Adventure – Page 3 – SV Catching üP!

Having made it to Cape Town, it was full steam ahead preparing the yacht for the Cape Town International Boat show. Malcolm, who came down with the yacht from Knysna, stayed on board Catching Up to finish up the last minute work projects that were required on the yacht. Grant Boshard and Peter Abbot were not far behind, arriving a few days later with more supplies. The week purely involved cg, touch ups, wiring, sorting and storing all our personal belongings.

During the process preparing for the boat show, a St Francis Catamaran named S/V Wanda Rose came floating in at night into the V&A and docked next to us. Quickly Wanda Rose became more than a yacht you’d pass on the way to the ablutions. On board were Rorke (The owner), Joe (his brother), Meryl (Rorke’s partner) and Geoff (Rorke’s best friend). These Americans had travelled all the way from around the world to pick up this yacht and like us, were preparing to leap across to the Caribbean before they’d head up into the Great Lakes of the United States. After having a few chats on both yachts, the group invited me to join them on a trip up to Table Mountain. Having only gone up Table Mountain once as a child, I was super excited to jump at the chance to go back up and experience one of Cape Town’s natural wonders. I was the only one with a South African sim card and decided to order an UBER to the base of the cable car, however, if anyone was paying attention to the number of people on that boat it would become very clear that the UBER was not big enough for all of us. This resulted in a squished up car ride with 4 in the back and me in the passenger seat. Table Mountain is notoriously deceptive, one moment the skies above the mountain are crystal clear, the next it’s covered in a thick layer of cloud, the locals say that Table Mountain then has a tablecloth on it! We arrived at the base just as the cloud had descended onto the top of the mountain. The views from the car park were already fantastic. The ride up was amazing until we hit the clouds, then there was no visibility. We returned down after a short walk on the top of the mountain, before departing back towards the V&A Waterfront.

Having lived most of my life now in Australia, South Africa has become a holiday destination. Before starting this adventure with the yacht, I didn’t know a place like Knysna existed. I thought all the Western Cape had was Cape Town and the rest was just little towns dotted along the coastline. Most of my experience of Cape Town was in Stellenbosch so when it came to Knysna I had no expectations or idea of what was to come. I have to say looking back now I can safely say I was so far wrong, it’s laughable.

Landing in Knysna I started looking at this town as more than a tourist destination where people stop over for the night, soon it became a home. Faces became routine, people became friends and locations became familiar. Little by little, life began to settle and the weeks started to roll past. After writing about my first week on-board Catching Up, I quickly began the process of trying to figure out what to make next, what to film and what to write about. I started filming early in the morning and soon the marina would be alive with activity. Standing on the deck of Catching Up trying to capture shots, person after person would walk past her and say their morning greetings as they began their day. Local workers would stream in with their tools all prepared to tackle that issue that they’ve been struggling with for the past week. Four legged friends would be rushed down the jetty to the patch of grass for their first bathroom break for the day. It was just a flurry of movement around Catching Up as we slowly began to blend in. I continued trying to attempt to capture the perfect shots but life just seemed to get in the way.

A common view of the yacht club on my runs around the Lagoon.

Days would start with a coffee, a quick clean up before Malcolm, (the delivery skipper and all round handyman for the Knysna Yacht Company) arrived. From there onwards over a coffee we would discuss the days activities, who would be coming down to the yacht to do what and the snag and extras list that he had been working through. The morning would move on with countless faces appearing on the boat. Peter Abbot would arrive early and stay late working on wiring and connecting power to all our creature comforts on the yacht. Peter would provide true words of wisdom as he carefully and meticulously conducted his work making sure to focus on the primary task. He would bring such positivity to the workers on the boat and really brought the overall on-board mood up in the busy days. One of the assistant workers Sheldon would spend his days on the yacht doing odd jobs, paint touch ups and help run wiring. He would bring his lunch with him, sit on the back of the yacht enjoying his sandwich. This became a common occurrence throughout the week while I was on the yacht. Conversations would continue day after day as they blended and transformed with new topics. These conversations made it so hard to say goodbye to the people in Knysna as we cast off and set sail for Cape Town.

Tag: Adventure

Cape Town: A Boat Show and New Friends.

The Faces of Knysna