Sail Safari

To go or not to go. I met some of the MYC (Mountain Yacht Club) members at the Kariba regatta in May 2009. We sort of promised to go to the Top of the Mountain Regatta at Ebenezer. However, work made it almost impossible, just too much of it, not that I complain, but it is such a nuisance if you want to have fun. Two days before the regatta, we finally decided to go. The next afternoon, we went to the Vaal Dam to get Romy Jane out and onto the trailer. One thing I really hate is to lift the centre board, 380kg not matter what the pulley advantage might be, is heavy. On our way to the dam I was especially and specifically rude to X10. Get her mad enough and I do not have to strain my back getting the centre board up. She would do it with one hand, while the other one would be way too busy throwing signs at me. She saw through that and quickly told me that George had it already done for us. We only needed to take down the mast and get her on the trailer.

Poseidon is the King of the Sea, responsible mostly for what goes wrong at sea. He must have been on holidays at the Vaal. As I approached the trailer, a heavy gust came up from the water. Suddenly there were waves and thunder and rain. I overshot the trailer totally. If X10 had not been quick enough, we would not have needed the trailer, Romy Jane almost ended up on the roof rack of the Jeep. John D, our ferry man at Anchor Creek also came to the rescue and we managed to get her out of the water with only minor damages to the anti foul. Two hours later and in total darkness we had the mast down, and a heavy wind was still blowing. We though of going to a restaurant to wait it out, but we were wet and uncomfortable and decided “what the hell, lets get on with it.” An hour later we stopped at home.

The next morning, everything looked bright and shiny. A light breeze was coming from the South and since we were going North, it was totally OK. The Jeep averaged 6 km/l on the Kariba trip. I did expect better this time. We left at 12:30pm. Instead of going via Johannesburg, with all its road works and traffic, we wisely decided to take the Krugerdorp route. The narrow piece when you left the N1 to Randfontein was no problem, compared to what we had in Zimbabwe, it looked like a highway. Everything went well, until just before Pretoria on the N14 highway. A Bakkiewent past us tooting his horn and pointing to the back. One does not want to believe that something is wrong. I asked for confirmation from X10: “Did that guy toot?” “No, it was just the music; let me play it back for you.” I listened intently but could not hear any tooting on the soundtrack. We pulled over at the OneStop. Photo on right: This is what I saw at the back.

So, a simple word of advice, it you cannot take your rudder totally off and put it in the cockpit, make sure it is securely fastened to the safety rail at the back. Otherwise you might end up like we did, with a rudder which is considerably shorter. We thought it would be a good excuse if we did not do well in the regatta. We did not know that an even better excuse would happen later.

We stopped at Kranskop just before Nylstroom to refuel (again). We did not do well, about 4 km/l. Must say that we were getting used to towing and where I towed at a speed of 80 km/h in Zimbabwe, I was now traveling sometimes at 130 km/h. Not recommended and I should not even mention it. What do they say in stunt acts – “do not try this at home.”

We arrived in Pietersburg at 18:00. We did 450 km’s in 5.5 hours with some stops in-between. Not too bad. Our first stop was at some old friend’s place in Pietersburg. We had to park in front of the neighbours. We politely asked and they gracefully allowed us to do so. Little did we know that Christo had been in a legal fight with them about the continuous barking of their dogs! We had much to catch up on. We only see each other once ever five or so years. Two years earlier Christo had a stress related stroke (he is an advocate) , and since he cannot speak, playing Pictionary was never my strong point, I said to him – “I could not always understand what he was saying when he could speak, how the hell should I figure out what he was trying to say now?” X10 is much better at Pictionary and between her and Antoinette (Christo’s wife); we could more or less converse. His understanding is intact. Christo is not allowed to smoke and that evening at a restaurant, on the pretence of going to the loo, he slipped away and bummed a cigarette from the manager. We had to smoke it outside and around the corner like a couple of schoolboys. Christo and Antoinette came with us on an outing at the Ebenezer dam. Rob, Keith, Tommy and so many guys from the club that I cannot remember who else helped to get him to the yacht. For the first time I realized the safety line can unhook and then it is very easy to get on and off from a walk on mooring. Photo's: Here is Christo relaxing with an electronic cigarette - left - with X10 and Antoinette. Later that day he took a nap in the cabin - right.

