Gordon's Bay December 2010

You all probably been thinking we have sailed off the end of the earth! Well not yet! We are feeling a little like we have been sucked into the centre of a whirlwind.

Time has been flying and we have been busy. I went off and did a “Survival at Sea” course. It was great fun actually we learnt about launching our life raft and got to see what it was like inside and what it contained. So many yachties have life raft aboard and have never seen one inflated. We got to launch it in the pool, practiced righting it. We spent the day towing each other through (man-made) waves in the swimming pool. Ok not quite the ocean but it made one appreciate what it might be like in the ocean!

I then went off and did the Ships Captains Medical course. I have not nursed for 20 years or so and was, as you can imagine, a little rusty. We covered what may need to be done after the ’first aiders” have done their part. Yes on the yacht I am basically both but things like putting up drips administering drugs and stitching up wounds was good to refresh the memory. We got to work in casualty for a night. It was at a hospital that usually is and should have been crazily busy on the last Friday night of the month. Right after payday! Well, it was the quietest night they had all year. Nice for any potential patients, not so great for us. But I did manage to do some stitching and a drip.

At the same time the boat was out on the hard (on land) having new antifouling applied and a few minor jobs done. While we were at moored at Royal Cape Yacht club, some bright spark (we know who you are) vandalised the boat, smashing our spotlight on the bow! No accounting for some people. But no matter what goes around comes around. We have had it fixed.

Once that was over it was back to packing, sewing things for the boat and trying to get paperwork etc completed.

My parents have now moved in with us in preparation for taking care of our home while we are away and most importantly looking after our furred and feathered children

Andre came home from his last work trip and so we begin to pack the boat soon and begin buying the non-perishable provisions. He will only be going again next year from where ever we are moored at the time.

We will be moving onto the boat in a couple of weeks, news on that to follow.

Only 32 days to go and we are off!

Fair winds and flat seas to our friends aboard the Bavaria “Ocean Maiden” who set sail for St Helena yesterday. Chris and Tjaarda , see you in Brazil.

Andre and Alison

Famous at last!

Realization of a Dream

Two young people dreamed their dreams of one day spending their life sailing the seas.  But at that stage it was “just a dream”

Then in 1984 they met and discovered they shared a passion… Sailing.

They soon began sailing Hobie cats together and discovered they made a great team on and off the water.

Two years after their marriage in 1986, the first of their dreams were fulfilled. They had saved their honeymoon trip until they could spend it chartering a yacht.

Aboard a Dufour 30 in the Mediterranean; they spent 2 weeks on a bare boat charter with their friends; Trudy and Freddie.

The bug had bitten, the “cruising bug” sunk its teeth into them both and they arrived back home with a mission: To buy their own cruiser and go sailing.

Much planning and saving ensued and they finally managed to buy the Hull, Deck and Bulkheads of a Sadler 26. As they were living in Bloemfontein at the time they enjoyed the ribbing of all who passed asking when we thought the floods were coming. She was lovingly completed over a period of  2  years, just in time for their transfer to Cape Town.

She was named “Falcore” after the Luck Dragon in the “Never Ending Story” She was launched with the appropriate pomp and ceremony at the Royal Cape Yacht Club.

Having seen the preparations for her launch they were asked “What do you think she is? The Queen Mary?”

Our response of “She is to us” said it all…

Her named proved true and although it broke our hearts to sell her she was the fulcrum to the next step in our dream.

By this time we had decided that we wanted to do our cruising in a Catamaran.

Once again every cent was put towards accumulating enough to fund the next step. Catamaran designs were analysed “ad nauseum”. The “Wildcat” was finally chosen as the goal.

In 2000 we finally found the right one. She was called “Devocean” and had been well loved by her owner who was heartbroken to sell her. We promised to love her as he did and she was. Due to her being especially designed to accommodate the previous owner’s disability we had some work to do to make her ours. Once completed, we spent many hours on board, trips between Durban and Gordon’s Bay to bring her home to us. Many happy weeks spent cruising the Langebaan lagoon and surrounds.

As we planned to spend years cruising we finally decided we had to get a bigger boat and once again hours were spent visiting Boat Builders, sailing on any Cats we could and asking as many questions as possible.

The decision was finally made and on route to put down our deposit and sign for our own “Island Spirit” to be built, we received a phone call from a friend with inside knowledge, warning us the factory had just been put under liquidation. We couldn’t believe our luck and how every path to this dream had been blessed. Had we put down the deposit and lost it we would have been set back, even possibly permanently stopped in the fulfilment of our dream.

As is often sadly the case one mans misfortune is another’s blessing. One of the hull owners lived in Texas and was not willing to continue and have his boat completed in South Africa. This gave us the opportunity to buy the Hull, deck and Bulkheads from him.

Once again we threw ourselves into the project of completing her. Although we completed her to the specifications of the class we were able to put our own small finishing touches. One of the advantages of an owner builder!

She was lovingly completed and launched after a road trip from Gordon’s Bay to Royal Cape Yacht club.

As we had finished her in the rainy season and the truck and crane we had to lift and transport her with could not get to where she was standing as the mud was too soft. Finally after a dry period she was loaded and with a police escort we brought the N2, main highway to Cape Town to a snails pace. 

There she was lifted into the air and placed gently on the water for the first time. She floats!! Our "baby" was launched!