Saturday November 28, 2009 and John Kotze turned 50. We had to skip the 100 mile regatta. None of us ever thought he would make it that far! Just look at the photo to the right and you will understand. Some jealous husband might have claimed his wife’s bikini back. We just had to celebrate, and what a celebration it was.
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We managed to save ourselves by slipping away later that night and did a night sail from Anchor Creek to Bayshore. The wind was already too strong for a 5 hp outboard engine and we did about 6 knots on the genoa alone.
Sunday 14:00 at Anchor Creek and NSRI had to rescue a friend of ours – Joe from his Roberts, Sieker S’n. His rudder broke and he had engine troubles. NSRI also had engine trouble and could not tow him in. His yacht was left at anchor in a 35 knot westerly. Joe was worried that his anchor might have dragged. After a quick discussion, George decided that we could recover it with the help of my 115 hp motorboat and his 15 hp dingy. I phoned home and the son was all too eager to bring the motorboat to the dam.
We went to a restaurant to wait for the motorboat. We ordered a T-Bone each, but Dan Obedt arrived with the Swift 16 befoe the T-Bone did….darn. I had not stated the motorboat since we began sailing. George had to replace the battery and off we went, Dan Obedt, Marius Joe, Hennie and me in the Swift and George and Big-Boy in the dingy.
George’s retrospect on the exercise: “I wanted to put on my diving suit, but I am always the only one with a diving suit and always feel stupid to wear it. So I left it behind and donned only a life jacket. I thought we could wait until Monday to recover the yacht, but if it takes on water and if the bottom is rock and not mud, and if the wind picks up overnight there might be nothing to recover.”
My own retrospect: “I do not like a motorboat and I do not handle it well. I am scared to go on the dam in these conditions in a motorboat. Mind you if George can do it in a tender I can do it in the motorboat. I will just make sure that I do not sink it by taking water in over the bow like I did in the river two years ago. I will put everybody in back and put the front cover on.”
What actually happened to George: “Shit, where the hell is my wet suit?”
What happened to me: “Too many people in the back and we are taking in buckets of water. GET OFF!
However, I am running ahead of the events. First sight of Sieker S’n was not bad. She was lying on her side on the beach but with the bottom to the wind and waves and could not have taken much water.
George in his dingi to the rescue. |
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For a larger view of the photo |
Everybody started working. That is everybody except the one taking these photos, (who was me of course). I will show you a few more photos and the rest I will have to tell because the camera went out of commission.
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Joe—owner of Sieker S’n |
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As you can see, the Swift sank swiftly. |
Too many people at the back and down she went. At least close to shore so we could pull her to a shallower spot and get the water out.
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As you can see from these photos, when survival is the issue, everybody in SA works together. |
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By the time we managed to get the Swift running, George and the yacht were just spots on the horizon. It really was a funny sight, when they left it looked like a whale chasing after him.
We abandoned Joe and Hennie on the shore and left to go get George.
What we found was typical wreckage drifting like in the movies - we recovered a fuel tank and a life jacket.
George was standing on the Sieker S’n with an anchor down, or so we thought. It was the dingy at the bottom of 22M of water which served as an anchor. On his own, George could not keep running to the front to put weight on the bow, running back to steer and in-between he had to bail water from the dingy. As it went under, he tied the rope to the engine and used it to climb over into the Sieker S’n.
At this stage I made a decision that trying to get close to a galloping yacht in stormy water with a boat less than a tenth of its size was madness. I explained in a loud and clear voice (I definitely did not shout out of panic) that I feel I am in more trouble than he was, at least until his wife Carine could get hold of him. I will go back to the harbour to fetch the trustworthy Holiday (Romy Jane) and come back for him.
That we did, and the Holiday sailed like a dream on a butterfly run with the westerly at the back running at 7 knots. I had to blow my bugle, literally to wake up George who was by now fast asleep in the cabin of the Sieker S’n. We used the anchor from Romy Jane to anchor Sieker S’n properly. I had previous experience of anchor dragging and so added a chain to my anchor which weights more than the anchor. He tied a tender to the dingy rope to use as a buoy the next day. The water was still unruly and George had to move quickly from the Sieker S’n to Romy Jane. We motored back to Anchor, right into the wind. The 5 hp 4 stroke Johnson proved itself once again as strong and reliable. We each had a nice glass of whiskey on our way back.
We found the food warm and the women cold, icy cold, but that also passed after awhile. The next day George managed to recover the dingy and engine from the bottom and to bring Sieker S’n safely into the harbour.
Another boring day in Africa.
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