We had many laughs together when we were both lecturing at the University of the North. We always joked that we were the only Afrikaans lecturers who lectured Greek to Sotho speaking students in English. Some years later, I phoned Christo to tell him I was getting out of the academic and into the private sector and felt bad about throwing away 10 years of Greek studies; he said “At least you are not a barbarian.” Greeks considered everybody who did not understand Greek to be barbarians.

We left Pietersburg the next morning and went via Haenertsburg to King Georges Valley on the road to Tzaneen.

We entered at the motor boat club to the launch. Everything went well, or so we thought. The mast was up and we had a nice hot dog from campers. We launched and then immediately beached next to the motor boat jetty since the keel was still up. The car was parked and off we went to the yacht club around the corner.

As we came into the harbour, the engine let out a belch of fuel and stalled. Keith’s son came to our rescue in the GookMouse II – his dingy.

We eventually managed to get it started again. Rob Morris waved us into the best spot on the walk on the mooring.

The Ebenezer dam might not be very big, but it is very beautiful. One also gets lots of exercise between the moorings and the clubhouse which is about 40 meters away, but at an angle of about 80 degrees.

After a day it felt more like 90 degrees. I lost 4 kg’s over the 4 days we were there, enough said. We went out on a leisurely cruise and it was the first time I saw 7 holidays tied together.

The Race

We came for the regatta, or did we? We always said we were built for comfort not speed. With 2x105AH batteries, a deep freeze, a huge 75W solar panel and lots of food, we were comfortable. (did I mention any beer?)

Diekie and Tommie Schoeman took a serious approach to the race and Diekie went up his mast to replace his roller furler with a genoa. Photo - right - Mr Legs.

The regatta started with a sail past the Commodore (Robbie) and we duly saluted with a whiskey in hand. The distance was too far to look into his eyes, - so the 7 years of bad sex cannot apply here. Anyway – it was supposed to be a salute – not a toast.

When we finally started with the first leg of the regatta, we found that the wind was coming from all directions, get close to the shore and it curls around the land corners. We finished somewhere in the rear, not totally last but really close. Keith and his family who started sailing in April 2009 finished well ahead of us. We had no excuse since we started three months earlier, so we were determined to at least get the better of Keith in the next leg.

The next leg on the same day was with mixed success. Due to our own negligence when raising the mast the previous day, our forestay came loose about 1 km from the finish (in fact it was never attached to the mast). We tied the mast to the bow rail with the extra rope we use to lower the mast and managed to make it much to our surprise in the third position!

That evening we had to lower the mast. We removed the roller fuler and borrowed a forestay from Keith and a working jib from Rob. We never sailed a working jib before but it worked out fine for us.

Photo on the right is Tommie diving for a battery which dropped in the water. He enjoyed the cold water…Just look at the picture.

We were in about the fourth position, but in the final 10 meters of the race two yachts overtook us on the finish line. We were fifth overall, with Diekie in first place. It seems to be good luck to climb your mast the day before a race!

Again, many thanks to Rob Morris, the organizer, his wife Debbie, Robbie the Commodore, who complained that we out sailed him on his own dam. Jim Facey for returning my Cheetah cap that I lost in the last race. “Jim, the ransom was worth every part of the Cheetah cap!” I cannot mention everybody, but as I said the other day – I have yet to meet an unfriendly sailor.

The official results of the Top of the Mountain Regatta

On a points system with the winner of each race getting 0 points, second 1...

The Sun Set for the last day at Ebenezer.

Back home after a (fortunate) uneventful trip. The only problem was that when I switched the jeep off the engine kept purring. I had to kill the engine by pulling the coil wire from the distributor.

I will not write about the jeep and it’s problems, but next time I will give more info on how to dismantle and fix a roller furler!

We were welcomed by Zorro’s mosaic and roses. He was poisoned by some low level sub specie which should not have been part of the human gene. It happened while we were away at Kariba in May/June. In that process we were also relieved of two vehicles and some other material things which could be replaced. We will have a new litter of Malamute puppies end of October!

At long last back at Anchor Creek with the usual suspects.

Ebenezer Dam

Top of the Mountain Yacht Club Regatta - 24 September 2009

The Race

The official results of the Top of the Mountain Regatta


The turnoff dam on the left, our first glimpse of MYC on the right. Our first sight of the yacht club from the water.