BREAKING TIME RECORDS
PORT OWEN TO GORDON’S BAY 25 & 26 APRIL 2009
BREAKING TIME RECORDS. SAILING IN THICK FOG. LEARNING A FEW LESSONS.
We left by car on Friday afternoon by 15h30, Charl Cilliers and Ernie Kleynhans joint me. Ernie recently bought himself a Holiday 23 and I invited him to join me on this trip for him to gain some experience. Charl is an old “sea dog” who frequently sail on a Royal Cape One Design in twilight races at RCYC and other events.
We arrived at Port Owen ± 17h00 and immediately prepared the boat to leave the marina to moor at the holding jetty down stream. The next morning at 05h20 PeeDeeQ and Nina, Bernard Petersen, left Port Owen. From the Berg River mouth we could see the lights of Shelley Point and was very glad that there was no fog. Asking Charles a very experienced sailor of Port Owen Yacht Club the previous evening, if he thinks that there will be fog the Saturday morning his reply was “ if there is fog, you just take out your white stick and go, if you bump against something it will most probably be “Africa” and you all you do then is to go little more to the West”
Nina on her way to the holding Jetty and Ernie concentrating on the compass. Up goes the radar reflector
On course to Stompneus punt there are no obstacles or “pieces of Africa” to watch out for and we planned our departure to be just before Stompneus when the sun comes up to make it easier to navigate around and “cut the corner” to save on time. Fog had the last say and we had to navigate without seeing “Africa’ before we got to Cape Columbine where the fog lifted.
At the end of our Easter “fun Worlds” I discovered that my main GPS, mounted in PeeDeeQ stopped working. I had a new “memory” battery installed but it still did not want to give me my position. Out comes the manual, “RTFM” (Read The Flippen Manual), did everything as instructed but with no joy. I then bought a Garmin GPSmap 76 with sea charts from Central Boating and was a bit disappointed with the small display but in the end it was of great help navigating in the fog.
When we motored down the Berg River towards the river mouth it was still dark. I found that, though I have sailed up and down the river many times during day time, I still had to concentrate a lot to keep in the deepest part of the river. Strange what differences there are when sailing at daylight and night time.
When we entered the fog before Stompneus point I switched on my newly acquired GPS with sea maps. I could see where we were, I plotted us on the ordinary paper charts which corresponded with the GPS. I also compared our position with my Etrex handheld GPS, the two GPS’s gave the same reading and still did not believe my new map supported GPS. Only when Ernie switched on his handheld plotter and I saw that the two plotters correspond 100% I started to get a little faith in my handheld plotter.
I don’t know about you but fog plays games with my mind. I want to trust the instruments but I also want to trust my senses to see if my senses corresponds with the instruments and that is where I always make my mistake. If I trust my senses I get disorientated, I have told myself many times to trust the instruments, but I always try to find something with which I can check the instruments. When sailing I always keep an eye on my depth meter and I know it is fairly accurate that’s why when I am uncertain I always navigate into deeper water. There are not many pieces of Africa you will touch in 50 meters of water.
We motor sailed all the way from Port Owen to Cape Town. We were very lucky to catch a counter current all the way from Seal Island to about 5 miles off Robben Island. The speed log and GPS constantly differs with the speed log being 1 to 1.5 knots slower than the GPS. We sailed far off Stompneus Point where we wasted at least a half an hour and still completed the 95 miles in 15 and half hours. That is an average of at least 5.5 knots!! We had the main sail up and the engine was at half throttle. We used ± 45 liters of petrol.
On our way to Cape Town It started to rain. Cape Town Harbour
Leaving Cape Town on Sunday morning in thick, thick fog was an another nerve-racking experience for me. We moored at the fuel jetty the Friday night in RCYC and at 05h00 the Saturday morning we could see the car’s lights on the N1. By 06H00 we could only hear there are cars on the N1. In the yacht basin we could see the club house and the adjacent factory buildings etc. I called Nina and asked them if they were going to join us to leave for Gordon’s Bay. We agreed to stay in sight so not to loose each other in the fog. We motored out of the Yacht basin and often cut the engine’s revs to idling speed to listen for other traffic, because once out of the basin the whole harbour disappeared in the fog and sight was reduced to about 30 maybe 50 meters. I was trying to steer, navigate as well as keeping a compass course, which I admit I could not do.
When we were opposite the exit towards the Northern break water Ernie, who then also had his little plotter switched on told me I must now turn sharp to starboard because we are motoring past the exit. I could not believe him, though my map plotter also showed the same. I cut the engine down to idling speed an slowly crept forward at 1 knot until I saw the red glow of the red light on starboard side and clearly saw the green light to port. I still did not want to believe it was the exit, until Charl, who is used to go in and out of Cape Town harbour said “there is the steel pipe he always see just next to the green light” I then believed them and then gave the engine more throttle. I gave the steering work to “FRED” the autopilot and let “him” steer as we honed in on the sound of the foghorn on the Northern break water wall.
After we rounded the Northern breakwater we changed to a Westerly course. We kept a watch all the time, checking both plotters, the depth meter and stayed just outside the traffic separation scheme. Opposite sea point Ernie asked me if it is a ship’s lights that he sees on our port side which it was, quite scary coming close to such a big ship without knowing it is there.
The fog and Nina following closely. a lonely petrel Cape point
Opposite Kommetjie the fog lifted, we looked back and saw Chapman’s Peak. From there on it was easy sailing. Though I have rounded Cape Point many times with PeeDeeQ and other boats, it is always special to see it from the sea it is a breath taking beautiful piece of “Africa”.!!
We moored at 17h30 in Gordon’s Bay.
Lessons learned. Watch this space for an article on sailing in the fog.
Editor
