walk up and down to the ablutions, which are less than perfect, and we are glad to have a timeshare WEEK for the next theory week, the start of the Coastal Skipper course.

It has been wonderful meeting with local friends and some who have been down from Gauteng: this has been our first really relaxing weekend as friends stayed with us at the timeshare and we did the Cape holiday thing: wine farm, beach, movie, eat out. YAY! It forced us to focus on relaxing and stop running around organising things! So tomorrow (2 Feb): start of the Day Skipper Practical course... more interesting times ahead, but we have a feeling that the deep end may not be as deep as first thought.... watch this space!