Video of Port Elizabeth to Knysna trip

Never thought we would need the NSRI!

14 Nov. 13

We left PE six o clock on Tuesday morning and beat into a choppy uncomfortable Algoa Bay for four hours before rounding Cape Recife and turning west towards Mossel Bay our next stop. Once we turned the swell direction was more comfortable but still gave us a bouncy ride until we passed Saint Francis, about 45 miles and 10 hours later where we finally turned west and placed the swell behind us.

 

The sun set just after seven and we had a relatively good sail across Plettenburg Bay overnight.

 

At sunrise our speed dropped from almost six knots to under three and we started beating into an unpredicted South westerly wind. As the hours passed and the sun rose in the sky the sea became increasingly uncomfortable and our speed dropped to under two knots. The wind kept building and sea became more and more uncomfortable. Yrumoar was bouncing into big waves and was taking a beating as her bridge deck slammed onto the water each time she crossed a wave. Sometimes she crashed down so hard I thought her windows would smash. It was not even nine o clock in the morning and we still had a long way to go to get to Mossel Bay. At this point we started looking for options. We couldn’t carry on like this and wanted to get off the boat and off the ocean. Lola and I discussed our options, could we turn around, run downwind and anchor in Plettenburg bay or not. We searched through the pilot guide hoping to find an answer but the pilot guide did not recommend using Plett as an anchorage and especially in a big South Easterly which was predicted to arrive the following day so we discarded that option. Fortunately we had met up with Ian on HQ in PE and knew he was in Knysna so we called him and asked him for some options. Ian is a very experienced skipper and we needed help. We were not making any headway and started to panic. Ian told us he would come out on his duck and meet us if we could get to the Knysna heads. The entry to the Knysna heads is reputed to be quite adventurous and it is not recommended without local knowledge so we had no intention of trying it but now with our choices limited we decided we would take him up on his offer and continued beating into the wind and swell for the next nine hours till six in the evening when we finally arrived at the heads. Yrumoar took such a beating that her big heavy saloon table ripped off the floor and is now still loose.

  

About an hour before we arrived at the heads Lola finally broke down and released her tension. As the tears flowed she told me she hated me, she hated sailing and she hated the boat and it was all my fault. I did nothing to defend myself and understood how she felt. I actually felt much the same way so just kept quiet and let her get it all out. A few minutes later she was done and started smiling and talking about our next leg down to Simons Town. I was confused but still kept quiet. Was there two Lola’s on board and I hadn’t noticed? Anyway Ian met us on the leading lights and climbed aboard. He powered Yrumoar through the heads without a hitch and we finally dropped anchor behind HQ just after sunset. Ian was a lifesaver and we all thanked him multiple times before sending our aching overtired bodies off to bed.

 

16 Nov. 13

Yesterday morning when I got up I had no idea that yesterday was the day our trip may have ended in disaster. It was a beautiful morning and the sun was shining as I sat in the cockpit drinking my morning coffee thinking about the day ahead. I asked the crew what they wanted to do for the day and we thought we would head to shore and check out the waterfront. Knysna is a stunning place and my view from the cockpit is amazing so we all looked forward to a fun day. But first I had to fix our dingy motor since it leaked petrol and we had anchored quite far from land so needed it to work. I started stripping the motor when a friend called on Skype and asked how things were going. I told him things were good and we were excited about the trip except off course the money issues. With this mentioned I joked with him to go onto our website and make adonation. He then asked my why he should make a donation since we are living the dream life and he has to slave at work all day. He even equated my suggestion to the guys begging at the robots on his way home from work. I could see his point and understood what he was saying but told him our donation button on the website is not the same as begging. We take a lot of time to write about the trip and the places we visit. I think Lola spends about six to eight hours a day loading photos and making the website as attractive and user friendly as possible. For this “work” we do not charge anything. So the donate button is there for those people who enjoy reading what we wrote about and wish to continue reading so decided to “donate, or pay” for what they have read and seen.

 Anyway after saying goodbye I continued stripping the dingy motor. I don’t know how it happened but when I looked up I suddenly spotted a catamaran right next to us and we were heading rapidly towards it. I shouted to the crew, “oh shit our anchor has dragged” and everyone rushed outside. But it was already too late and we smashed into his bow with a loud crunch. I shouted for someone to get me the keys so I could start the motors and Kyle ran inside to get them. I started the motors and tried to motor off but our rudder was tangled in his bridle and we were stuck. A fishing boat was sailing by and we shouted for assistance but he couldn’t hear us over his engines and just continued on his way. Behind the catamaran we were now stuck to a low bridge crossed the road and I was concerned his anchor would also drag with our combined weight wrecking both our boats onto the bridge. I told Lola to call sea rescue for assistance and passed her the phone. She dialled the number at the same time as pushing our boat as hard as she could away from the bow spirit of the catamaran that was jutting over into our cockpit. She managed to get through the second time she dialled and sea rescue was on their way to us.

