Ceilydh Set Sail: Cape Town Love--Atlantic Ocean Prep

On top of Table Mountain

Somehow two months has passed since we first arrived in Simons Town. Like any city-stop our time here has felt less like cruising and more like real life—whatever that may mean. Most of our hours have been spent immersed in projects and the conversations during our daily sundowners at the yacht club have tended to revolve around where to find mechanics and spare parts rather than locations for good hikes and snorkel spots. We did manage to get some fun in—it’s impossible not to take advantage of some of what this gorgeous city has on offer. Really, two months here is not nearly enough.

Sailing past the Cape of Good Hope

Boat Chores

Before crossing any ocean (and after crossing one as exciting as the Indian Ocean) there’s a lot to be done. Our list grew when we discovered Cape Town is an incredible place to get anything boat-related done; the prices are affordable and the quality of work tends to be quite good. Our work list was long (this is just a sample) but as our days are winding down we’re feeling good about our next leg:

· Injection pump rebuild—the engine has been leaking diesel for the past few months and after exhausting all other options, it turned out the injection pump was the culprit and Briegel Motors did the rebuild. While Evan had the engine pulled apart it got lots of TLC with new hoses, a radiator clean and a few other goodies.

· Sail repair—all our sails got a good once over and the genoa went into Ullman sails for a new suncover and some stitching repairs.

· Dinghy retubing—our dinghy tubes took a beating in Chagos while hauling up and down anchors over and over to kedge off the boat that went aground (should have had a cover). In two wide patches the Hypalon was almost worn away and we were more of a deflatable. Wildcat dinghies retubed us for <$500.

· New flooring—we’ve never liked the flooring we put down and found industrial sheet flooring to replace it with. The colour runs all the way through so stains can be sanded out and it was easy to install.

· New life lines—we have spectra lifelines and discovered the end of roll bin at Southern Ropes. No more needs to be said.

· Spinnaker sheets—see above about Southern Ropes.

· New kitchen faucet—our faucet broke in Comoros and we’ve been on the hunt for a low faucet with a pull out sprayer. It took a while but On Tap, came through.

· Haul out—we’ll write about our amazing experience at Port Owen separately but that’s where we are now. The hull is painted and the rudders have spiffy new bearings which should solve the mid-ocean kick-up issue forever.

Coming out by crane in Port Owen

Fun, fun, fun

Fun with friends at the Farmhouse concerts

You can’t come to Cape Town without enjoying some of what this incredible city has to offer. Rather than itemizing all we did I’ll just include a few happy photos for now (we’re back in the water soon and we’ll run out of internet). Next stop is Namibia. Watch for a post about our plans from there.