Boat Moved Again

This morning I met with Dianne at the office and we discussed my plans. 

She told me that contrary to what I had heard at Customs, if I took to boat to Simons Town I would have to bring it back to RCYC for clearance from the country.  She told me that in this country a yacht may obtain entry or exit clearance only through a yacht club in a Port of Entry.  I told her that this was the first country I had visited with this requirement.  She wondered why so many yachts wanted to go to Simon Town and I told her that it was supposed to be a nice place and the marina rates were probably cheaper, which was not of such importance to me as it might be to others.  The Fremantle Yacht Club had confirmed my full membership via email and Dianne told me that with the reciprocal rights privileges their rates to me would without a doubt be cheaper than in any marina in Simons Town.

I raised the issue of permanent staining of sails and rigging from sand blasting while the summer SE winds were blowing.  She had not heard of the problem and suggested that I speak to Ian the marina manager about it.  The told me that a problem of the dimensions that I had described would not be tolerated.  I admitted that all of the boats that I had seen in the marina looked very clean.

Dianne suggested that I hold off payment to the club until Friday, when I've decided how long I'll be staying.  I thanked her for her flexibility.

After lunch I took a load of clothes and bedding to the laundry, which has 2 washing machines and 2 driers.  The machines take tokens that can be purchased at the office.  After I started the washing I wandered over to the yard office next door to find Ian.  There was nobody in the office but soon a member of the staff came by and told me that Ian was on a jetty and should be back in 15 or 20 minutes.  He asked me the name of my boat and when I told him he replied that he had looked for me yesterday, and  I explained that I had been in the city going through the entry formalities.  He told me that my boat would have to be moved because with it tied at the end of the jetty a group of catamarans moored further down would have trouble getting past me.  I asked if he wanted to do it now and he said Yes.  I clucked a bit about the wind and he told me that he would come on board and help me move the boat.  He showed me a slip in which the boat would be facing the SE winds and I said fine.  I would have jetty on my starboard and another boat to my port.  I told him that coming into the slip the prop walk would take my stern to the boat on my port side and he said that he would get a second person to help.  I then asked him about the issue of boats being fouled from sand blasting operations during SE winds.  He told me that steps had been taken and the company doing the sand blasting had ceased operations last July or thereabouts.  I went ahead and got the boat and lines ready and 15 minutes later they arrived and soon we were under way.  I made the turn into the slip OK  in the side wind and by luck there were two more members of staff on the jetty so I had 4 people helping me bring the boat in. 

We were just finishing tying up when word came to hold everything because the owner of the slip was coming back that night.  The club must have been in communication with the boat because 10 minutes later we were told that I could stay in his slip and he would use another slip.  Before we had put the finishing touches with my lines the other boat showed up and went into a slip 3 positions away.  When he had his boat securely tied he came over and I apologised for squatting on his turf and thanked him for his flexibility.

The story of that boat was a frustrating one.  They had set of for Namibia with crew.  They arrived at some port in SA presumably further north in order to dispense with the formalities of leaving the country.  When they arrived  every member of the crew seasick and he the only one able to sail the boat.  At this port they were told 'Sorry, new rules.  You must get your clearance at Cape Town.'  With that they had to turn back to Cape town and now plan to set off again in 2 days' time with the same crew which hopefully will not desert.

I had earlier introduced myself to Tommy who was working on the boat on the other side of the side jetty and it was he who explained the reason for the return of the boat.  He told me that the new rule had been introduced with no fanfare and announcement by the club.  I then told him that I had learned that morning that the winds in Simon Town were as bad as they were in Cape Town.  He told me that they were worse, since they cop it before Cape Town, and straight off the sea. 

In this one day two of my concerns about this marina had been addressed: The winds were no worse than at Simons Town and the pollution problem no longer existed.  On the other side of the ledger I had been advised by several people that if I took the boat to Simons Town I would have to return it to Cape Town to obtain my clearance.

Sailing to and from Simons Town would not be a trivial operation.  First of all, the winds would have to be right.  Then an overnight sail would be required to ensure arrival in plenty of daylight.

We all know what this was leading to. I planned to visit Dianne in the morning.