 In the meantime another fishing boat had spotted us and made his way over to help. He dropped his anchor some distance from us and tossed a line for us to cleat. He then tried to pull us off but couldn’t. The NSRI arrived about ten minutes later and took control of the situation. The owner of the other Catamaran also arrived and wasn’t in very good spirits. I suppose I can understand, I would also not be impressed if someone had dragged their anchor and got stuck on Yrumoar.

 For the next three hours we watched as NSRI devised a plan and saved our boat. Our rudder was no longer working so they, together with the fishing boat, towed us onto a mooring buoy and tied us up before departing back to wait for their next call. I can’t begin to tell you how thankful we are to them and the guy on the fishing boat for their help but was really glad we donate money regularly to the NSRI even though we never believed we would need them. 

 

Around Port Elizabeth

07 Nov. 13

We decided to take a walk to the Spar about two kilometres from the harbour entrance and passed the South End Museum so decided to take a look. The museum is about the forced removal in 1960 of the people who lived there and includes some history about all the different race groups in the Eastern Cape. It’s true that history is written by the victor and since I was taught history in the apartheid era I can see how it has been changed to suit the new South Africa. I was taught that Vasco Da Gama landed near here somewhere and was attacked by the locals. He killed many of them in the battle and drove them off. He obviously won at the time otherwise I wouldn’t have known about it since he would have been dead and couldn’t relay his story. Now the new history goes that he landed here and “stole” water so the locals attacked him suffered very little casualties and they drove him off. I suppose every story has two sides, depends who is telling it. I also noticed the new South African history starts in 1950. Before 1950 nothing happened and no humans walked the planet. I know the old government was stupid and did some really atrocious deeds that nobody is proud of but these things did happen and should be noted in history so we don’t make the same mistakes in future. We can get to make new ones instead.

 

My first impressions of Port Elizabeth. From where we sit in the harbour it is an attractive city. The buildings are interesting and modern and the landscape clean and good looking. About the locals, PE must have the most attractive women in SA and Rauen and I have been exercising our neck muscles as we have to spin our heads from one attraction to the next.

  

 08 Nov. 13

We caught a taxi to the airport to pick up a rented car. Afterwards we drove to one of the many malls in PE to meet Leon an old friend from Lola’s school days. We arrived a bit early for the meeting so took a walk around the mall and looked in one or two of the shops. Leon arrived a few minutes later and we had coffee while Lola caught up on years gone by departing with “lets not wait 20 years till we meet again.” However, our future is now so uncertain we can never tell when or if we will ever see someone again.

 

Yesterday we drove to Jeffreys Bay to see Lola’s gran, her uncle Reg and his wife Denise and Chantelle her brother’s ex. I wonder if it’s just me or what, but somehow all the people we are meeting are related to, or friends of Lola and nobody has anything to do with me. Must have something to do with my secret past as an undercover agent or the fact that I am from a distant planet.

Oh, two things I forgot to mention regarding our sail from East London. Lola was not seasick and it made a huge difference to our sail. And the second, Yrumoar developed a new creak near the Nav station. We tried to see what was causing it but couldn’t find anything so sent Rauen under the boat when we got here with my “test instrument” to tap around and make sure nothing had broken under the bridge deck. Fortunately he didn’t find anything wrong under there and since we can’t find anything obvious inside the boat either we decided to strengthen some of the bulkheads in that area and hope it stops the creak.      

11 Nov. 13

On Saturday we decided to go down to the beach and try out the IPTS. IPTS, integrated public transport system or in laymen terms, the bus. The bus stop was just outside the harbour and we only had to wait a few minutes before a bus arrived. The bus trip was short but enjoyable and we walked through the flee market had lunch, watched Rauen skate at the skatepark and finally headed to the beach. PE has a beautiful beach with soft clean sand and turquoise blue crystal clear water. In my opinion the beach in Port Elizabeth would be far better than the beach we saw in Mauritius except for one thing, the water temperature. In Mauritius the water was warm and inviting. In PE the water was not.    

On Sunday morning the Herald Newspaper came to the yacht club to do an interview with us. It seems fame has finally reached our doorstep. Okay no, it seems Lola knows people who know people who know other people. Thanks Leon.

