Newsletter March 2024.

Aloha from a windy Hout Bay Yacht Club near the tip of Africa,

Autumn is fast approaching in the Southern Hemisphere. The sun is taking a tad longer to rise and shine and is gracefully sinking into the ocean earlier and earlier.

A couple of months ago, while sipping sundowner cocktails in the cockpit, the Captain and I shockingly and simultaneously realised that after 8 years of full-time living aboard SV Knowind (apart from our sometimes insane adventures in Brazil and Greece), we did not want another winter aboard our home, the boat.Nope, it’s not the rain, wet or dampness you would assume it is, the boat is warm, dry and cosy. It’s the “slothness” factor! Days on end where it is too miserable to stick your head out of a hatch never mind dinghy (which is half full of rainwater anyway) to shore for a walk….so it’s movies, books, pyjamas, woffies and well……becoming a full-on sloth!

The deciding factor that we had to make a move to land was the fact that Mike had a mild stroke whilst visiting his daughters in the UK in November 2023 and suddenly his health became a priority. So, land it is; but where?

Weirdly, I received an email a week or so later from a wonderful sailing couple we “met” when they followed our flotilla adventures in Greece on Facebook. With them having a boat based in Greece and both Captains being Swiss, we instantly connected. Out of the blue we were invited to keep an eye on their glorious guest house overlooking False Bay for the winter while they are away sailing.

Serendipity: as per the Oxford dictionary: “the fact of something interesting or pleasant happening by chance.”

It takes some planning to get from Saldanha Bay/Langebaan where we had been floating about since January 2023 to Hout Bay, some 65 nm to the South and then a further 47.6 nm to Gordon’s Bay, around the notorious Cape Point. While the junction of the Indian and Atlantic oceans is technically at Cape Agulhas, at the southern tip of the country, the symbolic meeting point is at the tip of the Cape of Good Hope. Which we need to pass.

Provisions done. Fuel done. A sudden weather window opportunity, a pleasant Northerly wind for 2 days so off went my intrepid Captain, solo, (I was visiting my daughter at the time) at the beginning of March! 18 hours of rolling and big swells on the beam, misty, rainy and in his eloquent way described as “kak”.(kak – Literal translation: Shit. Crap, rubbish, nonsense (profanity), of very wide usage in SA, good term to learn if you are planning a visit).

We had provisionally booked a berth in Hout Bay for a month and will start watching the weather closely in the first week of April. Ideally, we would like to do the sail across the bay before the 10th but will not be taking any chances with the well-known South Easter wind that seems to be blowing vengefully and with a desperate last summer gasp at the moment.

Factored into the equation is the fact that the first mate, and only crew member, ie. me, has a broken left wrist and various scrapes and bruises after tripping on an unfamiliar jetty and doing some awfully clumsy acrobatics from one end to the other.We are now temporary members of Gordon’s Bay Yacht Club for the winter, SV Knowind will get lots of love and attention which she needs and we will be safely ensconced in front of the fireplace, high up on the hill with the mountain guarding us and the glorious views of False Bay before us.But first, Cape Point!

Will report on our trip in next month’s newsletter.

Wishing those who celebrate Easter a blessed and peaceful Easter weekend.

Captain Mike and Nikki.