Location: 34° 11.3 S, 18° 25.9 E
Wednesday 16:00, 10.04.2006

The Schooner Maggie B is currently moored in Simons Town, South Africa at 34° 11.3S, 18° 25.9E at the False Bay Yacht Club. We “doubled the Cape” yesterday, covering about 55NM along some of the most “interesting” water on the planet.

Simons Town has been a naval center since 1741, when the English Navy set up here after being blown out of Cape Town. This was their base for operations against the Dutch. Today it is the Headquarters of the South African Navy. Many of the buildings remind us of English Harbor in Antigua.

The False Bay Yacht Club is very organized and active. As I write this, 17 boats are slamming around for the Wednesday Night Beer Races, a great showing.

One of the fun things to do here is go a few kilometers to The Boulders to see a colony of 2000 Jackass Penguins.

Avoiding an international “incident”

As we came around the Cape of Good Hope (AKA the Cape of Storms), we heard a routine “Securite” call on Channel 16, announcing that a South African Navy ship was conducting a Live Fire exercise at Lat/Long whatever. It then dawned on us that the numbers we amazingly close to our current position and we soon had to alter course to admire a very spankingly new “stealth” Frigate shooting up something. We passed that interesting sight, and were most of the way into the harbor when another ship hailed us on Channel 16 to announce that they were conducting flight operations and were restricted in their ability to maneuver, and that we had to keep clear. On that note we noticed a very fast ship coming at us out of the twilight with a buzzing hoard of helicopters around it, and we did a smart jibe to avoid causing an international incident.

Speaking of international incidents…

Don’t tell anybody, but under current South African regulations, foreign ships can only enter Ports of Entry, except in emergencies. So we had to clear out of Cape Town (Customs, Immigration, etc.) and are only supposed to stop at Durban, where we have to go through the same rigmarole to check in. Even worse than Brazil! Apparently honored in the breach. I do feel a bit nervous having most of the Maritime Power of South Africa only a few hundred meters away. No flying of the US flag here…

We have the usual minor breakdowns — a jammed block, overheating genset and some craziness with the GPS. Hopefully all sorted out tomorrow.

We are going to wait here until Friday, when a front is suppose to blow through and bring nice NW’erly to blow us down the coast. We have been repeatedly advised to stay within the 100 foot depth line to minimize adverse current and monster waves. We didn’t have to be told twice.

All is well.