We strengthened the bulkheads with an epoxy fillet and a layer of glass. Hopefully our creak disappears.

 

Last night we had an impromptu party on Yrumoar. Dylan arrived from Cape Town to sleep over and Ian on HQ whom we had met in Richards bay also arrived. We also made a new friend John. He owns a 24 vivacity that is moored next to us and I chatted to him about it since it reminded me of our time on Bluefin. He had some interesting stories about his time in Argentina and we all stayed up till after midnight having fun and catching up.

This morning two boats left and I helped Miscky undock and watched her leave. We then took a ride on the back of a bakkie to drop Dylan at the airport and bought the newspaper. We just had to see the article and couldn’t contain our excitement when we saw Kyle’s image on the front cover. Our story was on page 3 and it sounded great. Ian also left this afternoon and we are alone again. Well not quite alone since about 200 other boats are docked in the harbour but alone in my mind anyway. And of course the inevitable goodbye’s had to come again. I don’t know if I will ever get used to them.         

 

Sailing from East London to Port Elizabeth

23 Oct. 13

I sat in the cockpit and watched another cruising boat leave this morning. Another one is still here but plans to leave this afternoon. We considered leaving with them but don’t like the weather window and don’t want to set ourselves up for yet another failure. At least we all feel better again and have decided to carry on giving it one more attempt.

29 Oct. 13

Haven’t had much to say so couldn’t write anything. We are still in East London. The weather here has been terrible with howling wind for about a week now. I had toothache since Saturday and finally went to a dentist yesterday. He was quite good and I didn’t feel a thing when he pulled my tooth but suffered with severe pain afterwards and couldn’t even enjoy my Steers hamburger. This morning it is still a bit painful but at least the Genpayne tablets are working.


31 Oct. 13

Another month comes to an end and we are still sitting in East London. After our last attempt I had called 3 delivery skippers and asked them to deliver Yrumoar back to Durban so we could put her up for sale. I asked them all for an estimated price to do this but none of them gave me an answer. About a week went by and one of them came back to me telling me he is busy and won’t have time to do it. He is also a good friend and asked why we wanted to go backwards. Lola spoke to him on Facebook and she explained. The other 2 came back to me two days ago. They also told us to carry on. After I posted my blog we received an inspiring message from another good friend, Dylan also telling us not to give up yet. On Facebook Marc another friend on Atlantis also sent us a motivational line. Well, we had already decided to try again but it was great to have all the support and thanks guys. Oh I am still on the Genpayne tablets and I am not sure if I told the dentist to pull the correct tooth.

01 Nov. 13

So we launched another flight plan for PE today with the intention of sailing on Sunday morning. Now we wait and see if we are going to succeed this time round.

06 Nov. 13

On Friday night the harbour became so bouncy that by Saturday afternoon Lola was seasick and had to use the bucket. Seasickness is a terrible debilitating sickness that renders anyone who suffers from it helpless and I don’t enjoy watching my wife suffer feeling guilty once more for making her sail on Yrumoar. A good friend Sam told Lola she takes Adco Cyclizine the night before she goes out diving and it helps so Lola took a tablet. The tablet didn’t have time to work before she fed it to the bucket so she took another one. The seasickness also gave her a headache and she took two Genpayne tablets before finally passing out at about six in the evening. I sat alone in the cockpit and had a few very bouncy sun downers before going to bed at about nine. It was still bouncy in the morning when we woke up but Lola was feeling much better. She told me we may as well be out at sea with Yrumoar rocking and jerking away. The weather window said the wind would change from South west to North East at about one in the morning, blow at 15 knots until two in the afternoon then slowly calm. We waited until eight hoping the sea would calm down before we untied the lines and motored towards the harbour mouth.

I contacted port control to ask for permission to exit the harbour and was told to be careful when crossing the bar since a huge swell was running across it. Lola and I looked at each other. “oh crap” the thought entered my head. Where we going to turn around again? I wasn’t sure what to do but was still heading towards the exit. We couldn’t see the conditions outside so needed to get closer and around the north pier. Then my phone rang. It was John Barry. He asked me if we were planning to leave. I said yes. He then told me he thinks the sea outside is crazy and I should wait while he goes out on his rubber duck to check before we leave. This made me even more afraid and now I seriously considered turning around but Yrumoar just kept on heading closer to the exit. I then asked him if he thinks we should turn around and wait till the sea calms down. He said he would do that. Then the phone cut out before I could say anything else. I looked at Lola and told her what John had said. She sucked in a huge gasp of air and her eyes widened while clasping her hand across her lips. Her expression told me exactly how we both felt.

Yrumoar was still heading towards the bar. We turned the last corner and my eyes kept looking at the south break wall as the waves broke over it and came tumbled along and into the harbour towards us sending white spray in the air as it hit the bollards along the wall. Then I looked out across the bar and into the ocean. The swell was huge. On our starboard side a large roller tumbled across the edge of the south break wall. Directly in front of us but slightly off to port another huge roller ran across the harbour. A small gap existed between the two monsters and Yrumoar headed towards that gap. As we approached the gap the bow rose up suddenly and I could see a wall of water coming rapidly towards us. I froze and held onto the steering. Yrumoar climbed up the wall and reached the summit within a fraction of a second. My fear was mounting and the adrenalin was pumping through my veins as I wondered what was on the other side of this huge wall of water. Would it be a cliff face and we would plummet down the other side into disaster. I had been praying since we launched the flight plan on Friday and shot off another quick one. “please Lord, don’t let this be another Richards Bay Durban experience, I don’t know if my nerves can handle it.” Just then we reached the summit of the wave and I could see the other side. Yrumoar slid over the top and I swear I could hear her go swoosh as she surfed down the trough. We had crossed the bar. Yrumoar sped off towards the next wave and without any hull slam or complaints flew over the crest and swooshed onto the next one. I suddenly realised my fear was irrational and even though the sea was huge, about four metres, it was not dangerous or uncomfortable. The waves were far apart and Yrumoar sailed gently across them. Another sailing yacht “Miscky” had left at five in the morning and we caught up to them in the late afternoon just before sunset.

I took a few photo’s as we passed them and called them on the radio. We had a quick chat and sailed on into the night passing Port Alfred just as the sun was setting. We encountered a few large ships on route and I had to call one of them to find out if they had seen us on their Radar since our paths would cross. They said they did and changed course slightly to pass on our starboard side. They passed us close enough for a good photo and Lola snapped away happily at our new camera. This camera takes awesome photos and I am happy we made the investment.

 

We rounded Bird Island at three in the morning and headed on into Algoa Bay. Our speed dropped almost instantly from five knots to three and the short choppy sea slammed and slapped on our bows. A south west wind was blowing and I measured it at 10 knots. The weather forecast said nothing about it so I was a bit concerned. I shared my thoughts with Lola and she was also concerned. It was about five in the morning, both Lola and I were very tired since we hadn’t slept and I told her to try get some sleep. Since our speed had decreased we weren’t making much headway and our initial estimate of arrival wouldn’t happen so we needed to get some sleep.

As she got up to go inside a loud grunting noise came from the sea.
“What was that?” I heard her asking me.
“Shit I don’t know.” I replied.
And just like that we were wide awake again. After a while we decided it must have been a seal shouting at us as we may have passed to close by so our nerves calmed and we carried on at a tortoise pace towards Port Elizabeth. Lola went to sleep and I sat outside watching the sun rise over Algoa bay.

I woke her after an hour and she was much better and told me to go sleep. For some unexplainable reason I said no. Yrumoar was bouncing on the short choppy waves and the motion wasn’t comfortable. Lola took the pilot guide and read it for the first time. I don’t know why we didn’t check the guide before we left, we normally pour over it a few times but didn’t do it this time. After she was done she came outside and told me we should head back out to sea. I agreed and we turned away from our destination and headed back to deep water. The motion was even worse now as the waves hit us on the side. A motion none of us enjoy but our speed increased as we rolled out the Genoa so we accepted the slap and slam for the next four hours.

We had to round Riy Bank before we could turn back towards PE and sail the last twelve miles towards the port. At this point I was so tired I could no longer concentrate and went to sleep. As I lay down my toothache that I was still suffering with throbbed away but I closed my eyes and hoped the pain would go away while I slept. I woke up an hour and a half later with a throbbing tooth and very tight skin. I never realised it at the time but the sun must have got hold of me and roasted my skin to a bright red glow. I haven’t been sunburnt for a long time but I quickly remembered how it felt and decided to avoid the sun in future or use some of the sunscreen we sell.

We rounded the break wall and crossed the bar into Port Elizabeth harbour just after twelve. I was tired and irritable and struggled to park Yrumoar so ended up shouting at Lola for no particular reason. This lead to an uncomfortable afternoon as we went over to the yacht club to sign in and out to lunch afterwards. It took a few hours before I realised what I did, apologised and she decided to speak to me again.